Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers – WTF Happened to This Horror Movie?

The Halloween franchise gets a lot of attention during the month of October, and while fans are revisiting the past films and watching the new one, Halloween Ends (read our review HERE), in theatres and on the Peacock streaming service, we decided this was a good time to dig into the making of one of the Halloween films with a new episode of our WTF Happened to This Horror Movie? video series. The movie being covered this time around is my personal favorite of the sequels, 1988’s Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (watch it HERE) – and you can find out all about the film’s development and production by checking out the video embedded above!

Directed by Dwight H. Little from a screenplay by Alan B. McElroy (with Danny Lipsius, Larry Rattner, and Benjamin Ruffner receiving story credit), Halloween 4 has the following synopsis, lifted from the back of the VHS release:

Ten years ago he changed the face of Halloween. Now he’s back.

The most ghoulish mass murderer in history has been in a coma for ten years. But tonight, he’s awake – and Halloween has never been more terrifying. While being moved from a maximum security prison for the criminally insane Michael Myers regains consciousness and escapes. A trail of carnage leads Dr. Loomis, a medical professional all too familiar with Michael’s case, to the small Illinois town that was the scene of Michael’s ghastly crimes in the past. There, surrounded by murder and destruction, plunged into darkness by a power failure, left with virtually no hope of rescue, two young women find themselves trapped in their own home, stalked by the most dangerous creature alive. The latest installment in the most popular horror series in Hollywood History, Halloween 4 may very well be the most nightmarish of all.

That synopsis isn’t quite accurate (the “two young women” aren’t “trapped in their own home”), but it’s fun nonetheless.

Halloween 4 stars Donald Pleasence, Ellie Cornell, Danielle Harris, Michael Pataki, Beau Starr, Kathleen Kinmont, Sasha Jenson, Gene Ross, Carmen Filpi, and Leslie L. Rohland, with Tom Morga as Michael Myers in some scenes and George P. Wilbur as Michael Myers in others.

This is what the WTF Happened to This Horror Movie series is all about:

Hollywood has had its fair share of historically troubled productions. Whether it was casting changes, actor deaths, fired directors, in-production rewrites, constant delays, budget cuts or studio edits, these films had every intention to be a blockbuster, but were beset with unforeseen disasters. Sometimes huge hits, sometimes box office bombs. Either way, we have to ask: WTF Happened To This Horror Movie?

The Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers episode of WTF Happened to This Horror Movie? was Written by Cody Hamman, Edited by Paul Bookstaber, Narrated by Jason Hewlett, Produced by Lance Vlcek and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

A couple of the previous episodes of the show can be seen below. To see more, head over to our JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!

What do you think of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers? Let us know by leaving a comment!