Ten years after the events of "Halloween" and "Halloween II" (which both took place on Halloween night, 1978), Michael Myers escapes captivity a second time and again returns to his hometown in Illinois with a direly concerned Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) hot on his trail. Myers goes after his sister's daughter, Jamie, and is willing to take down the whole town of Haddonfield if necessary."Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" (1988) ranks with the best 80's slasher flicks and is actually superior to the somewhat overrated progenitor of the genre, "Halloween" (1978). Whereas the original "Halloween" was an effective low-key but classy slasher and deserves credit for starting the craze, it wasn't without flaws and "Halloween 4" (1.) fixes those issues and (2.) improves upon its strengths.For instance, while the original movie takes place during Halloween in Illinois, you certainly wouldn't know this by the footage since it clearly looks like summer. This movie, by contrast, definitely looks like it takes place during the fall and has an all-around superior Halloween ambiance with trick-or-treaters and so forth. Another example is the original's lack of drive and the fact that Michael only kills a few teenagers and doesn't seem all that formidable whilst this film features a mounting build-up of suspense and potently conveys Michael's deadly formidableness while upping the ante in the body count.Other advances includes the lack of lame dialogue (like in the original when the girls were walking home) and Dr. Loomis has much more interesting things to do than lurk in the bushes by the Myer's dilapidated abode speaking ridiculously ominous words. When Loomis speaks portentously in this entry there's great reason to believe him (take, for instance, what happens to the Police Station).Yet another (arguable) improvement is the women: Although Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Kyes (Loomis) and PJ Soles were fine in the original, "Halloween 4" has winsome Ellie Cornell as Rachel and hottie Kathleen Kinmont as Kelly and the movie wisely takes advantage of their presence in a classy way. Rachel may not strike you as anything special at first, but as the story progresses she emerges as an attractive and noble final girl.The "Friday the 13th" franchise debuted two years after "Halloween" in 1980; and by October, 1988, when this film was released, the "Friday" franchise had no less than seven films under its belt. Meanwhile, "Halloween 4" was only the third Michael Myers movie (keeping in mind that "Halloween 3" was curiously disconnected from the Michael Myers mythos)."Friday the 13th" of course ripped-off "Halloween," but simultaneously added original components to the genre (e.g. summer camp and everything revolving around it, easily the best females in the slasher genre, as well as an increasingly devolving supernatural killing machine). "Halloween 4" sort of gets its revenge by borrowing from the "Friday" films; for instance, the character of Jamie Lloyd and what happens to her mirrors Tommy Jarvis' story arc from 3-4 years earlier. Perhaps the greatest revenge is that "Halloween 4" is better than any of the "Friday" sequels after "Part 2" and is at least as effective as "Part 2."The original "Halloween" was shot in the Los Angeles area (South Pasadena & Hollywood) while this one was filmed in the Salt Lake City, Utah, region. Like the first film, it's streamlined and doesn't overstay its welcome.GRADE: A

I prefer part 3 over this one because I found part 3 to be more enjoyable. Good story, good characters, good pacing and neat script. The reason why it's not groundbreaking to me because it's still the same movie to me. It's not the best but it's enjoyable.

After the interesting misfire that was "Halloween 3: Season of the Witch," the producer decided it was time to return the "Halloween" franchise to its roots. Released in 1988, the above film succeeds in doing just that and is a worthy sequel to the previous films with the Michael Myers character. Also returning was Donald Pleasence as Dr. Sam Loomis. The "Halloween" films just wouldn't be the same without him, he plays a considerable role in giving these movies their cult status. It is now nearly Halloween once more. Ten years have elapsed since the time when crazed killer Michael Myers attempted to kill his sister Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). Both he and Sam Loomis were assumed to have died in the fire at the end of "Halloween 2." Loomis is now facially scarred and walks with a stick. Myers is in a comatose state at the beginning of the film. He is now subject to Federal law and is due to be tried if he should regain consciousness. As is to be expected, Myers is roused from his dormant state and embarks upon his latest rampage of murder. He is making his way back to Haddonfield so he can murder his niece, Jamie (Danielle Harris). Hot on his trail is Loomis who needs to convince the police that the tragedies of before might occur again. It is a race against time for Loomis in attempting to protect Jamie from her psychopathic uncle. The pace never lets up and there are some eerie and effective scenes. The plot is kept quite streamlined which is good. As soon as darkness descends, the danger is upon the town and upon Jamie. Quite a number of people are killed and Myers shows no mercy toward them. With Loomis, he makes an exception. He has a few opportunities to kill him but for some reason, he doesn't. Myers hurts Loomis for sure but never uses much force in finishing him. Could it be that he has a speck of human feeling for his former Doctor? I was a bit disappointed with how Michael Myers looks in this film. The mask he wears, is nowhere near as frightening as in the first film. In the 1978 movie, I thought I was gazing upon a mask where the eyes looked like two dark,bottomless pits. In this movie, the mask looks like something out of a children's toy store. He didn't look physically imposing enough as before either. Even so, it is something I can overlook. The dialogue is actually quite good for a film of this kind. Every scene refers to the plot in some way. Acting honours go to Donald Pleasence and Danielle Harris. They only one proper scene together but it is an effective one. Harris gives her character a lot of depth and conviction, especially when she is made all to aware of her situation. The ending includes a suitably shocking twist, I shalln't say what it is. "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" helps to maintain the style of the first two films well. It isn't surprising that a fifth "Halloween" film was commissioned as the fourth one was being made.

This movie begins with the transfer of the psychopath named "Michael Myers" (George P. Wilbur) in an ambulance from a mental institution to a state-run facility on the night of October 30, 1988. Not unsurprisingly, even though he is fully medicated, he manages to escape and the first place he heads for is the nearby town of Haddonfield where he had committed a number of grisly murders ten years earlier. Yet, even though in the previous movies (specifically Halloween I & II) he had sets his sights on his sister, this time he decides to target his young 7 year-old niece "Jamie Lloyd" (Danielle Harris) instead. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that--even though I criticized Halloween III for departing from the Michael Myers theme—this film doesn't quite measure up to the first two movies either. For starters, it doesn't have nearly as much suspense or drama and the ending is somewhat botched as well. But even so it wasn't necessarily bad and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.