John Carpenter conceived the impressive HALLOWEEN III : SEASON OF THE WITCH as a movie that would turn the franchise into an anthology series, with a different Halloween-related horror story for each new movie. It was a bold move but the box office returns spoke louder than the voice of originality and, five years later, the franchise re-emerged with producer Moustapha Akkad reviving Michael Myers and Carpenter nowhere to be seen save for a token credit for the constant recycling of his original HALLOWEEN themes.
A number one box office hit in October 1988, HALLOWEEN 4 is a simplistic but well directed old-school slasher movie that deemphasizes the usual sex and gore, reduces the number of dumb teens and opts for a taut depiction of a town under siege by an unstoppable evil force. This angle makes it play like an extension of the first film, albeit with a deeper character potential-victim pool. Here, the Haddonfield teenagers, kids, law enforcers, laborers and beer bellies are all under threat from Michael.
Dwight H Little’s movie routinely brings back Myers via a standard slasher sequel plot device : he escapes while being transferred to new institution digs). It then gives him a few silly disposable locals to kill off en route to stalking his pre-teen niece (Danielle Harris) and her foster sis (cute Ellie Cornell). Among said locals is short-lived power station worker “Bucky”, who, prior to being fried, gamely opposes Myers with a curt “Don’t try that Halloween shit with me!”.
Continuity with the preceding Myers films is provided by onscreen references to Laurie Strode (dead from a car crash, though she would be revived by H20, which ignores everything except the first two films), Sheriff Brackett (left town) and a brief appearance from a grown up Lindsay, a key child character in HALLOWEEN. Dr. Sam Loomis somehow survived HALLOWEEN II’s hospital inferno and is now represented by Donald Pleasance in ham overdrive. The veteran actor, such a key part of the franchise, delivers an assortment of daffy lines with either a laidback weariness or over the top obsessive glee, befitting the fact that his character has become as deranged as the masked maniac he hunts. (He deserves kudos for keeping a straight face while delivering lines like “We’re not talking about any ordinary escaped prisoner! We’re talking about evil on two legs!”).
Pleasance drifts through the movie with intermittent rants, though gets thrown out a window at a key point and doesn’t participate in the movie’s climax, in which Myers is unconvincingly sent to his third “death” via much gunfire from the cavalry and a conveniently placed mine shaft. Though discreet in gore terms (two moments of graphic bloodshed – a ripped throat and a thumb in the forehead – were added in post-production, and it shows) the flick gives Myers a significant body count. He effortlessly offs Kathleen Kinmont’s buxom, sluttish Sheriff’s daughter (providing the film’s only, brief nudity), her goofy boyfriend and Haddonfield’s entire police force (the latter, sadly, off-screen).
Also thrown into the mix are some very dumb local rednecks, who initiate a gun-toting vigilante rampage without even knowing what’s going on : these are the kind of folks who panic just because they get no answer from the police phone (“the phone NEVER just rings in a police station!”). At one point they also mistake an innocent civilian for Myers, killing him on the spot! These rather dumb scenes do at least help create a sense of mounting panic and convey the impact the return of Michael Myers has on the understandably nervy town. (The leader of the makeshift mob is the father of a kid killed 10 years earlier by Myers).
What helps to make part 4 the best of the pre-H20 sequels is the appeal of Cornell and Harris. Although the script’s contrived way of constantly ensuring Harris escapes from near-death hampers some of the suspense (why would Myers find it so hard to kill a little girl?), her credible, sympathetic performance puts her in the very top ranks of child stars in the genre. Although somewhat under-used, Ellie Cornell proves to be a worthy successor to Jamie Lee Curtis, making for a naturally likeable and convincing presence. Few slasher sequels have characters as worthy of rooting for as these two girls. The superbly staged roof-top chase involving both of them is also a highpoint of all the HALLOWEEN sequels.
Little’s film is well paced and trim, with a minimum of meandering scenes of doomed characters wandering endlessly around in the dark (plenty of such scenes turn up in the next sequel) and a taut, to-the-point scariness instead. There are nice individual moments, like the scene in which the Sheriff and Loomis are dumbfounded by the sudden appearance of three Michaels (actually a trio of larking kids with Myers masks). The shock ending, although telegraphed by too-obvious early scenes of Harris in full costume, is genuinely jolting : bringing the series full circle to the masterful prologue of Carpenter’s film, the sequence ends the film on a harrowing series of reaction shots before revealing Harris to be a potential follower of her uncle’s bloody work. (Alas, HALLOWEEN 5 disregards this in favor of proceeding with business as usual).
Crucial to the film’s overall impact is Alan Howarth’s adaptation of and extension of Carpenter’s original themes. Particularly impressive is the wonderfully atmospheric opening track that, accompanied by some gorgeously menacing autumnal images, get the movie off to an evocative start.
– Steven West
BLU-Ray Special Features:
- Audo Commentary with Actors Ellie Cornell and Danielle Harris
- Audio Commentary with Director Dwight H. Little and Author Justin Beahm
- HALLOWEEN 4/5 Discussion Panel
- Theatrical Trailer
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
