Michael Myers returns to his hometown to kill his niece, Jamie, and anyone else that gets in his way. Also returning is Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence), who along with the police and Jamie’s foster sister, try to save Jamie and stop Michael.
Remember how in Halloween 2, Michael died, getting shot and then burned? Well, funny thing, he didn’t. And remember how Dr. Loomis died? Well, guess what, he didn’t. John Carpenter, a director with some integrity, knew when to quit, but the producers, lacking integrity, didn’t. So, after Carpenter’s attempt at something different in Halloween 3 failed to sell, the producers brought us Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.
It turns out that Michael has been in one of those special magical comas for the past ten years. You know the type, where you don’t move but can hear everything. Either that, or he’s really patient and has been playing possum all this time. Whatever the case, he hears that he has a niece, and away he goes. To make it easy for him, the asylum decides to transfer him on October 30th to…to…ummmm. Well, they were transferring him because…because… OK, the only reason I can think of for the transfer was to make it easier for him to escape, which he does, by putting his thumb through a guy’s forehead (yes, that’s right, he uses the thumb of death).
Soon Michael is back in Illinois, where all small towns are filled with overweight, flannel-wearing rednecks who carry shotguns wherever they go. Michael must kill his niece because… Alright, I have another confession; I have no clue why Michael needs to kill his family members. But I’m sure the only reason the producers could come up with is it causes Michael to meander about killing folks. Anyway, Michael kills some folks, and for a change, the police listen when Dr. Loomis starts up with his “He’s evil, eeeeevil!” mantra. Of course listening changes nothing as they die all over the place. Partly, this is due to Michael’s Star Trek transporter unit which he must have somewhere as it’s the only way to explain how he can walk slowly and still not only catch a speeding pickup, but end up on it. Well, he could have sprouted wings and a propeller.
The film did surprise me with the best ending of the franchise (not the falling down a mineshaft thing—yes, Michael falls down a mineshaft because those are everywhere in Illinois). They actually come up with an entertaining way to continue the series, a way which is promptly ignored by the next film. So much for the only entertaining part of the movie.
The other films in the series are Halloween, Halloween 2, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Halloween 5, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Halloween: Resurrection.