At the outset of this installment (really the third film in the Michael Myers saga) we are told that the Shape has survived the fire at the end of Halloween II and has been in a high security psychiatric hospital for another ten years. He is transferred for poorly explained reasons, and escapes, again. Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) also survived (amazing!) and he rushes back to Haddonfield. We learn that Laurie Strode died in a car accident and the action then focuses on her troubled little girl Jamie (Danielle Harris) and her adoptive family. Myers destroys a police station and much of the town while trying to find his niece.

A veritable remake of the first film, Dwight Little’s Halloween 4 is decidedly average.  Points in its favor are the generally credible performances, especially by Pleasance (who it must be mentioned was unconvincing in Halloween II) and the somewhat creepy nature of the film. Factors that pull the film down are significant declines in photography, direction, and plotting. The notion that Myers and Loomis survived the fire is ludicrous and the film never really stops to explain how Myers is able to accomplish so much in so little time. The first Halloween had many merits but an important one was that it was largely plausible. Myers kills a few teenagers, he has no obvious super powers, and nothing really stands out as fantastical (until, of course, the very end). Here, that world is left behind. Halloween 4 ends up being an average, surprisingly bloodless slasher film.  ✰ ✰.

MJM  02-13-2012