Halloween 4 : The Return Of Michael Myers (1988 ) sees the return of the character 10 years after the events of the first two movies. The explosion and fire at the end of the Halloween 2 doesn’t kill Myers or Dr. Loomis but puts the masked killer in a coma while Loomis has a permanent limp and has suffered burns to one side of his face. 10 years pass and Myers wakes escapes while being transferred via ambulance between sanitariums, killing the driver and paramedics, having overheard the fact that a deceased Laurie, had a young daughter who lives in Haddonfield with her foster family. Loomis follows Michael’s trails and at a gas station finds Michael in a mechanic’s clothes wearing another mask. Michael escapes in a tow truck, almost running down Loomis, who hikes his way back to Haddonfield. It’s Halloween again and 8 year old Jamie Loyd mourns the loss of her mother and is living with the Carruthers, close friends of Laurie. The parents are out for the evening, forcing a reluctant Rachel, an older teen and their daughter, to take care of Jamie. Jamie meanwhile has visions of her uncle Michael which frighten her. Rachel & her friend Lindsey take Jamie  to buy ice cream and a Halloween costume after school and Michael almost attacks Jamie at the store.

That night, Rachel and Jamie go trick-or-treating and Michael goes to the electrical substation and murders a worker by throwing him into live high voltage parts, plunging the town into darkness. Dr. Loomis has now arrived in Haddonfield and joins forces with the town’s sheriff Meeker and they go looking for Jamie. Michael single-handedly takes out the rest of the police station, while a bunch of men form a lynch mob to get him. Rachel discovers her boyfriend Brady cheating on her with the Sheriff’s daughter, Kelly, and loses Jamie. After being chased by Myers, Rachel meets up with Jamie and both are found by the Sheriff and Dr. Loomis who warns them about Michael. The 4 of them lock themselves in Sheriff Meeker’s house along with Kelly, Brady and a deputy. Meeker leaves to the station for an emergency while Loomis leaves to find his former patient. Michael arrives and systematically takes out the deputy before killing Kelly by impaling her on a shotgun. He chases the other 3 and kills Brady while Jamie & Rachel escape via the roof; but Rachel is knocked unconscious as she falls. Jamie hides in the local school and is almost caught & killed by Michael when Rachel arrives and sprays Michael in the face with a fire extinguisher. The two girls are given a ride by some of the lynch mob but Michael jumps them and kills the men, as Rachel struggles to control the jeep. finally rams him with the truck, sending him flying into a ditch near an abandoned mine. The police arrive and as Jamie approaches Michael and touches his hand, he rises. The police shoot Michael until he falls down the abandoned mine and is presumed dead. However at the end of the movie as the Carruthers are reunited with Rachel & Jamie; however as the movie ends Jamie dons a clown mask and stabs her foster mother with a pair of scissors (much like young Michael Myers). The film ends with Jamie standing at the top of the stairs with the scissors in her hand, covered in blood, with Dr. Loomis screaming as Richard, Rachel and Sheriff Meeker stare in horror.

Halloween 5 : The Revenge Of Michael Myers (1989) begins right at the end of the events of the previous film. Michael escapes the mine shaft and makes his way to a nearby river and is found by a hermit. he collapses into a coma while in the hermit’s care and remains in a comatose state for a full year. On October 30, 1989, Michael awakens, kills the hermit, and returns to terrorize Haddonfield, where his young niece, Jamie, who was rendered mute due to trauma suffered during the events and committed to a children’s psychiatric ward. She also seems to have developed a telepathic link to her uncle which only Dr. Loomis suspects and he tries to convince Sheriff Meeker that Michael is still alive. Michael then kills Rachel at her house and then stalks her friend Tina (who is the most annoying character I have seen in a movie recently). Michael kills Tina’s boyfriend Mike and steals his car & using a different mask gives Tina a ride to a store. He almost kills her but the police arrive and Michael makes off. Tina and her friends Samantha, and Spitz go to a Halloween party in a barn. Michael kills both Samantha and Spitz, who are having sex, then kills two scab deputies that Loomis has asked to keep an eye on Tina for her own protection. Jamie, having recovered her speech, goes to find Tina along with her friend Billy and is chased by Michael in a car until he crashes it. Tina sacrifices herself to give the kids time to escape. Afterwards, Jamie agrees to put herself in danger to help Loomis stop Michael for good. With Jamie’s help, Loomis lures Michael back to the abandoned Myers house where Michael once lived.

A mysterious figure in black who arrives in the town, causes a death in the hospital causing some of the cops to head there. Michael attacks and kill the remaining cop and then attacks Loomis, who tries to reason with him. A cop who is sitting with Jamie helps her down before being killed by Michael while Jamie makes her way to the attic where finds her and Rachel’s dog Max hung from a noose, and also finds the bodies of Mike and Rachel.Michael finds her, and Jamie tries appealing to her uncle’s humanity but ultimately fails after touching Michael’s face, sending him into a fit of rage. An injured Loomis attacks Michael with tranquilizers to weaken him and then proceeds to violently beat him unconscious with a wooden plank. Michael is taken to the jail by the cops and put in a cell but the stranger in black arrives and attacks the police station, shooting the officer and causing an explosion, thus killing Sheriff Meeker and six others. At the end of the movie, Jamie walks through the station finding the bodies of gunned officers, and goes over to Michael’s holding cell to discover that it is empty.

Halloween : The Curse Of Michael Myers which came out in 1995 also takes place 6 years later. The man in black who took Michael away from the jail and killed the cops has also kidnapped 16 year old Jamie who has been impregnated and her baby is born on October 30, 1995. The baby is carried away by the man in black who seems to be the leader of a Druid cult. At night a nurse helps Jamie escape with the baby but Michael is in pursuit and kills the nurse. Jamie hides in a bus station and tries to call the radio station that is doing a Halloween special on Myers and asks for help but is ignored by DJ Simms. She hides the baby in a cupboard of the station’s bathroom and leads Michael away. He kills her at an old barn but finds the baby missing. Meanwhile Dr. Loomis, now retired, is visited by Dr. Terence Wynn (Mitch Ryan), the chief administrator of Smith’s Grove Sanitarium, who wants him to return. They hear Jamie’s plea on the radio and head to the town. Tommy, (Paul Rudd in his debut movie role) the boy who Laurie babysat in the first film, also hears the plea and goes to the station, finding the baby there. Tommy lives in a lodging house opposite the Myers house, which is now occupied by relatives of Laurie Strode, which include her foster cousin Kara and her 6 year old son Danny. Tommy runs into Dr. Loomis at the Haddonfield Memorial Hospital and tells him of the Strodes living in the Myers house. The two are convinced Michael has indeed come back to Haddonfield.

Dr. Loomis warns Tara’s mother about Michael Myers and she calls her husband to convince him that they should leave. He doesn’t listen to her and soon the two fall victim  to Michael. Later, Kara returns home to find Danny in his room with Tommy, whom he had met while on his way home. The three of them go to Tommy’s house across the street, where Tommy reveals to Kara that he believes Michael is under the curse of Thorn by the Druid cult. Thorn is an ancient Druid symbol that represented a demon that spread sickness and caused destruction. To prevent this, a child from each tribe was chosen to inherit the curse of Thorn to offer a blood sacrifice of its next of kin on the night of Samhain (Halloween). When the corresponding Thorn constellation appears, Michael appears. The curse explains why Michael is out to kill his family and also accounts for his superhuman abilities. Tommy believes that baby Steven will be Michael’s final sacrifice. The old lady who runs the lodge tells Kara that she babysat Michael when he was a boy and that Danny hears the “voice” (from the “Man in Black”) telling him to kill just like Michael Myers heard when she was babysitting him the night he killed Judith and that Danny will be next cursed after Steven is killed. Michael then kills Tara’s brother & his girlfriend and heads to the lodging house. Dr. Wynn reveals himself to be the man in black and his cult members drug Loomis & Tommy and take Tara, Danny & Steven to Smith’s Grove Sanitarium.

When they awaken Tommy & Dr. Loomis make their way to the sanitarium where the latter has a brief confrontration with Wynn before being knocked out. Tommy rescues Tara and then find Danny in a surgery room with Steven about to be part of a ritual. Michael, angered at being a pawn, kills all the cult members (not sure about the status of Wynn) while Tara & Danny escape with the kids. Michael breaks into the room where Tommy injects him with tranquilizers of a corrosive and beats him into unconsciousness with a lead pipe. As Dr. Loomis, Tommy, Kara, Danny, and Steven are about to escape, Loomis tells them to go on without him because he has “a little business” to attend to. Back inside the building, Michael’s mask is found lying on the floor of the lab room as the screams of Dr. Loomis can be heard in the background.

After the debacle of III, the Halloween 4 & 5 two are welcome returns to form. However with Curse, I feel that they took a ste backwards; while giving a sort of explanation for the immortality & powers of Michael, the plotline has a lot of holes. There’s so many twists for the sake of twists that don’t make much sense. I’d give Halloween 4 & 5 a 7 outta 10 each while Curse only gets a 6!

It’s time to look at the Paranormal Activity series of movies. I have seen 1-3 before today and this afternoon lay back in bed to watch the 4th one. Written & directed by Oren Peli Paranormal Activity is a 2007 movie that was only released in 2009. The movie stars Katie Featherstone & Micah Sloat as a young couple who setup cameras in their home to capture & document a supernatural presence that seems to haunting them.

It’s September 2006 and Katie & Micah have just  moved into a new house in San Diego. Katie claims that an “evil” presence has haunted her periodically since childhood and believes it is still following her. Micah sets up a video camera in their bedroom on a tripod to capture any activity that occurs while they sleep. They hear keys being dropped and running footsteps in the night and wake up the next morning to find their keys on the floor. They consult a psychic who informs Katie that she is being haunted by a demon and not a ghost. Each night the camera records some movements like the door moving on it’s own and they hear low rumbles and demonic noises. Katie wakes up in the middle of night to hear a loud thump. On the thirteenth night, Katie is awakened by movement in the hallway; the demon loudly screeches and there is a loud bang. Micah tries to taunt the demon and ask it many questions. During the 15th night, the hallway light flickers on and off and demonic noises are heard by Katie’s side of the bed. Katie gets up in an apparent trance and stares at Micah sleeping for two hours before going outside to sit on the backyard swing. Micah tries to convince Katie to come inside, but she refuses. Micah returns inside and finds the TV on and is randomly flicking through channels. She remembers none of this the next morning.

Micah breaks his promise to Katie and brings home an Ouija board. After the two leave the house that evening, leaving the board in the living room. Curtains open and shut by an invisible force and plants are blown around. A howling wind is then heard and the Ouija board’s planchette moves on its own and a small fire erupts on it and extinguishes itself. They next day they find non-human footrints in the talcum powder that Micah left on the floor and he finda a burnt photo of a young Katie. They then contact the demonologist but he is unavailable. On the 18th night the demon slams the bedroom door loudly and Micah hears loud angry growls from behind the door. The next day while they eat their lunch, they hear a glass shattering and find their photo frame broken and Micah’s face scratched in the photo. During the 19th night, the bed covers move, a light turns on and off, a non human shadow is seen on the door before Katie awakes from a blow in her face. A low demonic snarl is then heard downstairs. On the 20th night Katie is pulled out of their bed and they hear hisses from the demon. Micah rescues her back and they find bite marks on her back. They pack to go to a motel but Katie says they will be ok, her voice changing slightly inhuman. Katie is possessed and the following night, after starring at a sleeping Micah for 2 hours, she goes down and screams for him. Micah is thrown aside by Katie who smiles into the camera before lunging at it, her face looking demonic. The next day the police find Micah’s dead body and Katie is reported missing.

Paranormal Actvity 2 was released in 2010 as a parallel running prequel to the movie. Peli co-produced the film which was directed by Tod Williams and written by Michael R. Perry. The events of the movie begins 2 months before the events of the first film and the ending is after the ending of the 1st movie.

It’s August 2006 and a burglary attempt happens at the home of Kristi & Dan Rey, leaving the entire house trashed except for their baby Hunter’s room. All that was stolen was a necklace that Kristi’s sister Katie had given her. However Dan setups security cameras around the house and that’s when they notice a few supernatural occurances in the house. The housekeeper Martine attempts to cleanse the house of evil spirits but is fired by Dan for burning incense. Kristi tells Dan that the house is haunted but he dismissed it. Katie, who is visiting, and Kristi talk about being tormented by a demon when they were children. Ali, Dan’s older daughter by his first wife, researches the mysterious happenings; she discovers that humans can make deals with demons for wealth or power by forfeiting the soul of their first-born son–Hunter was the first male to be born on Kristi’s side since the 1930s. Soon the family dog is attacked and it suffers seizures and Dan & Ali take it to the vet. Kristi, alone at home with Hunter, is attacked by the demon and she is dragged to the basement where she stays for an hour and walks out possessed. The next day Ali finds the Latin word for “Mine” etched on the basement door and finds a bite mark on Kristi’s leg. Ali begs Daniel to come home; after he arrives, she shows him the footage of Kristi’s attack. He immediately calls Martine, who prepares a cross to exorcise the demon; Kristi will have no memory of having been possessed. Dan tells Ali he is going to pass the demon onto Katie so that Kristi and Hunter will be saved. Ali begs him not to because it is unfair to Katie, but Dan sees no other way to save his wife and son.

In the night Dan touches Kristi with a cross and attacks him as the house lights go out all at once. He finds Kristi and Hunter have disappeared. Furniture begins toppling over, and the chandeliers shake. Dan chases Kristi into the basement, where she attacks him. He touches her with the cross, causing her to collapse. Dan hears demonic growls and finally, the shaking stops. Dan puts Kristi to bed and burns a photo of a young Katie (the same photo Micah later finds in the attic of his and Katie’s house in the first film). 3 weeks later Katie speaks to Kristi about strange occurrences in her house and then we see the begining of the first film. On Octoer 9th a blood stained Katie enter Dan and Kristi’s home and kills Dan by breaking his neck while he’s watching TV. She then kills Kristi in Hunter’s room, violently hurling her against the camera, and takes the baby. She leaves the room, cradling Hunter. The screen fades to black as Hunter’s crying turns into laughter. Ali was on a school trip when this happens and as she returns she finds the dead bodies of her father & stepmom. Katie & Hunter are missing.

Good and scary eh? 8 outta 10 for the first movie and a 7 outta 10 for the second!