The Melancholy of Halloween: Why Halloween 4 and Halloween 3 Still Make us Glow!
There are certain things about Halloween that never quite leave you.
When you’re younger, it might be a family party, trick-or-treat night, or the excitement of dressing up for school. Maybe it’s the sound of leaves scraping across the pavement, or the cool autumn wind beneath a sky that can’t decide whether it’s sunny or gray.
It’s melancholy.
It’s nostalgic.
It’s Halloween.
And for many of us, two particular Halloween movies bring that feeling back stronger than anything else.
Not because of scares or kills.. not even the music, despite that setting a certain tone to the films.
Maybe you’re one of those people .. maybe you feel it too.
The Opening of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
The fourth installment movie begins not with screams or murders, but with a quiet, haunting montage of rural Americana. There’s no Haddonfield, Illinois because that town doesn’t exist .. but the landscape during the opening scene of the film feels like it could be anywhere in your back yard or field nearby. In this case it was actually filmed in Corinne Utah..
Cornfields. A lone scarecrow. A rusted fence line. A jack-o’-lantern sitting in the dusk.
All of it set to Alan Howarth’s mournful score and the sound of wind whispering through half-bare trees.
I promise you cannot watch this and NOT feel it in your bones…
Before Michael Myers even appears, the tone is already perfect. It’s not about the horror — it’s about the feeling. That sense of October. That moment when daylight fades a little too early, and you can smell the wood smoke in the air. For many fans, that opening sequence is Halloween. It captures the essence of the season better than any pumpkin-spice latte or store-bought decoration ever could.
A few years ago, a Halloween website actually gave us a “then vs now” scene by scene of the opening sequence.. times have changed. And that is why this scene brings back to much..
x x x
The Beauty Within Halloween 3: Season of the Witch
Then there’s Halloween 3: Season of the Witch — the most debated entry in the franchise.
Some fans love it. Others can’t stand that it doesn’t feature Michael Myers. But beyond its odd plot about a mask-maker’s deadly plan, there’s something poetic hidden in the chaos.
As the Silver Shamrock jingle plays and the movie cuts to shots of kids across America — trick-or-treating, laughing, wearing those creepy masks — it taps into something universal. For a few brief moments, the film isn’t about terror at all; it’s about childhood, innocence, and the fragile glow of Halloween night.
And then, there’s that breathtaking final image: three silhouettes walking into the orange-gold horizon, the sun setting behind them.
For a film so divisive, that single scene is pure cinematic beauty — a quiet, haunting symbol of the season itself.
Nostalgia in the Shadows
We all have our own movies that summon that peculiar Halloween nostalgia — the ones that make us feel ten years old again for just a moment. But for many of us, it’s these two films — and these two scenes in particular — that stir something deeper.
I don’t know if movie makers envisioned it.. but beneath the Shatner mask and the famed John Carpenter music, Halloween has always been about more than fear. It’s about the passage of time, the changing light, the melancholy of autumn itself. Samhain….
So as the season of the witch arrives once more ..
Don’t forget to be in front of your television set for the big giveaway.
🎃 Silver Shamrock. 🎶
