Favorite Halloween Movie

   "Maybe nobody knows how to stop him."- Dr. Loomis

For every horror fan, 1988 was a spectacular year. I've always remembered it for being a personally difficult year but talking about these films reminds me of the great times I had going to the movies that year. The top horror franchises for me were Friday The 13th, A Nightmare On Elm Street and Halloween. In that order. 1988 was the first year I was allowed to see horror movies in the theater. The fun started in the spring with the return of Jason Vorhees in Friday The 13th Part VII: The New Blood. In the late summer, Freddy Krueger was back haunting dreams in A Nightmare On Elm Street Part 4: The Dream Master. Along with the changing leaf colors fall brought with it Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers.
   

As the story goes I watched the first three Halloween movies on video from the floor at the foot of my Aunt's bed. Halloween 3 Season Of The Witch was the creepiest of them all. It was also the one I was most familiar with. I first watched parts of Season Of The Witch on a special weekend when it aired as the Friday night movie on local television. You never knew what you were gonna get on Friday night t.v. Jaws, The Shining or Splash. Every Friday was different. I can tell you the feature film was on at 8, local news at 11 and Friday night videos at 11:30. Uptown Girl and Thriller. Everything about Season Of The Witch from the poster to the story made it the perfect 80s Halloween film. On the night my Aunt and I did our Halloween rentals I remember her warning me that parts 1 and 2 were nothing like part 3. She was right. In my mind, parts 1 and 2 were like Friday The 13th. A crazy guy stalking about with a big knife and spooky mask killing as many teenagers as they can. Even though the Halloween series began before the Friday series Friday The 13th was so popular it was the bar I held all slasher films against. Jason was my dude. There wasn't much excitement for Michael.
   

The weekend Halloween 4 The Return Of Michael Myers released in October 1988 I sat with my cousin in the Marlow Heights Cinema at Iverson Mall eager to see a return that I didn't find necessary. Just going out to watch a popular horror movie was always exciting to me. I wanted bragging rights when I went back to school on Monday. That night I got so much more. This movie was great. All of the characters were new to the series except for Dr. Loomis. Michael's sister Laurie Strode is no longer with us, but her daughter Jamie is now the target of Michael. Jamie being so young with very little means of protecting herself gave the scenes maximum tension. Why is he now hellbent on terrorizing such innocence. Thankfully the movie never answers that question but simply floats some ideas. I was thoroughly entertained and tucked deep into my seat through the whole flick.
   

The ending of the movie brings everything full circle. To this day the best ending of any Halloween movie. That was a soap opera status cliffhanger. Two things I needed to do after that finish. Go rent Halloween parts 1 and 2 again, and dream about how fantastic Halloween part 5 was going to be...Oops.
   

Halloween 4 The Return Of Michael Myers really prompted me to revisit the previous movies and appreciate how haunting and creepy this character is. The guy spends the first two films preying on his sister. Years after she has passed from a car accident, he awakes from a coma and hunts his niece. Before I watched this movie Michael was simply slasher guy that was not as "cool" as Jason. I was finally able to separate Jason Vorhees from Michael Myers through this story and for that reason, Halloween 4 The Return Of Michael Myers is my favorite Halloween movie.