Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers opens on October 21, 1988


The wind, it howled that October in '88, didn't it? A real banshee wail, rattling the windowpanes like a skeleton trying to claw its way out of the earth. And what better soundtrack for the return of a boogeyman? That's right, folks, on October 21st, 1988, Michael Myers, the Shape himself, lumbered back into our lives with Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.

It had been years since we'd seen his pale, expressionless mask. Halloween III…well, that was a whole other kettle of fish, wasn’t it? A noble attempt to try something new, but we wanted the man. The pure, unadulterated evil.

And God, did they give him back to us.

The movie opens like a slow, creaking door to a mausoleum. Michael's been in a coma, wasting away in some forgotten institution, and you just know, you just know he's been biding his time. Sleeping, maybe dreaming of carving pumpkins… or something a little more substantial. He hears about Laurie Strode's daughter, Jamie Lloyd, and that’s all it takes. A flicker in those dead eyes, and he’s up, stretching those stiff limbs, ready to remind Haddonfield what true terror looks like. Never has a man who laid stiff for a decade been so limber!

Director Dwight Little, getting his big break here and eventually helming the masterful Marked for Death starring Steven Seagal, delivers the trademark creative Myers kills that some fans obsess over with aplomb. But he also lets the imagination play on the audience's fear, as well. The haunting scene when Dr. Sam Loomis, scarred from his last encounter with Michael in Halloween II, comes upon the upside-down wreckage of the iconic Smith's Grove ambulance is one of the best-shot in the movie. You know a bit of what happened, but the visual appearance of the vehicle hints at what else transpired off-screen.

There are other strong points, as well. The film has no shortage of Halloween and fall atmosphere, despite the odd choice to film in the decidedly un-Midwestern suburbs of Salt Lake City. Townspeople form a mob and blow away somebody they thought was Michael, and they just keep on going with no consequences - at least until they run into the real Michael. Jamie's costume choice is not only a callback to the original Halloween in 1978, but also a clever premonition of the movie's ending.

And - spoiler alert - the real magic is in that ending, arguably the best in the whole franchise. We’d seen Michael shot, blown up, and now left for dead again. But when little Jamie comes down the stairs in her clown costume, fresh off the trauma of the night, holding that bloody pair of scissors...well, the feeling in the theatre was a cold, spreading dread. Evil wasn't gone. It had simply found a new vessel. It was a hell of a final shot, a punch to the gut that felt both inevitable and deeply shocking. A true twist that few saw coming, and another breath of fresh air Halloween 4 pumped into this revived series.

Alas, while another excellent sequel was ahead in Halloween 5 with an equally-impressive performance by Danielle Harris, the filmmakers failed to deliver on this stunning plot swerve. Jamie never would join or replace uncle Mike as a killer, wouldn't even grapple with her ostensible dark side, and would be shamefully killed off in the otherwise-entertaining Halloween 6.

But on that October 21st in 1988, the possibilities of the franchise's future seemed endless, as stunned moviegoers staggered out of the cineplex. For a generation of horror fans, it felt like the world had been set right again. Michael Myers came home that night in '88, and $17 million at the box office ensured he was home to stay.

Location: Illinois, USA

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