First was Friday the 13th, Part 2; the second was Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers:
This has never been my favorite Friday the 13th film but it was the one chosen to celebrate having a Friday the 13th in October of 2023… and I do appreciate it more now than before. There’s an entire list of me seeing all the movies in the franchise (aside from Jason Goes to Hell… which is best left ignored) but I picked 2 in part to see if I could like it as much as many do on Letterboxd. Turns out, my rating was bumped up a bit.
The 12 minute opening does stand out in the series; that is in part due to how it makes little sense compared to the rest of the Jason lore but aside from that… for those not well-versed with their Jason movies, it’s the one where Mr. Voorhees wears a sack on his head because he must have seen The Town That Dreaded Sundown, Ginny the child psychology major is the lead girl, & because she has many fans, this is the one where Kirsten Baker is wearing those spectacular jean shorts and belly-bearing white Mickey Mouse t-shirt! Five years after the first film, a nearby camp attempts to open but a pack of horny teens are slaughtered in usually memorable fashion.
Could I still nitpick the movie? Of course. Yet, this time I was more entertained by those teenagers and young adults, as much as they tended to be caricatures. Crazy Ralph returns and so does the violin-driven score from Harry Manfredini; his scores were the backbone of the franchise. The rural New Jersey setting (filmed in rural Connecticut) and good atmosphere helped make this a fun time.
You know, Halloween 4 isn’t as bad as I’ve said in the past it was. I’ve reviewed the film long ago, where I noted at the time that it was even watched in like 2007 back to back with the 5th film on a cinema screen in a nationwide deal done by Cinedigm or some similar company. Between now and then things have changed. I’ve become even more miffed by what “modern horror” has become. More and more people have noted how great the opening minute or so is-I’ll explain in a moment-and this looks better when you compare it to the Halloween reboot trilogy. This had problems, but not like those movies.
I always liked the opening, even if that was never expressed in print until now. It is indeed a great way to set a Fall mood: a rural farm where various bric-a-brac related to the holiday are shown. It’s better seen in pictures than described, although the haunting sounds you hear during that minute are a perfect fit for the images so that’s actually preferable to anything else. It did put me in the mood as it reminded me of when I grew up in Illinois and I saw similar imagery during chilly days. Spoiler warning, but I hope to see at least one other horror film later in October filled w/ similar autumnal vibes.
The plot could still be nitpicked without much effort between the deus ex machina moments and the “oh, come on now!” moments. Yet I shouldn’t be too hard on the film. After all, Danielle Harris as Jamie Lloyd delivered quite the performance and she had a nice relationship w/ her foster sister Rachel, played by Ellie Cornell. It is funny that the burn makeup on Donald Pleasence isn’t consistent from scene to scene; however, the low-rent look of the Michael Myers (i.e. William Shatner) mask is hysterical… as is the movie’s idea to establish a gas station/restaurant setting as being in Illinois despite the obvious California exterior was by filling it with photos of Abraham Lincoln!
I don’t know why a hitchhiking Dr. Loomis was picked up by a Doomsday Prophet priest who only appears in that one scene but at least that character was a hoot. The plot is largely what you’d expect from hearing that Myers is on the loose again, this time after his little niece, with various goofy teens, random citizens in the state of Illinois & police officers as collateral damage. There’s also the “beer-bellies running around in the dark w/ shotguns” who were definitely better than the mob in Halloween Kills.
It's a film with a few gnarly kills that has some gore for the gorehounds, a few minutes of trick or treating are shown, a nice Alan Howarth score, and an intriguing ending which wasn’t followed up on afterwards but that’s not the fault of this motion picture, nor would it be the last time. Thus, I was happy to have my mind changed on the film. Note that my low opinion of the 5th film will NOT ever change; in fact, I’d be happy to never experience that rushed sequel ever again!
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