What the HELL happened to HALLOWEEN 4 The Return of Michael Myers!!!

So onward and upward we go. Having survived Jason and his crucifixion at the hands of the studio that bought him, aided in part to the cult that is the MPAA, we move on to the next franchise. One that had a journey you’d feel was eerily similar if not spot on. But managed to keep itself as its protagonist, relatively clean from the trappings of other franchises, and zombification.

Seriously it’s always gotten me how Mikey never once seemed to join the zombie stomp with Jason and others. You could attribute that to his being ‘the shape’ and just always there, never dying. But he does die. He just stays blessed with never showing death ageing or slowing him down.

Until we get into the remake trilogy.

Which for good, and obvious reasons. We will not be getting into.

I also covered those films and I still hold today, no change what so ever in opinion that those films should only ever have existed as a stand alone single film, and not the laughing stock it became. The only comfort I get from that film is that it landed the director coined to ‘save horror franchises’ his role in resurrecting the Exorcist series. Only to have it laughably fail and kill off his stint in horror.

But as always, I digress.

What we have here is a mixed bag that Jason himself would have enjoyed, more so than what he got and we were given. There were some legitimate attempts made with Halloween. There was a good attempt at their own Tommy Jarvis type arch. But it still ended up fumbling the ball in ways that really made you have to ask, what the hell happened? Especially given the attempted restart of things with the franchise after 3.

I know it’s popular now to love part 3 and see it as being something corny and to, in the horror community cheer for. At its core the idea was interesting, It adapted the early idea the other franchises would mirror in their own morbid ways as well. Season of the Witch gave us Halloween without Michael Myers, much in the same vein that Friday the 13th part 5 gave is a Friday without Jason, and Wes Craven saying hold my beer by making A New Nightmare years later giving is a Nightmare without Freddy. All of these hit people in a similar fashion, wondering where the character was they came to see, but each offering a unique idea. Of these three franchises I would say Nightmare managed the attempted change better. As was pointed out during what I would kindly call my disastrous attempt at having A New Nightmare thrown to film hell on Reels of Justice, The film itself wasn’t even called A Nightmare on Elm Street, it was A new Nightmare. So having a demon that idolized the character in the film Freddy Kreuger worked as a new film. I still believe that movie is horrible and history will I feel agree with me. But I did do a shit job on that episode.

But here with Halloween it did not go over well. In all honesty if Carpenter sold the idea differently, it might’ve worked and not ended up on its release and still for a vocal majority a failure in the franchise. But could have served as what Carpenter thought to be a more interesting idea. Carpenter didn’t want to do more Halloween movies with Laurie and Michael. He was done after the first, but the studio wanted their sequel. So be agreed and ended it in a way he felt would surely keep them from bringing Michael or anyone back.

By blinding him and blowing him up with Loomis in a hospital.

He felt it was more interesting if Halloween was less about Michael, and more about other terrors. Michael was simply a cog in the machine of an ever terrifying concept that could haunt and stalk and terrorize other towns and people. But studios wanted to market Mikey and Halloween, and the fans wanted to see him stalking around stabbing with silent abandon. So the idea didn’t land and instead we would have to wait years before the series would get its revival and a return to form. Doing so in a big way that would reassure fans Michael was back, the Irish were not trying to kill you, and Halloween was going to always BE Halloween.

And yet it still went down hill. Just with a few stumbles along the way. Unlike Jason who just walked into a field of rakes over, and over, and over. Never moving forward or back. Just stumbling aimlessly one way to the next.

Is Halloween 4 a bad film? Not especially, no. So why cover it and not its sequel? Because like with Jason, Michaels story officially did end with part 2, until his resurrection. Same as Jason at the end of part 6. After Halloween 2 what we got was, definitely something. A very wholly different something with good and bad elements which resulted in a failed trilogy of films telling a new story, and dragging us into films that just progressively got worse, and worse as they went on. So we will appreciate what we can, before submerging ourselves into the raw sewage that awaits.

I really don’t find Halloween The Return of Michael Myers to be horrible or worthy of seeing destroyed. I find its interesting and a great opening contrast to poor Jason. That being said, lets get into it already!

Halloween 4 The Return of Michael Myers

For once a film that delivers on its title. It’s both the return of Michael to the franchise the birthed him and a return to horror(of sorts) in a lot of ways. Despite the efforts of the man many dump responsibility on for having dragged and killed this franchise, Moustafa Akkad.

While at the same time

Fans were happy with the man for keeping the franchise alive and going.

It’s a complicated relationship and this film was the one time fans could be happy and accept the palate cleansing they were given after Carpenter’s vision for part 3.

People weren’t sure what to expect with the announcement and release of this film, in large part because Carpenter wanted nothing to do with it. According to Carpenter and again part of the fan base. Michaels story ended with part 2. He and Debrah Hill really didn’t even want to do the sequel but they did. When that did well Akkad, who had been producing the films thus far, has put a lot of pressure on Carpenter and Hill to do a 3rd film…then a 4th film. After a lot of back and forth the duo came up with a story for the return of Michael. The story was-much like part 3 very different and typical of Carpenter. I say that because if you are familiar with his body of work past the flash ship films, Carpenter really likes to dip his toes into some far out concepts and expand past traditional horror. Prince of Darkness, In the Mouth of Madness stand out as big toe dips into that pool, which wasn’t for everyone. Sure. But they made for very interesting and fun trips. His take on Halloween 4 was no different.

The Story

His take on Michaels return was more of a psychological approach. The film would take place roughly 5-10 years after the events of Halloween 2. The town of Haddonfield would adapt a Footloose like policy of banning or removing the celebration of Halloween from their town. The town had become consumed with the dark blood stain that Myers left on them from the night he came home and slaughtered everyone in his path. Something Crystal Lake could’ve benefited from past a rebrand. The main characters in this story would be the teen-twenties something Tommy Doyle and Lindsey Wallace, the two children Laurie saved at the end of the first film. The movie would have followed those two, dealing with their traumatic PTSD from that night, living in a town that sees them as constant reminders of Michael and what he did. Ultimately all we know past this is that the towns immense fear and attempted repression of Halloween would end up summoning Michael back to life and to the town.

Honestly that itself would have proven a worthwhile watch. Carpenter is(I feel) at his best when doing ghost stories and leaning more into the psychological. It would have been interesting seeing what became of and what he’d do ultimately with the two last surviving characters of the original films. Also the large absence of Dr Loomis from the future films. Carpenter stuck with his two first films and kept Loomis dead in his story for the fourth film. Given how many of these Donald did as Loomis. Maybe that would have been for the better. As much as I love the man he really did have a similar journey of suffering that Doug Bradly as well endured through the Hellraiser franchise. Which. We will get into. Down the road.

So Akkad rejected this story. He didn’t want Michael to be supernatural. Which is odd given he already WAS with his anti bullets in body policy and walking out of an exploding Hospital. Moustafa wanted to go back to form. Slash and gash. Carpenter and Hill by that point had thrown their hands up. John wanted to move on with his life and he did not want to get tied further down into a franchise he never wanted in the first place. So he sold the franchise to Moustafa and walked away better for it. With the franchise in his hands now, Akkad could do what he wanted. The film we ended up with did not mirror the concept given by Carpenter. Instead of a town living in fear of celebrating a holiday, we have a town that has moved on from Myers. Gone are Lindsey and Tommy, replaced now by of all things. Laurie Strode’s daughter, Jamie Lloyd. Good for Laurie moving on with her life, meeting a good man and having a kid.

Except she’s dead.

Laurie is killed off screen which keeps from having to answer why Jamie Lee isn’t in this film and further moves us away from the first two films. So Jamie is adopted and living it up with a new older sister. The two are living their best life, a moody teen and her annoying adopted sister. Until Michael enters the picture. The film still takes place 10 years roughly after the events of part 2. Michael since the explosion has been unresponsive in a coma. Mirroring the events of the original film he ends up waking up and choosing violence during a transfer. Which draws the now heavily scarred Dr. Loomis back into the story. He’s Michaels forever stalker and biggest detractor against prisoner reformation.

Ultimately Michael makes it back to the town he made infamous, begins doing what he does best. But. Looking for family and killing new friends along the way. Eventually leading us to the climax of the film where Jamie and her older sister end up having to hide out at the Sheriff’s house. The most awkward and fun lockup, as the sheriff’s daughter is the same person who stole away Rachel’s(Jamies sister) boyfriend. I mean granted if a hyper unkillable man is stalking you and your adopted sister, being in the sheriff’s home is a good safe choice in theory and you are still going to be on edge. But having to stay in his house with his daughter whom still smells like your boyfriends dick, sipping coffee by the fireplace still carrying skid marks from being laid out and railed in front of it. Well that’s going to make things a bit awkward. Thankfully they don’t need to linger too much on this or compare notes, as Michael fights his way into the house, battling it out like a high level character mining xp in the spawning house. The girls narrowly escape and amp up the movies climax with a car chase and an angry mob. I don’t say this a lot, but we really need more angry mobs in movies. They always do horribly, they do as much if not more damage than the killer. They end up slaughtered in mass, and if they do survive, despite their fuckups they end up over doing it killing the bad guy and feel justified by the end.

Seriously it’s a fun side story in this movie. The town is tired of Michael and his bullshit, they aren’t going to have any repeats of things from 10 years ago. So they grab their guns and group up in their trucks. The group actually thinks they found Michael and decide on the shoot first drink after approach. Ending up killing an innocent kid. Instead of turning themselves in and arrest being made. The group save the girls, driving off to who knows where with the girls in tow. It leads to a great scene of Michael killing them off, until Rachel decides to do what she does best and shatters Michaels hips. Just with a truck this time. But Michael isn’t dead. He’s only mostly dead. Enter the mob. Who mow down Michael in the same joyful style of The Predator. These guys aren’t just unloading their guns and nuts. These guys are passing out ammo like candy, reloading and going for broke on his ass.

Michael is down and the movie ends with a great cliffhanger. It’s worth going into because god I loved seeing this in theaters. Still do today in 4k. When Michael drops, Jamie goes over to her estranged uncle and touches his hand. He’s mowed down and falls dead into a mineshaft. The girls are brought home and Jamies adopted mom fixes her a bath. From there Dr Loomis is finally able to relax and unclench his likely burned butthole for the first time in ten years. Until we hear a scream from upstairs and Loomis, expecting Michael to have returned rushes the staircase. Only for him and all of us to find Jamie, dressed as a clown much like Michael was in the first film after killing his sister. Holding a bloodied knife herself. Breathing heavily staring off blankly. She’d killed her adopted mother and Loomis breaks entirely. Having seen the cycle begin again.

You need to see this movie. The story really is a good return to form and the film delivers on everything that made the last real Halloween, part two memorable. Michaels Brutality and a good twist ending that promised an interesting future for the franchise. The film took notes from Friday the 13th part 5 and kicked it up a notch with a child becoming the new killer.

All around and undeniably this movie was a success. Everything that Friday the 13th The New Blood wanted to be and wasn’t. These two mirrored each other in a good deal of ways. Only one pulled off in the end what both hoped to achieve. Both films had similar budgets and financial success. The Return of Michael Myers was made for around 5 million and grossed well over 18 million, same as The New Blood, only this movie carried positive word of mouth.

Both had vastly  different story concepts that ended up rushed to get filmed. It isn’t entirely unheard of for films to do that. Only this film wasn’t pinned in 93 hours like Jason had to go through. This movie famously had a huge deadline to beat before a writers strike was going to take place. They had 11 days to work out a filmable script and they managed right down to the ticking clock. This forced the writers to make a script they new would be a one and done deal. No rewrites no feedback. Nothing. Like a lot of shot on film direct to video releases, what you wrote is what you got.

So it survived word of mouth, it made it through the writers room without rewrites and revisions. So what about the studio? Jason faced a lot of interference on that front with The New Blood up through his finale in part 10. This shockingly did not. Because no major studio was involved. Moustafa produced it and financed the film through his own film company. Hence the film survived any crucial pushback and studio head feedback. Another axe dodged by Michael.

But he still had to face a boss fight, the same one that killed Jason. The MPAA.

Just like The New Blood, this film was going to meet the scalpel of the MPAA and its war on horror. They made several cuts to the film but still came out ahead in the gore department. How did Jason get so heavily cut to the point of coming off like Jason Light, while Myers ended up coming out ahead with more visceral attitude in his kills?

Even with what we got there was a lot, a lot removed. They cut out decapitations, throat ripping’s. Shotgun impaling with guts pouring out. The film had violence and gore, it had horror. But it overloaded, absolutely. Jason did similar too, sure. But Halloween managed to make smarter cuts that while it removed excessive gore that upset the MPAA, it managed to keep intact enough to hold onto the kills and make them effective. Jason didn’t get that. Not because the people didn’t know what they were doing, but because it was one of the bigger examples made by the MPAA. To add fuel to this warm fire, it also highlights a stark difference between these two horror icons. Jason before and after zombification always had super human like kills. He’s like a Jackie Chan murderer. The man turned a plastic party horn into a weapon for fucks sake. He folded a body in half, and he twisted a head completely around. Michael’s kills were a bit more grounded. Even if he himself was more supernatural in form. His kills were less fantastical. Somehow. Did that mean they could get away with more? No absolutely not. This is where the interesting part comes in. And also the fucked up part.

Keep in mind that these two films? Came out at the same time.

The New Blood went through 9 rounds with the MPAA. Each visit was given the threat of an X rating until more, and more cuts would be made.

The studio new this would happen, so they made a lot of changes themselves to preemptively strike the film.

The New Blood, believe it or not was deemed and called ‘too sadistic’, it was cruel and celebrated its violent nature. So it faced the blunt hand of the group.

Two franchises with unstoppable killing machines famous for their kills. Only one cut down as brutally as he cut down his own victims. So…

What happened?

Supreme bias in the war against horror.

Like in all wars. You declare death to all under one flag. All are equal to the flame. Until they aren’t. Exceptions are made in war, surrenders are accepted and some. Some are deemed acceptable even if the rest can be destroyed. Halloween was the exception.

See Halloween was seen as being more classy. It wasn’t mindless violence for the sake of, it wasn’t horror in its essence. It was criminal and clinical. Jason killed for the love of the game. Jason also had multiple sequels while Halloween had reached its 4th film. Given the films before this one? The franchise never went off like Jason did. It didn’t have a long history of nudity and excessive violence. It had two films, a third with cyborgs and snake mask.

Friday the 13th was a large thorn in the side of the MPAA, religious groups and everyone looking to tare down the horror genre. Michael was the silent shape that didn’t stand out in the same light. So he got a pass. An example of this, by no means one to take to the bank but its one I like drawing from in my experience. Like I’ve said before I grew up loving horror films as a kid. My dad hated horror. He couldn’t stand blood and guts of any kind. My mom would usually take me to see these films or watch them at home. She admitted to me she saw The Exorcist in theaters, confirmed what my dad and the news said that people were screaming, fainting, vomiting in the theater, claiming the film possessed them. My mom went with her friends to see it and she got in trouble. Because she was laughing her ass off during the movie.

My mom had to watch all the greats with me. Freddy, Jason, Michael, Leatherface. And she told me Michael was her favorite.

Freddy was funny to her, Jason was cheesy, Leatherface was boring. But Michael she liked. Because she’d taken criminal courses in college. She was a guard in the California state women’s prison and her claim to fame in our family was getting to watch over one of the Manson girls, who gifted my mom two paintings for her to give as gifts to her two kids she told my mom she was going to have. And me and my sister have now. She liked Michael Myers because he was more grounded to her. He felt like an actual serial killer, his movies(overall) were less silly and more realistic to her. They didn’t get insane like Jason did with the zombiness and excessive blood and nudity.

Hollywood and the MPAA shared this view. So because of this it got a literal pass. “You may be horror and we despise horror. But you are a different class of horror”, that’s legitimately what it came down too. Michael could get away with more. And so he did.

As was typical of Myers, he took his shots, the cuts from the MPAA and got up, stalking off.

What about the director and producers? What happened with them? Did they clash, was there differences of opinions that shifted things and could’ve derailed things?

Yes, and no. The two did have different visions, yes. But they compromised. They worked together unlike Paramount and their director. Dwight Little directed this film and he had a different vision for it, same as Carpenter. Akkad had a different vision as well and fought to keep what he wanted.

Carpenter wanted to go psychological and supernatural. Dwight was no different. He wanted to do a crime film. He wanted something like Manhunter. Silence of the Lambs. A procedural crime film where Loomis would track Myers like a real FBI agent. Michael would be more clinical in his kills, stalking his way to Jamie. He was gearing more for a crime/action film. Much like what was later pitched for Jason Takes Manhattan. Akkad wanted to stick with what he felt Michael was and should remain. A slasher.

The two fought back and fourth but as I said they ended up with a compromise. Dwight got to have Dr. Loomis stalking Michael and working with the police. He got to make more speeches about evil and do his thing. Michael made kills with purpose and worked his way to Jamie. Funnily enough though, When the film was done, and the MPAA made their cuts? Akkad and his film company felt the final product was tame. It needed more violence. Even after the cuts made, taking out excessive gore. The director felt it still wasn’t good enough and needed more.

Now. Hold on to your butts. I mean it, grab those glutes because you aren’t ready for this fun. Moustafa decided the film was too tame, he studio agreed. This meant reshoots. They hired an effects artist and director for these second-unit reshoots.

The man they hired? John Carl Buechlar. Who came fresh off of his last film, Friday the 13th The New Blood.

The same man, who’s work was shredded to bits by the MPAA. Was brought in to make The Return of Michael Myers bloodier.

Seriously.

John reshot the movie to bring gore back into the movie, after having all of his cut in his last movie. The thoughts going through that dudes head…man. He managed to reshoot key deaths from the film in such a way that the editing got the ‘point’ across, gave us the gore that was missing. While keeping it well within the MPAA standard for an R rating and not going overboard. They took what was learned with Jason and his 9 round slaughter session, and managed in one round with the MPAA to keep their R rating. It’s insane! Literally having your work shredded to bits, only to be called back to DO the very thing you got scorned for earlier. Strange days man. But he did it. He actually did it.

And it worked.

The movie ultimately proved a success, financially and with fans. Jason was cut down and Michael survived with a great twist ending, a good return to form, and a bright potential for further sequels down the road.

People are starting to rediscover this film and they really should. It marked a proper return to form that most franchises end up fumbling somehow. Even Freddy had his issues and he stayed with the franchise without getting a break unlike Jason. This film does have its hate though. You have as I mentioned at the start, fans who rejected it because it was done without the blessing of Carpenter. It also had people hating it for its twist. Not the ending twist. But the idea that Michael was Jamies uncle. People mistake this film as being the one to introduce the idea that Laurie was Michaels long lost sister and thus he had to kill Jamie because of her being family. But truth is this film is blameless for this. That little twist of family drama is entirely from Carpenter believe it or not. While writing Halloween 2, Carpenter said he and Hill struggled back and fourth with trying to explain events from the first film. He couldn’t justify why Michael was so intent on going after Laurie Strode. Again had this franchise been done today it’d be, likely easier to come up with. But back when these films weren’t franchises. When that just wasn’t a thing and sequels were still a novel thing. You didn’t have to flesh out your ideas while considering a broader universe for them. Carpenter jokingly admitted he got really. Really drunk and decided Laurie was Michael’s long lost sister, her last name was changed to hide her identity. Carpenter coined it and this film during its opening with Michael waking from his coma, overhears the paramedics talking about Laurie’s death and having a daughter whom was put up for adoption and name changed. Setting Michael off and on his merry killing spree.  The whole long lost sister subplot stuck for many sequels, ultimately being retconned by the time we get to the reboot Halloween trilogy. Honestly it wasn’t that bad a thing, until later in the series. For now? It was motive and it worked.

Everything worked for this film and despite its challenges. It brought Michael back. There was no way this wasn’t getting a follow up. Everyone wanted more, especially with that ending.

That’s when the trouble began, Great amazing, hilarious trouble. For something to have gone so right and been handed off so well. No one knew, or thought it could go so wrong.

But oh lordy did it.