My First Time Seeing Halloween 4

Exactly seven years earlier, on October 30, 1981, I had discovered Halloween almost by accident. My family was at a friend’s house for a party, and I was bored and wanted to go home. My mom told me to go watch TV. I turned it on, and there was Halloween, airing on NBC. I was four years old.

I sat there glued to the television for two hours. My life was never quite the same after that.

We got a Betamax that year, and I started looking for more movies that would give me that same feeling. Every trip to the video store meant heading straight for the horror section. Eventually, Halloween II came home with me, too. I watched both movies over and over, but for years, those were the only two films we had with Michael Myers.

Meanwhile, Jason and Freddy kept coming back. My oldest brother, Mike, took me to see Friday the 13th Part VII that May, which was my first horror movie in a theater. I loved it. But the movie I kept hoping for was another Halloween.

Back then, most of my horror news came from Fangoria. Whenever I got my hands on a new issue, I would flip to the back to see what they were covering next. I’m pretty sure that’s where I first learned Halloween 4 was coming. I don’t remember the issue or exactly when I saw it. I just remember realizing we were finally getting another Michael Myers movie.

Then came the TV spot.

My sister was babysitting, and I was over at the house with her when I heard the beginning of it from another room. I knew what it was immediately. I ran downstairs and practically threw myself in front of the television. There he was. Michael Myers was coming back, and I wanted to see that movie more than anything.
By Halloween weekend, I was wound up. That Wednesday, I taped Silver Bullet off Channel 31, our local UHF station. During the broadcast, they advertised Halloween II for Halloween night. Just seeing it advertised on TV made me excited all over again.

Sunday was October 30. After church, my dad took me to a small comic convention at the Ramada Inn. It was my first convention, probably fifteen vendors and a couple of guests, and I got to meet Spider-Man editor Jim Salicrup and get his autograph. For a kid who loved comics as much as I did, that alone would have made it a pretty great day.

But after dinner, Mike and his girlfriend at the time, Gennie, took me to see Halloween 4.
The theater was pretty packed. We ended up fairly close to the screen, maybe five rows back, with me sitting between them. I had my popcorn and soda, both of which seem enormous when I picture them now. I was already so worked up that I could barely believe I was actually there.

Then the date appeared on the screen: October 30, 1988. That’s today!

To an adult, that probably wouldn’t have been a big deal. To eleven-year-old me, it made the whole thing feel that much more real. The movie was happening right now, on the same night I was sitting there watching it.

For a long time, I went back and forth between Halloween II and Halloween 4 as my favorite sequel. These days, it’s four. It feels like Halloween to me. There’s something about its atmosphere that brings back the feeling of the original while still giving me something new.

I know people have their issues with it. The mask always comes up. I actually like that mask, but I also know I’m looking at the movie through the experience I had at eleven. It hit me at exactly the right age, and that night has stayed with me.

Today, I own an original 35mm print of Halloween 4, and we’ve shown it a few times here in Rochester. I still love watching it on the big screen. The original Halloween will always be my favorite movie, but four has become a warm blanket for me.

I put it on, and I can still remember sitting between Mike and Gennie, holding that oversized popcorn and soda, waiting to see Michael Myers.

I was scared out of my mind, and I couldn’t have been happier.