The “Jamie Lloyd Timeline” has been scrubbed from the Halloween canon many years ago, but if you ask me, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers remains the best sequel of the franchise. Directed by Dwight H. Little, the sequel was penned by Alan B. McElroy and is the first installment of the Halloween series not to feature Jamie Lee Curtis in any way. By bringing back Michael Myers after the backlash of omitting him from Halloween III, the fourth film was also tasked with rebooting the series with the goal of saving the series, and as a new movie is currently playing in theaters, The Return has obviously succeeded in that regard.
Little and McElroy did have a challenge before them as they needed to continue the story established in the first two Halloween films. The biggest problem is that JLC’s career has blossomed tremendously over the years, and she has become too busy with other major roles in big-budget Hollywood films. This meant that Halloween 4 would have to move on without Laurie Strode, and figuring that the only logical way for Laurie to be absent in the sequel was for her to be dead, the choice was made to kill off the character off-screen.
Michael Myers did not get ahold of Laurie in this timeline, which establishes that Laurie had been killed in a car accident. However, she had a child prior to her death, with future horror legend Danielle Harris slipping into the role of Laurie’s daughter, Jamie Lloyd (named as such to honor Jamie Lee Curtis). Unfortunately for Jamie, Uncle Michael still has a penchant for killing his relatives, so now she serves as his primary target. Harris is now an iconic scream queen who’s appeared in many other Halloween films, including Rob Zombie’s reboot movies as a new Annie Brackett.
One wonderful aspect of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers is that it stayed somewhat grounded in reality. However, we do have to forget about Loomis shooting his eyes out in Halloween II. The film reveals that Michael somehow survived the hospital fire, but during an inmate transfer on Halloween (of all times), Michael escapes and returns to Haddonfield. Fortunately for the viewers, Loomis has also made it out of the fire alive, but not without some facial scars. Donald Pleasence’s performance in the film is among its highlights. Losing JLC was a huge blow, but Pleasence is as good as ever playing Loomis in part four, truly adding a lot to the enjoyment of the sequel.
RELATED: Jason Blum Says Blumhouse Won’t Remake ‘Halloween III’
The rest of the cast of characters and the attached death scenes are pretty great overall. One that particularly stands out is Bucky, the night shift worker at the local power plant in Haddonfield. His brief scene is one of the most entertaining death scenes of the series, and it’s one of the darkly comedic moments, along with the angry mob accidentally killing poor Ted Hollister. The film also captures the terror and suspense the Shape is known for, such as when he creeps out from under Jamie’s bed or methodically works his way through one victim after another in the Meeker house.
Let’s go ahead and talk about that mask. Indeed, the mask we see for the Boogeyman on the poster for The Return of Michael Myers does not look the same as the one shown in the movie. It could be said that the poster version is much more menacing, while the on-screen mask is more, let’s say, lifeless. As with every other sequel, there have been critics of the mask as it compares to the one seen in John Carpenter’s Halloween.
The mask made Michael no less scary to me watching the movie in my youth, and it wasn’t until mingling with horror fans on social media as an adult that I realized how much it had been criticized. True, it’s not the classic William Shatner mask many fans were accustomed to by that point, but it’s not the same mask after all, as Michael swiped a new one. I think when you look at how the mask would continue to evolve over the next several sequels, the Halloween 4 mask is just fine, essentially carrying over the blank, pale stare that the Shape is known for without just being the exact same mask.
RELATED: Bob Odenkirk Has a Secret Cameo in ‘Halloween Kills’
We should all also agree that Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers has the best opening credits sequence of the entire series. Those beautiful shots perfectly set the tone for the film in a way that none of the other installments have been able to match quite as well. I was too young to catch its original theatrical release, though I can only imagine the cheers that must have been heard in the audience when “The Return of Michael Myers” flashed on the screen.
Finally, we must address the phenomenal ending of Halloween 4. With the Boogeyman seemingly stopped, the nightmare appeared to be over, but Michael’s actions have apparently impacted his young niece. Mimicking the way Michael killed his sister many years prior, Jamie dons a clown mask and stabs her foster mother with a pair of scissors. Loomis shouts in despair as a bloody Jamie looks down upon him from the top of the stairs. It is one of the most haunting moments of the Halloween series and arguably the most impactful ending. Of course, Halloween 5 managed to undo all of that instantly.
The Jamie Lloyd Trilogy gets more convoluted with each step as we learn more about Michael’s murderous origins and the Thorn cult. The whole storyline was scrapped entirely once JLC returned to the series for Halloween H20, and the rest is history. Even so, Halloween 4 will always hold that special place in this fan’s heart.
If there’s only time to watch one Halloween movie for the spooky holiday this year, it will be The Return of Michael Myers, the best follow-up to the original Halloween.
The central movies are good precisely BECAUSE Jamie Lee wasn’t there. She has been a drag on the entire franchise for decades. Laurie Strode really only appeared once in the series. In 2, she was drugged and out of it for most of the film. And ever since, she has played something that bears no resemblance to the shy, awkward, good-natured girl from the ’78 classic. I have never REMOTELY understood her appeal. She is crass and vulgar, and ugly as sin on top of that. Give me Ellie Cornell ANY day.