Apparently both Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) and Micheal Myers (George P. Wilbur – who doesn’t have the same sense of menace) survived the explosive events of Halloween II, and Halloween, despite the way both films ended, both characters seem to keep coming back.

Following the franchise stumble of Halloween III, though it has gone on to be a cult favourite, Halloween 4 brought back Loomis and Myers. This time, it’s ten years later, and Micheal is returning to Haddonfield, determined to hunt down his surviving family.

Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is seen only in photographs, and it’s suggested that Jamie (Danielle Harris) is Laurie’s daughter. She’s been adopted by the Carruthers family, and despite being loved, her older sister Rachel (Ellie Cornell) has had her Halloween plans upset by Jamie, her nightmares about a boogeyman, and their parents going out (on Halloween).

So Rachel is stuck with Jamie, and her would-be boyfriend, Brady (Sasha Jenson) is with another girl, and all of that is backdrop to the fact that Micheal is back in Haddonfield, and within minutes the bodies are piling up, and Loomis is in pursuit.

And what we’re given as a consequence is a paint-by-numbers slasher film, and a moderately succesful entry into the Halloween franchise. It’s not great or horrible, it’s just bland. And while fans may or may not have taken the return of Micheal and Loomis in stride, it just doesn’t have the pop of Halloween II, and definitely does not stand up to the original classic.

There are two highlights to the film; Pleasance who, as Loomis, has shifted from being a pyschologist to proclaiming that Micheal is not a man, but is evil itself and Danielle Harris as little Jamie, a ten year-old, became the first in a new generation of scream queens.

As the story progresses, racing through its hour and a half runtime, a number of the drunk townsfolk come together in an attempt to hunt down Micheal, but of course it will all come down to little Jamie and her confrontation with Myers, but also with who she is.

It’s entertaing, it’s not outstanding, it’s always nice to hear John Carpenter’s Halloween theme, but this is a sequel that didn’t need to happen, but much like Freddy and Jason, Micheal kept coming back for more, no matter what the script says about his demise.

Wilbur’s performance doesn’t have the same power and menace that Nick Castle’s turn as the Shape/Micheal did and the film doesn’t make the character as horrifying as he was in the previous entries. He’s a shadow of his former self, and no matter where the tale goes from here, it’s no where near as captivating as Carpenter’s original film.

I wonder how bad the next one is?