Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)

Directed by Dwight H. Little. Starring Ellie Cornell, Danielle Harris, Donald Pleasence, Beau Starr, Sasha Jenson, Kathleen Kinmont, George P. Wilbur, Karen Alston, Michael Pataki, Jeff Olson, Leslie L. Rohland, Nancy Borgenicht. David Jansen. [R]

After taking a ten-year nap, Michael Myers is back in action, his sights set on his niece (Harris), the daughter of the now-deceased Laurie Strode. A slightly-scarred Dr. Loomis (Pleasence) also returns, having miraculously survived the explosion that should have killed him and Michael at the end of part two, and his grasp on sanity is as flimsy as the script that sets up more soon-to-be-corpses to get in the Shape’s path until the inevitable final showdown. A mostly plodding and overly formulaic sequel with a few unintentional laughs (e.g., Loomis “confronting” Michael in a diner that weirdly has about a half-dozen pictures of Abe Lincoln on the wall), and no scares or kills worth recalling…until the cliffhanger ending that’s a legitimately intriguing shock. Too bad it was tossed aside for the inevitable fifth chapter (or should it be fourth?). Two minor characters are supposed to be the kids (now teenagers) from the first Halloween that Laurie was babysitting, but the movie makes no effort to call attention to this or give them anything to do.

39/100