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Halloween 4
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Dwight H. Little
Produced by	Moustapha Akkad Paul Freeman
Written by	Screenplay: Alan B. McElroy Story: Danny Lipsius Larry Rattner Benjamin Ruffner Alan B. McElroy
Starring	Donald Pleasence Ellie Cornell Danielle Harris Beau Starr George P. Wilbur Sasha Jenson
Music by	Alan Howarth
Cinematography	Peter Lyons Collister
Editing by	Curtiss Clayton
Distributed by	Galaxy International Releasing
Release date(s)	October 21, 1988
Running time	88 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$5 million
Gross revenue	$17,768,757
Preceded by	Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Followed by	Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers is a 1988 independently-released horror film and the 4th in the Halloween series. The film revolves around Michael Myers once more after his absence in Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Directed by Dwight H. Little, the film stars Ellie Cornell as Rachel Carruthers, Donald Pleasence as Dr. Loomis, Danielle Harris as Jamie Lloyd, and George P. Wilbur as Michael Myers.

The central plot focuses on Michael Myers 10 years after his 1978 killing spree in Haddonfield, Illinois. It is revealed he is comatose and barely alive at the Ridgemont Federal Sanitarium, and his sister Laurie Strode has been killed in a car accident. While Michael is being transferred to Smith's Grove, he escapes and goes to Haddonfield where he attempts to kill his niece Jamie Lloyd—revealed to be Laurie's daughter.^[1]

The film was a moderate box office success, an improvement on the unsuccessful Halloween III, but a failure compared to the original Halloween, and the 1981 sequel. Produced on a budget of only $5 million, the film opened in 1,679 theaters, and grossed $6,831,250 in its opening weekend achieving a total domestic gross of $17,768,757 in the United States, becoming the fifth best performing film in the Halloween series.^[2] Halloween 4 has received a mixed critical reception.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Production 2.1 Direction 2.2 Writing 2.3 Casting 3 Reception 4 Trivia 5 References 6 External links

Michael Myers has been in a coma since the events of Halloween II, when his massacre was stopped by Dr. Sam Loomis and Laurie Strode. At the beginning of this film, Myers is being transferred from Ridgemont Federal Sanitarium to Smith's Grove Sanitarium. He awakens when he hears that Laurie Strode, his sister, is deceased, but her daughter is alive and well in Haddonfield. He kills the ambulance crew and escapes. Dr. Loomis races to Haddonfield in an attempt to bring Myers' killing spree to an end once and for all.

In Haddonfield, his niece Jamie Lloyd (played by Danielle Harris), has been adopted by the Carruthers family. She has frequent nightmares about Michael, though she does not know who he is. On Halloween night, Jamie goes out trick-or-treating dressed as a clown (a costume that is very similar to the one worn by young Michael Myers at the beginning of the first Halloween film) with her teenage foster sister Rachel Carruthers (played by Ellie Cornell). Her uncle, Michael, follows them.

Dr. Loomis, meanwhile, arrives in Haddonfield after an exhausting journey, and contacts the police department to inform them of Myers' disappearance. He and Haddonfield's new Sheriff Ben Meeker (played by Beau Starr) begin to search the town for Michael and Jamie. They find that Myers has singlehandedly annihilated the entire police force. The girls hide in the Sheriff's house, where Michael follows them. They escape and leave Haddonfield, but Myers hides in the back of the truck that they use to escape. The sheriff's deputies catch up to them and shoot Michael relentlessly. He falls into an abandoned mine shaft which supposivly collapses on him when the deputies throw dynamite down the shaft.

Back at the Carruthers house, Jamie puts on her clown mask and stabs her foster mother. It turns out that she was possessed by Myers' rage. Dr. Loomis attempts to shoot her, but Sheriff Meeker prevents it. The film ends with a shot of Jamie, wearing the clown mask, holding bloody scissors. This shot is very similar to the shot near the beginning of the original Halloween, where young Michael Myers is seen holding a bloody knife after killing his older sister, Judith. Except he has a mild shocked look and she doesn't.

Halloween 4 was directed by Dwight H. Little. This was only his 4th film to direct, and was his first and only time to be involved in the Halloween series.^[3] After viewing a rough edit it was decided that the movie was too soft, so they brought in special effects wizard John Carl Buechler for one day of extra "blood" filming. The thumb in the forehead and the redneck's head getting twisted were both done by him.

The film was shot in 42 days in and around Salt Lake City, Utah.

The original screenplay featured Jamie killing her adoptive older sister in similar fashion to how Michael killed his older sister, Judith, in the first Halloween. Alan B. McElroy wrote the script in 11 days in order to complete it before the writer's strike.

John Carpenter was actually first approached by Cannon Films to do a Halloween 4 around 1986 after the studio produced The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Although the idea to do a Leatherface vs. Michael Myers movie was rejected, it did spark interest in reviving the series. Soon after, Carpenter and fellow writer Dennis Etchison began writing the script for the fourth Halloween. While a direct sequel to Halloween & Halloween II, the script did not feature a living, breathing Michael Myers. More of a ghost story, the fear and angst of the adults in Haddonfield allowed The Shape to reappear, causing a kind of "psychic disturbance" in the town. However, Akkad rejected it, calling it "too cerebral" and insisting any new Halloween movie must feature Myers as a flesh and blood killer. At this point, Carpenter washed his hands of the series and sold all of his remaining rights to Akkad.^[4]

Donald Pleasence is the only actor in Halloween 4 to return from the original and its sequel—aside from him, it's an all new cast. Initially, Melissa Joan Hart of Clarissa Explains it All and Sabrina The Teenage Witch fame had auditioned for the role of Jamie.^[5] Also, actress Rebecca Schaeffer auditioned for the role of Rachel, but had to turn it down eventually due to scheduling conflicts.^[6]

The shoot lasted about 41 days and Ellie Cornell and Danielle Harris were required to be on set for 36 of those days.^[7]

Produced on a budget of only $5 million, the film opened in 1,679 theaters, and grossed $6,831,250 in its opening weekend achieving a total domestic gross of $17,768,757 in the United States, becoming the fifth best performing film in the Halloween series.^[2]

Halloween 4 has received a moderate (sometimes positive) critical reception. It was criticized for not having anything "striking, interesting, or exceptionally memorable" besides the ending.^[8]

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

Leslie L. Rohland played an unsolved name problem. When Rachel talks about her character in the car she says, "Jamie, you remember Lindsey, don't you?" or "Jamie, you remember Leslie, don't you?" Fans say that the name is Lindsey Wallace from the first film but in the credits, it is billed as Leslie. In the DVD commentary, the writer of the film states that it was his intention for the character to be Lindsey Wallace.^{[citation needed]}

• Official site
• Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers at the Internet Movie Database
• Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers at All Movie Guide

v • d • e The Halloween series
Films	Halloween • II • Season of the Witch • The Return of Michael Myers • The Revenge of Michael Myers • The Curse of Michael Myers • H20 • Resurrection • Halloween (2007)
Characters	Michael Myers • Samuel J. Loomis • Laurie Strode • Jamie Lloyd • Other characters
People	Moustapha Akkad • John Carpenter • Debra Hill • Rick Rosenthal • Irwin Yablans • Rob Zombie
Media tie-ins	Halloween: 25 Years of Terror • Comic Books • Novel Adaptations • Video Game
Related topics	Curse of Thorn • Haddonfield • Smith's Grove - Warren County Sanitarium

v • d • e American films of the 1980s
1980 •1981 •1982 •1983 •1984 •1985 •1986 •1987 •1988 •1989