Halloween 4 - The Return of Michael Myers (Divimax Edition)

Surprisingly, this movie is not altogether that graphic. We rarely get to see the actual coup de grace of each killing (and in a couple of cases we don't even see the actual murder), and even the remains of the slain never exhibit much blood loss. Of course, Michael uses a variety of means (including his bare hands) to murder his victims here. I for one missed the guy's trademark knifings. He does get hold of a knife eventually, but, sadly, he doesn't get much of a chance to use it. As for Michael himself, it is easy to see that the man behind the mask is not the original "shape" Nick Castle. George P. Wilbur has a slightly different build, and he just doesn't have the malevolent presence Castle possessed. He is strong in the category of standing still and watching from the shadows, but he is a little awkward in his movements and often seems to be patterning them on those of King Kong.

This movie has some really nice touches to it, several that strongly call to mind pivotal scenes from the original. Another master stroke is the conclusion, which certainly surprised me when I first saw it. Far too often a trite ending can ruin one's impression of an otherwise good horror movie, but Halloween 4 offers evidence of how much a terrific ending can increase one's enjoyment of an already satisfying experience. By inserting a whole new chapter in the Michael Myers saga, Halloween 4 actually injected the series with newfound life (and blood); it certainly excited me as a fan, and that is something that most sequels of sequels simply do not do.


Halloween 4, Return of the Shape!   February 21, 2000
Camren T. Burton (WA, U.S.A.)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful

Halloween 4, The Return of Michael Myers, in my opinion, is a spectacular beginning for the story told in 4-6. Like Jamie Lee Curtis, actress Danielle Harris makes her big debut with Michael Myers in this excellent sequel. Also returning is Donald Pleasance as Dr. Loomis, the hero, not 'the mad doctor'. This movie had one of the best actors playing Michael, George P. Wilbur. His portrayal of Myers was well-acted, although the loud muffled breathing heard in 1 & 2 is absent. This movie had just the right pace for me, with great drama and a great remix of the Halloween theme written by John Carpenter. However, if Loomis couldn't stop Michael with eleven gunshots and a fire, what makes the State Troopers think they can kill him with a few dozen shots? One thing they don't understand is that Michael is not a normal human being. Get that through your skulls! Of course he can't be killed, or else it would be the end of what becomes a great horror series. The Halloween movies are well-acted and filmed, unlike most of the Friday the 13th movies. By the way, does anyone else think that Jason Voorhees, while intimidating, is just a cheap knockoff of Michael? Michael debuted in 1978, while Jason didn't show up until 1981.


A surprisingly good 3 1/2 stars   December 5, 2004
M. G Watson (Los Angeles)
8 out of 13 found this review helpful

I watched this film reluctantly on cable during a spree of similar films around Halloweentime. As a general rule, I've found that horror movies with Roman numerals after them increase in suckiness in proportion to how large the numeral is. In the case of "IV" this proved not to be true. This is a pretty good horror flick, much better than I expected and very professionally done.

OK, the film has a wee plothole or two...or three. I mean, at the end of Part II, Michael Myers took about a dozen bullets in the chest, had both of his eyes shot out, and was set on fire and burned into a giant s'more. He was about as dead as dead gets. His doctor, Loomis, also got BBQ'd. This film, opening ten years after the second, uses the soap opera tactic of simply re-writing its own past hisory. Turns out Michael was only badly burned and the fusilade of bullets he took in I & II missed every vital organ. His eyes regenerated too -- a wonderful thing, modern medicine! Anyway, Dr. Loomis also escaped without too much injury, just a limp and facial scars. Both of them continue to reside at the Pleasantview nut house, Michael as a comotose patient, Loomis as his obsessed shrink. Michael is supposedly comotose, but Loomis isn't fooled. He understands the big fella is just waiting for something to set him off....

The pretext of this rampage is Michael's discovery, through an indiscreet and therefore soon to be dead aylum orderly, that he has a living neice. Since Michael's mission in life is to kill all his female relatives -- we all need hobbies -- he makes bloody tracks for his former hometown of Haddonfield, with the relentless Loomis in pursuit. Unfortunately, the people of Haddonfield have mostly forgotten about Michael. And because Loomis, wonderfully played as always by the late great Donald Pleasance, often comes off as a paranoid nut case, his warnings aren't taken too seriously by the sheriff (horror movie sheriffs never listen!). Before you can say "imaginative and unpleasant deaths for teenage horror-movie fodder" Michael has trapped his neice, the sheriff, the extremely nubile sheriff's daughter, the extremely stupid sheriff's deputy, the heroine, and the heroine's cheatin' boyfriend, in a creepy house and cut the power, and proceeds to pare the group down using various handy household impliments.

This movie has numerous horror movie cliches: mysterious lights that shine through the trees....fog that looks suspiciously man made....a filling station in "Illinois" that appears to actually be in New Mexico...cops so stupid they could work for Chief Wiggum....a posse of vigilantes who can't shoot straight....teens whose combined brain power couldn't light up a GE Soft White....and, of course, a conveniently ambiguous ending. I have to say, however, that none of this really matters. The acting is surprisingly good, especially from the neice, the script is more than passable, and the creep factor is high. I was almost sorry to see Michael put on his trademark "William Shatner" mask (they really should STOP selling that in Haddonfield) because that creepy white plastic restraint mask he wears the first third of the film is even scarier. Michael's child-like body language after he kills someone is very disturbing -- that slow, wonderous tilt of the head (they could have used louder mouth-breathing through the mask, though). There is also a twisted touch in the relationship between Michael and Loomis -- Michael has many chances to kill Loomis and never goes for it, perhaps understanding that
Loomis is a necessary ingredient in the "game" they play together. And the film's end twist, minus the "gee, too bad he fell down that abandoned mineshaft so we can't find his body" is really disturbing.

H-4 is not a great horror film, but it is a respectable one. If you are fan of the Halloween franchise, or just of slasher films in general, but want something that looks more like a real movie and less than a college student film gone horribly wrong (I'm looking at you, Friday the 13th Part VIII) try this one.















Whats included   June 15, 2006
Nick Lavigne (CT USA)
7 out of 9 found this review helpful

These are truly going to be great even if it were just the High Def transfers. I hope they are working on the Blu-Ray Halloweens.
dvd includes
* Widescreen Presentation enhanced for 16x9 TVs
* Audio commentary with actors Ellie Cornell and Danielle Harris
* Audio commentary with screenwriter Alan McElroy
* Halloween 4/5 Panel discussion (from the H25 Convention)
* The Making of Halloween 4: Final Cut featurette
* Theatrical trailer