Halloween 4

Though I do stand on my basis that Halloween 1, 2, and 3 is the beginning, middle, and end of the series for me, Halloween 4 is still a really good movie!

10 long years after that bloody night of Halloween 1978, Michael Myers awakens from a coma and travels back to Haddonfield to kill his niece Jamie Lloyd while the town tries to stop him. I love that this is a sequel that ups the stakes and how the story plays, Michael isn't going after a 19 year old girl he's after a little girl who's 9 years old, the whole town of Haddonfield knows who Michael is and tries to stop him despite losing almost the entire police force, it's story elements like that which build an enormous sense of dread and that is apparent from the opening credits. Those opening credits are incredible. I daresay it could even be better than the original Halloween credits, that atmospheric droning, and title cards that literally glow in the dark and yet surprisingly nicely decorated farm, even if you don't want to see the movie you have to see these credits. I surprisingly have never felt dread in a Halloween movie until this one, the filmmakers knew what they wanted, how to do it, and how to make it effective. Casting for example is excellent, though Donald Pleasance gets top billing the true star of this show is little Danielle Harris, and I have to say if I was a legit movie critic back in the day this movie and even more so Halloween 5 would make me proclaim Danielle Harris as the Princess Of Horror. We all know Vincent Price is the Prince Of Horror, but we never really got prominent female leads in multiple examples of the genre until around the 1980s. Everyone knows the term Scream Queen, but Danielle rises above that, she is the Princess Of Horror in my mind, her love and dedication to the genre has garnered her thousands of fans and I'm proud to be one of them. I have to say I watched documentaries on all the Halloween films recently, and I highly recommend you watch some on YouTube, it enhances the quality of these movies particularly Halloween 4. You get a real sense of love, dedication,and even family with this cast of people and these crew members, which hightened my enjoyment of the film even more. Halloween 4 is a return to form and done very well, and despite my love of the idea of a Halloween anthology series from 3 onwards, I like this movie a lot. Good atmosphere, incredible sense of dread around Michael, wonderful actors doing great work, made with love towards the series, and the high point of this week, for now. Next up Halloween 5!