'' is a ''. 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 ,
2006
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
2006 Halloween 4 has received a mixed critical reception.
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-treat ing 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. Haddonfield's new Sheriff Ben Meeker (played by
Beau Starr ) and him 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 relentlesly. He falls into an abandoned mine shaft which 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.
''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
2006 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 beat 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.An
AMC special "Backdraft" a show about the behind the scenes info on the whole clarified all of this information
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
2006
Halloween 4 has received a negative critical reception. It was criticized much for not having anything "striking, interesting, or exceptionally memorable" besides the ending.''Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers Review'' at
Reelviews.net ;retrieved on
September 1 2006
- 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.
auditioned for the role of Rachel, but had to turn it down eventually due to scheduling conflictshttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095271/trivia
The shoot lasted about 41 days and Ellie Cornell and Danielle Harris were required to be on set for 36 of those days.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095271/trivia
- — ''' Dr. Sam Loomis ''' Pleasence reprises his role of Dr. Samual Loomis, he is the staff at Smith's Grove - Warren County Sanitarium, located in Smith's Grove, Illinois. During his time as a resident psychiatrist at the newly-completed sanitarium, his first patient would be the most significant of the Smith's Grove sanitarium, Michael Myers. He takes a vital role in stopping Michael's murderous rampage. He remains scarred from the explosion in the second movie and is even more obsessed with stopping Michael than before.
- — ''' Jamie Lloyd ''' Jamie Lloyd is an 8-year-old girl, and niece of Michael Myers and daughter of Laurie Strode. Strode and her husband (Jamie's father) died in a car accident several years earlier, and Lloyd has been living with her adopted sister (Rachel) and parents in the town of Haddonfield.
- — ''' Rachel Carruthers ''' Rachel Curruthers is the teenage step-sister of Jamie, the two have a close relationship, thus putting Rachel in jeopardy of being one of Michael's victims.
