- Is there a greater meaning behind this mask,
seen in the Halloween display in the background
of the pharmacy in Halloween 4?
Maybe, just maybe. (swooshing)
The last time on Things You Missed,
we talked about the strange, subversive secrets
that may change the way you look at Halloween III.
That movie, as unique as it may be, was not well-received.
It was the lowest-grossing Halloween movie,
and it did even worse with critics.
For those in charge of the IP, it was time to go
into damage control. (bubbles popping)
The idea of making each movie a unique standalone story
set on Halloween was abandoned in favor
of resurrecting Michael Myers, but while the producers
wanted to forget about Season of the Witch, the artists
behind Halloween 4 may have felt a little bit differently.
Take the school scene, for example.
Now, this may be a total coincidence,
but there are three doors with Halloween decorations
in this set, and they are the big Halloween three,
skeleton, witch and jack-o'-lantern.
We don't see the masks themselves,
but we do curiously see this exact combination
of Halloween avatars later on at one of the houses
that Jamie trick-or-treats at.
That brings me to this mask, which may look
a little bit familiar if you've seen Halloween III.
It almost seems to be a zombie-like version
of the villainous mask-maker, Conal Cochran.
There may be another mask
that references Halloween III, seen right here.
You may remember one of the symptoms
of the microchip
being distributed in the Silver Shamrock masks was for bugs
and snakes to pour out of the children's skulls.
Of course, most of what we see in Halloween 4
is designed to make us think more about
the initial two movies, Halloween and Halloween II.
To learn how the kills
in this movie were inspired from Michael Myers' past,
stick around to the end of this video.
(intense music)
When writing Halloween II, John Carpenter and Debra Hill
made sure that Michael did not survive,
because they felt they had creatively
exhausted the character and wanted
to open the door to other Halloween stories.
But, like their protagonist, Sam Loomis,
even they could not kill Michael Myers.
Welcome to Things You Missed.
In this episode, we cover The Return of Michael Myers.
Literally, that's the name of the movie.
Once again, I am joined by a guy I found
on the street who claims to have seen
a couple of Halloween movies, Jimmy Champane.
- Halloween sure is a funny way to say Scream 3.
- Over the years, there have been a number of soft reboots,
like Halloween H20: 20 Years Later,
and what I sometimes call Halloween H40.
Looking back on Return, I'm tempted
to start calling it Halloween H10.
Releasing and taking place 10 years after the original,
it tells a story very similar
to the initial Haddonfield murders,
but still technically more of a sequel than a remake,
setting the standard for decade anniversaries going forward.
In fact, on this 10th anniversary,
the Michael Myers character would be 31 years old.
10/31 is Halloween.
As a soft reboot, there are a lot
of parallels to Halloween (1978),
some of which were situated very creatively.
Let's get in to the things you missed.
- I've only seen that movie about 1000 times,
how could I not have noticed that?
(creepy music) (blades slicing)
(swooshing)
- We began on a rainy night with a patient transfer,
not unlike the opening of the first movie.
I do not know why they always choose
the day before Halloween to move him,
it never works out well for them.
I imagine after 10 years of being
an invalid, the idea of Michael Myers
as an actual threat kind of faded into legend
and the transfer personnel let their guard down.
- How many bodies did you find?
- [Policeman] It's hard to tell, they're all chewed up.
- What, so you can't count them?
- They also subtly let us know that Laurie Strode,
the final girl from the past two movies,
was killed off-screen
by simply mentioning that Michael only has
one living relative, his niece, Jamie.
Yeah, they kinda do Laurie dirty here.
- I think only Alex Browning could ever relate.
- They do kind of honor Laurie though,
by naming Jamie after the actress, Jamie Lee Curtis,
who, of course, played Laurie.
Man, if you guys don't know that Jamie Lee Curtis
played Laurie at this point in the series,
there's no helping you.
- Jamie is supposed to be eight years old,
meaning that Laurie must've given birth to her
pretty soon after escaping Michael Myers.
She would've been no more (baby crying)
than 19 when she had the baby.
On the bright side, I guess she got
over Ben Tramer pretty quick.
- The next time someone tries to tell you Halloween (2018)
didn't need to happen, remind them that it brought
Ben Tramer back to life. (angelic music)
- When we're first introduced to Jamie, she's in her room,
having scary visions of Michael coming after her.
Only, we see Michael before she does,
which doesn't really make sense.
If we, as the audience, are seeing her visions,
we should only be able to see the things that she sees.
That's not why I brought this scene up, though.
On Jamie's door, I noticed what I assume are some
of her drawings, such as this rendering
of a princess named Jessica and a picture of a clown
named Clowny.
♪ Never be creative again ♪
- This is a major clue about the lineage
of evil in her family.
You'll recall that the opening of Halloween
featured the six-year-old Michael Myers
wearing a clown costume and stabbing his own sister.
- I get what they were going for,
but I'm just gonna say it, that was a lazy Easter egg.
- Agreed.
This clown drawing, her disturbing visions
and the fact that she chooses a clown costume
for trick-or-treating are all clues
that she is doomed to the same fate.
She ultimately stabs her stepmother
at the end of the movie and stands idly
in the same pose that her uncle took 25 years prior.
In each Halloween installment, I've discussed what I see
as the main theme of each film,
what the director was really trying to say.
For Halloween 1, I talked about how early exposure
to adult concepts can shape a child's mind for the worse.
In addition to that, while it wasn't the main point
of that video, I also talked about the idea
that Michael Myers represents the personification of fate,
as discussed in Laurie's English class.
(creepy music)
- [Teacher] That's right,
Samuels definitely personified fate.
In Samuels' writing, fate is immovable, like a mountain.
It stands where man passes away.
Fate never changes.
- I think the concept of fate really
comes front and center in Halloween 4.
Haddonfield was traumatized by the murders in 1978.
Everyone in town who's old enough remembers it
and is willing to do just about anything
to prevent it from happening again.
Even the new sheriff, Meeker, who is stated
to never overreact about anything,
shuts down the town and imposes a curfew
before even having any proof that the big,
slow-walking man is back again.
Mr. and Mrs. Carruthers have a million emergency numbers
on their fridge, and the men at the bar are willing
to take matters into their own hands
to protect the town from another disaster.
- But, despite all of this, the night plays out
almost exactly like it did 10 years prior.
Amy and Laurie were hired to babysit Lindsey and Tommy
back in '78, and now it's Rachel Carruthers
being forced to watch her adoptive sister Jamie in 1988.
Amy plans to bring over her boyfriend, Paul.
In Rachel's case, she makes late-night plans
with a boy named Brady.
Basically, they really played it safe
for Michael's big return after Halloween III:
Season of the Witch didn't light the box office on fire.
There's enough new stuff on the surface,
but at its core, it's a very similar movie
to Halloween, but just set 10 years later.
And, obviously, I think that's exactly
what brought people back to the theater.
- [Zac] In the original, Michael gets his suit
from a mechanic that he took out on the side of the road.
This time, he visits an auto shop
and basically recreates his wardrobe.
Jamie is bullied by the kids at her school
in almost the exact manner that Tommy Doyle was.
- Boogeyman, ooh, the boogeyman.
- [Bullies] Boogeyman, boogeyman, boogeyman!
♪ Boogeyman, boogeyman, Jamie's uncle's a boogeyman ♪
- While these details are probably just evidence that
some things never change, it is the kills in Halloween 4
that really cement the idea that Michael Myers
terrorizing Haddonfield is truly an inescapable fate.
(intense music)
(creepy music)
In the first Halloween, we saw Michael attempt
to recreate the horror he had first created at age six,
using promiscuous teenage babysitters
as stand-in victims for his sister, Judith, even going
so far as to arrange them under his sister's tombstone.
10 years after that, the kills now seem
to be recreations of the night he came home.
- For example, after Michael arrives in Haddonfield,
his first victim there is a dog
in both the 1978 and 1988 versions.
After Rachel and Jamie are gathered by the police,
they take shelter in the sheriff's house.
We only see the aftermath of Deputy Logan's death,
but the sheriff's daughter, Kelly, is taken out next.
She and Brady would fill the role of horny teens,
just like Bob and Lynda in the original.
And, on top of that, her death is
kind of a combination of Lynda and Bob's.
Remember, Bob was pinned to the wall with a knife,
and then Michael pretended to be Bob to get close to Lynda.
So, this time, things are slightly changed.
Michael sits in a rocking chair,
pretending to be Deputy Logan, and he uses his shotgun
to impale Kelly and pin her into a door.
Then, Brady is strangled, which happens
to be the same fate Annie and Lynda suffered in Halloween.
- Finally, there's a major parallel in the final chase.
Rachel fills the role of Laurie Strode in this one,
as a responsible babysitter trying
to protect the kid that she's watching.
We saw Laurie hide in a closet
and use a coat hanger to poke out Michael's eye
and temporarily blind him in Halloween 1.
Then, in Halloween II, she shoots him in the eyes,
or I guess just slightly above the eyes?
But the drip down once again renders him unable to see.
(blade swiping)
Or apparently use any kind of critical thinking at all.
Rachel, who is stated to have been babysat
by Laurie when she was younger...
- Your mother used to babysit me when I was your age.
I bet you didn't know that.
- Apparently picked up a thing or two from her,
because she saves the day at the school
by blinding Michael with a fire extinguisher,
which leads to this hilarious interaction.
- In the school! (banging on truck)
- Pull over, Earl! (alarm ringing)
- We heard the alarm. - [Rachel] He's inside!
- [Earl] Jesus, where? - [Rachel] In the school!
- There are other similarities to 1978 as well.
For example, we see other teens dressed up as Michael Myers.
- [Sheriff Meeker] Is that him?
Is that him?
- [Loomis] Yes.
- What?
What do you mean, yes?
I mean, you think he'd be a little bit more apprehensive
after the whole Ben Tramer incident, where an innocent kid
in a Michael mask ended up getting killed.
Actually, history does kind of repeat itself here.
Our good, old Illinois boys are concerned
when they hear about the curfew and decide
to take matters into their own hands.
(gunshots firing)
And, it turns out they shot someone named Ted Hollister.
Poor Ted Hollister, we never even saw your face.
(sobs) And now you're gone. (somber music)
- Damn, man.
- Then, later that night, after murdering someone,
they fire their guns in the air while driving
past the police officers on their way into Haddonfield,
where a serial killer is currently on the loose.
I wanna like these good, old Illinois boys,
but they're just not very smart.
It's no wonder most of them get taken out by Michael.
However, that does lead to Rachel getting control
of their truck and ramming it in to her masked stalker.
And, just like Halloween 1, there's that fake-out moment
where he appears to be dead and then rises up,
using the same sit-up motion.
Then, at the end, when Michael is seemingly defeated
for good (like, at least for this movie)
we see that Jamie still can't change her fate,
because the evil seems to be passed down to her
and we see her point of view as she puts on the clown mask
and stabs her (step)mother, a scene that Loomis recognized
as being identical to Michael's attack on his sister.
- So, while we don't have a long in-class lecture
about fate this time around, the idea of immovable fate
is the driving force behind the events of Halloween 4.
We even have this overly religious reverend,
who Dr. Loomis catches a ride into Haddonfield with.
I mean, he specifically says that you can't kill damnation
because it doesn't die like a man does,
and next that the apocalypse always has a name and a face.
- Well, in this case, that name is Michael
and that face is William Shatner,
looking decidedly more surprised
than he does in earlier installments in this franchise.
- There's also the dog named Sundae.
Sunday is the holy day in Christianity
and Michael is made out to be the spawn of Hell.
Even the security guard at the hospital seems to think so.
- Jesus ain't got nothin' to do with this place.
Welcome to Hell.
- [Zac] So, it seems like the reverend may be
onto something with his apocalyptic provisions.
Then again, that reverend also says things like...
- I saw it, clear as breasts and blue suede shoes.
- Do you have any idea what that means, Jimmy?
- No, I don't.
- Yeah, he's also DUI.
That's a pretty serious crime
and it goes completely unaddressed,
as does the fact that this diner
is just filled with pictures of regular Abraham Lincoln.
I wanna take a closer look at the costumes
of some of Jamie's classmates at the school.
This kid in particular wears a getup
from the '80s cartoon M.A.S.K.
and it has a red truck with an explosion.
It almost seems to be a reference to Michael Myers,
who, of course, wears a mask and steals a red truck,
which causes an explosion.
I'm guessing that explosion is also
why the phone lines are down later,
and this image almost looks like a burning cross.
Maybe a symbol for the Judgment Day
mentioned by the reverend.
- [Reverend Sayer] I ain't got 'til Judgment Day!
When Jamie is picking out her own costume,
she browses through all of the other costumes
worn by her classmates before settling on her clown suit.
This essentially says that she cares
more about doing her own thing than fitting in
with the other classmates, which I think ties
into the idea that I keep on talking about,
that nothing can sway her from her own destiny.
Interestingly, the kid who compliments her
is the same kid who was bullying
the **** out of her at school.
So, she kind of ends up fitting in just by being herself,
or, you know, the costume budget was really low.
- After picking out her costume,
Jamie is scared by an encounter with Michael.
There's actually a clue that he's going to be in there
when they first pull up and you see
the big industrial hook on the truck across the street.
If you paid close attention, you'll remember it from
when Dr. Loomis explored the auto shop earlier in the movie.
Also, the girl who drops Rachel and Jamie off
at the drug store is named Lindsey.
I'm pretty sure that's grown-up Lindsey Wallace,
the little girl who survives the first movie.
- Anyway, back on topic.
When Michael scares Jamie in the costume area,
she screams and Rachel comes running
and just intentionally knocks over the sticker display.
(crashing) Why did she do that?
I mean, look at this, play it back, you just see her
clearly go out of her way to knock this thing over.
- It's very reminiscent of this beautiful moment.
(wheels screeching)
- [Policeman] I couldn't stop.
- And then, why do they not just look
right across the store and see Michael?
This whole scene makes no sense.
I mean, I know I already massacred
our good, old Illinois boys,
but I think Rachel is maybe also not the smartest.
- [Brady] Ah, metal, god damn it, it's metal!
- [Rachel] What does that mean?
- You don't know what metal is?
You know, like, solid material, strong, shiny,
conducts electricity. (electric crackling)
(sighs) There's no hope for you, is there?
Anyway, I think that's just about it for Halloween 4,
unless you have anything to add.
- There is this one part where, when Rachel
is at Chief Meeker's house, she comes downstairs
to talk to Deputy Logan, and if you look
in the background, Michael pops his head out.
You might've missed that, so we'll tack it
on there, just in case.
- Next time, we'll move on
to Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers,
a somehow even more generic title.
- You see, life after Halloween 4
wasn't exactly smooth sailing.
- We're four videos into this Halloween collaboration,
so if you haven't subscribed to Jimmy yet,
I don't even know what you're doing.
For my full collection of Halloween analyses,
click that playlist on the left,
and if you love all things Halloween,
make sure you subscribe to CZsWorld.
I've got new horrors every week,
so ring the death bell
and select all notifications and I will see you
in the next one, assuming we both survive.
(creepy music)