It seem that Halloween 4 makes the socials on an annual basis.. Why?
The 1988 sequel suffered horrendous criticism in the year was released. Through the 1990s, people who were fans of the original almost were offended by the Return of Michael Myers. It was just about as bad as the feels of Halloween 3. So why are people celebrating it annually?
For horror fans, this meme may make the most sense. Michael Myers was back. But he was really different:
So why does the movie trend this time of year?
It is not because of its acting or script, but instead the imagery. And not just the nostalgia for those who felt it. But even more, the silent and quiet nostalgia for those who never experienced it and never will.
Halloween 4 is set as though 3 never happened, ten years after a hospital exploded in Haddenfield and Mikey and Dr. Loomis survived the blaze. Myers grabs a new mask off a discount drug store rack and the rest is history. Of course multiple further sequels goofs up the timeline as much as a Marvel Spider-Man movie. Seriously.. it can be confusing for the non horror fans.
But this film sparks some other melancholy of the infinite sadness.
It began without the famous pumpkin and piano theme.. but instead a series of autumnal images .. what it is about the imagery which makes the film this special?
The fall feeling? That is what social media streams seem to suggest. All of those images sure present that aura..
The other thing presented is not just pictures of the loneliest parts of fall, but also a somber haunting musical background to the scenery.
This is something those who lived in 1988 can feel. I can almost taste and smell the pictures. I had moments with friends and family in the heyday of the decade that look the same in the memories. Out late at night before a curfew when the rural landscape was dancing with a fiery sunset.
I recall vividly a moment when friends of mine and cousins were out too late, well beyond the time when we should have been home earlier. We were lost somewhere deep in farm lands. At sunset, we thought we saw someone with an axe. Or a machine. Or farm equipment. Heck we were 7 and 8 years-old and had no clue what we were seeing. So we ran home.. When we got back to my cousin’s house, we were in a bit of trouble (but it was the 80s, parents were okay with this stuff) and –seriously–Halloween was playing on TV. The theme song greeted us walking through the front door.
For people reading this, the 80s and 90s really were different. No doubt.. not saying better.
But sure as hell not saying worse.
Those who were born soon or well after the appearance of Halloween 4’s intro in ’88 be viscerally in tune to the opening scene. Perhaps, maybe, these feelings in innate. The deep and profound feeling is within us.. the nostalgia is passed down. The feeling of sunsets arriving earlier perhaps are somehow so humanly frightening that the nostalgia of that moment never goes away. No matter the generational or technological advance. We feel the feeling.
We are all immersed in the advance of autumn. The festival of Samhaim. The solemn rituals of the early fall and the eventual darkness that takes hold.. deep in our souls.
