Editorials
10 Fun Facts You May Not Know About ‘Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers’
I may catch hell for this, but Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers is in no way as bad as some make it out to be, and quite frankly speaking, one of the better installments in the franchise series. Personally, I rank The Return a close second to Season of the Witch – another one I constantly get shit on for loving way too much but that’s another bag of dicks for another day – with of course the original two Halloween films tied for that top spot. However, this is all just my own little worthless, humble opinion and I surely expect for many to disagree, which is exactly how this should work. The wide world of the interwebs would be incredibly boring if we all agreed on everything, now wouldn’t it my fellow Pilgrims?
Because of my weird obsession along with the sacred blood oath I’ve taken to defend this movie until peace on Earth commences, and with the glorious awakening of fall that this installment so beautifully catches in the opening credits, I figured what better way to officially kick off the Halloween season with a few fun facts on Halloween 4. Hey, you’ll most likely be watching it several times courtesy of AMC’s Fearfest, and who knows, maybe you’ll learn something new and see the film through a new set of peelers!
10. Halloween 4 screenwriter Alan B. McElroy penned the entire script in under eleven days, just in time before the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike took effect- the longest recorded strike in WGA history lasting 155 days. McElroy also has a cameo in the film, serving as one of the state troopers at the ambulance crash site seen below on the right.
Image via Patti Pauley/ Bloody Disgusting
9. Melissa Joan Hart of “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” fame auditioned for the role of Jamie but was ultimately beat out by newcomer Danielle Harris who made her big screen debut in Halloween 4. Had Hart been chosen, Clarissa would have had a whole more explaining to do.
Image via Fanpop
8. Speaking of debut roles, Ellie Cornell who plays Jamie’s foster sister Rachel Carruthers, was also the actress’s first acting credit. Cornell also auditioned for another role that same year in a fellow little infamous horror franchise you may have heard of. Ellie had eyed and auditioned for Alice Johnson in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, but was beat out by Lisa Wilcox.
7. Vincent’s Drugstore, which served as Brady’s after school job and THE go-to-place in Haddonfield for the hippest Halloween costumes, was also used in Stephen King’s The Stand miniseries in 1994 and The Sandlot the previous year; making the mom and pop market sort of a historical filming location for awesome childhood films. Yes, The Stand television event is totally a childhood relic to me.
Image via Headhunters Horrorhouse
6. Dennis Etchison, who had written novelizations of Carpenter’s Halloween classics, originally wrote the first script for Halloween 4 in conjunction with Debra Hill and John Carpenter. The unused story placed Halloween 4 ten years after the events in Halloween II placing focus on Tommy Doyle and Lindsay Wallace in a sort of Footloose–style plot where Halloween is banned from Haddonfield. Of course, that doesn’t stop from Michael Myers showing up and showing the townsfolk what a real Halloween Havoc looks like- take that WCW.
However, of course, Carpenter and Hill left the project over differences with the studios and Etchison’s script never came to be.
5. In Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers, we got to see that adult version, and kind of creepy, Tommy Doyle. However, we never fully got an adult Lindsay Wallace like we may have seen in The Return. Not only was she the main character in Etchison’s unused script, turns out Rachel’s friend Lindsay who drove the trio to Vincent’s Drug was actually supposed to be revealed later in the film to be that Lindsay Wallace, and initially had more scenes written for the character but was cut for budget reasons. Well, technically it is her, the film just doesn’t acknowledge it and I’m sticking to that story.
Image via Fandom
4. In the schoolhouse scene when you see Jamie and Dr. Loomis scurrying up the stairs, there’s an awesome albeit a bit fuzzy shot of a paper cutout of Michael Myers on one of the classroom doors of the second floor. * I really tried to get a good shot for you readers. Unfortunately, I’m a much better rambler than a photographer.
Image via Patti Pauley/ Bloody Disgusting
3. Sheriff Meeker was originally supposed to die in the film via Man vs. Myers in a combat battle in the basement of the Meeker residence. The struggle would have resulted in a knocked over furnace engulfing the house in flames, which in turn put Jamie and Rachel on the rooftop. However, the effects deemed too much for the film’s budget and were cut and Meeker’s screen life saved in the process.
Image via Heard County
2. If you’ve seen Halloween 4 at least 100 times like I have, you know of what I speak when it comes to the scene that sticks out like a sore thumb with that blond-haired Michael Myers in the schoolhouse. That one little scene, in particular, is the one shot of George P. Wilbur in a backup “Ben Tramer” Myers mask that was leftover from the Halloween II film. Several stories have made the rounds giving an explanation for the California fun in the sun Myers, however, the one that rings the most truth is that it was simply a mistake from the crew and budget restraints didn’t allow for a reshoot. This is all according to Gorezone magazine via the January 1988 issue.
Image via Jack’s Attic
1. There’s a long lost deleted opening scene rumored to have been shot but never finished for Halloween 4 that explains Loomis’ rescue and survival of the hospital fire at the end of Halloween II by being blasted out of the building. It’s also said to contain a shot where Loomis attempts to stop the firemen from extinguishing Michael by yelling at the men, “Let him burn!”
I would pay all the money in the world to see that ladies and gents. Ok, that’s an exaggeration, maybe $20; and $20 well spent I’d say.
Maybe you knew some of this stuff, or perhaps you caught some new knowledge of the underrated Halloween installment today! Either way, let’s discuss below if you have some more trivia tidbits regarding the night he came home….again!
Image via Compass International
Having grown up in a religious family, Christian movie night was something that happened a lot more often than I care to admit. However, back when I was a teenager, my parents showed up one night with an unusually cool-looking DVD of a movie that had been recommended to them by a church leader. Curious to see what new kind of evangelical propaganda my parents had rented this time, I proceeded to watch the film with them expecting a heavy-handed snoozefest.
To my surprise, I was a few minutes in when Denzel Washington proceeded to dismember a band of cannibal raiders when I realized that this was in fact a real movie. My mom was horrified by the flick’s extreme violence and dark subject matter, but I instantly became a fan of the Hughes Brothers’ faith-based 2010 thriller, The Book of Eli. And with the film’s atomic apocalypse having apparently taken place in 2024, I think this is the perfect time to dive into why this grim parable might also be entertaining for horror fans.
Originally penned by gaming journalist and The Walking Dead: The Game co-writer Gary Whitta, the spec script for The Book of Eli was already making waves back in 2007 when it appeared on the coveted Blacklist. It wasn’t long before Columbia and Warner Bros. snatched up the rights to the project, hiring From Hell directors Albert and Allen Hughes while also garnering attention from industry heavyweights like Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.
After a series of revisions by Anthony Peckham meant to make the story more consumer-friendly, the picture was finally released in January of 2010, with the finished film following Denzel as a mysterious wanderer making his way across a post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book. Along the way, he encounters a run-down settlement controlled by Bill Carnegie (Gary Oldman), a man desperate to get his hands on Eli’s book so he can motivate his underlings to expand his empire. Unwilling to let this power fall into the wrong hands, Eli embarks on a dangerous journey that will test the limits of his faith.
SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
Judging by the film’s box-office success, mainstream audiences appear to have enjoyed the Hughes’ bleak vision of a future where everything went wrong, but critics were left divided by the flick’s trope-heavy narrative and unapologetic religious elements. And while I’ll be the first to admit that The Book of Eli isn’t particularly subtle or original, I appreciate the film’s earnest execution of familiar ideas.
For starters, I’d like to address the religious elephant in the room, as I understand the hesitation that some folks (myself included) might have about watching something that sounds like Christian propaganda. Faith does indeed play a huge part in the narrative here, but I’d argue that the film is more about the power of stories than a specific religion. The entire point of Oldman’s character is that he needs a unifying narrative that he can take advantage of in order to manipulate others, while Eli ultimately chooses to deliver his gift to a community of scholars. In fact, the movie even makes a point of placing the Bible in between equally culturally important books like the Torah and Quran, which I think is pretty poignant for a flick inspired by exploitation cinema.
Sure, the film has its fair share of logical inconsistencies (ranging from the extent of Eli’s Daredevil superpowers to his impossibly small Braille Bible), but I think the film more than makes up for these nitpicks with a genuine passion for classic post-apocalyptic cinema. Several critics accused the film of being a knockoff of superior productions, but I’d argue that both Whitta and the Hughes knowingly crafted a loving pastiche of genre influences like Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog.
Lastly, it’s no surprise that the cast here absolutely kicks ass. Denzel plays the title role of a stoic badass perfectly (going so far as to train with Bruce Lee’s protégée in order to perform his own stunts) while Oldman effortlessly assumes a surprisingly subdued yet incredibly intimidating persona. Even Mila Kunis is remarkably charming here, though I wish the script had taken the time to develop these secondary characters a little further. And hey, did I mention that Tom Waits is in this?
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
Denzel’s very first interaction with another human being in this movie results in a gory fight scene culminating in a face-off against a masked brute wielding a chainsaw (which he presumably uses to butcher travelers before eating them), so I think it’s safe to say that this dog-eat-dog vision of America will likely appeal to horror fans.
From diseased cannibals to hyper-violent motorcycle gangs roaming the wasteland, there’s plenty of disturbing R-rated material here – which is even more impressive when you remember that this story revolves around the bible. And while there are a few too many references to sexual assault for my taste, even if it does make sense in-universe, the flick does a great job of immersing you in this post-nuclear nightmare.
The excessively depressing color palette and obvious green screen effects may take some viewers out of the experience, but the beat-up and lived-in sets and costume design do their best to bring this dead world to life – which might just be the scariest part of the experience.
Ultimately, I believe your enjoyment of The Book of Eli will largely depend on how willing you are to overlook some ham-fisted biblical references in order to enjoy some brutal post-apocalyptic shenanigans. And while I can’t really blame folks who’d rather not deal with that, I think it would be a shame to miss out on a genuinely engaging thrill-ride because of one minor detail.
With that in mind, I’m incredibly curious to see what Whitta and the Hughes Brothers have planned for the upcoming prequel series starring John Boyega…
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
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