Halloween 4 — Film Review
Six years after the debacle known as Halloween III: Season of the Witch, the franchise switched gears and released Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. As the title suggests, the film brought back its serial killer and dropped him in Haddonfield to do what he does best. This film follows Michael as he escapes the insane asylum and returns home to find and kill his niece, Jamie. The daughter of his sister, Laurie, Jamie, now lives with foster parents and a foster sister because her parents died a year ago. As Jamie readies for Halloween, Myers returns for the festivities.
This is the first film in the franchise to have no involvement from John Carpenter, its creator. Carpenter wanted more for the franchise than just a cheap slasher series, and while several of the later films suffer from this title, I don’t believe this film is one of them. I thought the plot of this film was fantastic, and I loved watching Jamie struggle to free herself of the Myers curse. A friend of mine once said children make horror films exponentially scary, and I have to say I agree. Children are viewed as honest and pure, which makes them ideal candidates for a horror film. The audience sympathizes easily with children and believes in their fear, which heightens the viewer’s fear. Children also make great antagonists in horror films, but that’s an argument for a different movie.
