Welcome to our final Behind The Scenes Saturday for Spooky Season!! It wouldn’t be Spooky Season if I didn’t talk about at least one Halloween film. Today is all about the loved sequel, Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers! When fans weren’t ready to say goodbye to The Shape, he was brought back to cause more carnage and mayhem. So, grab your clown costume, be sure to shoot him more than six times, and enjoy these fun pictures and bits of trivia!!

(Trivia provided by IMDb.com)

(Pictures provided by google.com and IMDb.com)

(SPOILER ALERT!!!)

• There was a scene that would’ve connected this film and Halloween II. It was a flashback to the hospital, and Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) was being tended to by the paramedics. When he saw Michael’s burning body being put out, he screamed at them to “let him burn!” There is a similar moment in Halloween Kills, where Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) screams to the fire department to let her house burn.
• Danielle Harris (Jamie) stated that when she had to run and scream through the neighborhood for the film, some of the neighbors thought she was a little girl really screaming for help, so they ended up calling the cops. She said, “I was banging on doors, yelling for someone to help me, help me, after I got lost trick or treating or something. So, 4 o’clock in the morning, they’re hearing a little girl screaming up the streets, and someone called the cops. The cops came. Then the story ended up in The Inquirer that I was almost kidnapped off of the set.”
• Just so Danielle Harris wouldn’t be too terrified while filming, George P. Wilbur (Michael) would frequently take off his mask in between takes to remind her that they were making a movie and that he was not really going to hurt her.
• The character Lindsey (Leslie L. Rohland) was supposed to be revealed as Lindsey Wallace. She was supposed to have a larger role as Rachel’s (Ellie Cornell) friend and help babysit Jamie. Her scenes had to be cut for budget reasons. The character Tommy Doyle (Danny Ray) does make an appearance in the film as the blonde boy hanging out with Brady (Sasha Jenson) and Wade (Richard Stay) in the drug store.

• The film’s director, Dwight H. Little did extensive research on the history of Halloween and he found many of the harvest images that were put into the film’s title sequence.
• Jamie Lloyd was originally named Brittan “Britti” Lloyd. However, her name was changed to Jamie in honor of Jamie Lee Curtis.
• The franchise’s creator, John Carpenter originally had a different concept for this film. It was going to have more of a ghostly psychological story and focus on the town of Haddonfield and the effect the events of the first 2 films had on its citizens. The producers rejected this idea, wanting to stick with the slasher formula and Carpenter ended up leaving the film.
• Filming took 41 days. Ellie Cornell and Danielle Harris were on set for 36 of those days.

• While shooting the rooftop chase scene, Ellie Cornell was injured by a protruding nail while she was sliding down the roof. According to Danielle Harris, the incident didn’t even phase Cornell. She took a quick trip to the hospital, then she finished the scene with her bandages in place.
• Because filming began in March, leaves had to be imported for the filming location and a bunch of squash was made to look like pumpkins.
• The film’s screenwriter, Alan B. McElroy wrote the script in just 11 days and he beat the writer’s strike by just a few hours.
• Originally, Michael’s mask had blonde hair. The filmmakers decided that the look didn’t work, so it was changed and re-shoots were done. There’s only one scene in the film with the blonde-haired mask.

• To give Michael a much more imposing figure, George P. Wilbur wore hockey pads under his jumpsuit.
• The film’s drug store set was also used for The Sandlot and The Stand.
• After filming wrapped, Danielle Harris kept and trick or treated in the clown costume.
• In a deleted scene, Michael was looking for a mask in the same store Jamie was looking for her costume. He grabbed a Ronald Reagan mask and walked off-screen. He then threw away the mask and grabbed the bleached William Shatner mask instead.

• Carmen Filpi (Sayer) had difficulty remembering all of his lines, so Dwight H. Little had to feed them to him during shooting.
• Laurie Strode was killed off in this film because Jamie Lee Curtis had no interest in reprising the role.
• There were 2 scenes written in the script that were never filmed. One was where Michael followed Rachel, Jamie, and Lindsey to the Discount Mart. Another scene had Rachel and Jamie getting ice cream while talking about her getting adopted by Rachel’s parents.
• The film states that Jamie was 7 years old, but Danielle Harris was 11 when she played her.

• In order to add an air of mystery to the character, Michael Myers was mostly filmed in mirror reflections or off-center.
• Before this film, Dwight H. Little was known as a non-union director who worked with amateur actors. This was the first time he worked under union rules for a film.
• This was Alan B. McElroy’s screenwriting debut. He was a big fan of the first 2 Halloween films and he jumped at the opportunity to write this sequel.
• A lot of the key scenes were filmed during late night hours in order to properly set the mood. However, this led to quite a few accidents on set due to poor lighting. Also, Donald Pleasence hated how cold those early spring nights were.

• Dwight H. Little had his own ideas of Michael’s reasoning for his pursuit of Jamie. To Little, this whole thing was a misguided attempt to simply connect with his niece. Michael simply lacked the social capacity to interact with her in any other way than using violence.
• In the film, Michael was 31 years old. George P. Wilbur was actually 47 when he played him.
• Before Halloween Kills surpassed it, this film had the highest kill count in the whole franchise.
• Lisa Wilcox and Rebecca Schaeffer auditioned for the role of Rachel.

• Melissa Joan Hart auditioned for the role of Jamie.
• The real front door on the Meeker house was temporarily swapped with a cheep plywood door. This was done so Brady could shoot the deadbolt without causing damage to the actual property.
• In the original script, Sheriff Meeker (Beau Starr) was supposed to die in a fight with Michael and the furnace was going to be knocked over, causing the whole house to be on fire. The fire was later going to lead to the rooftop chase sequence. Due to budget issues, this was all changed.
• George P. Wilbur stated that his favorite kill in the film was when he pinned Kelly (Kathleen Kinmont) to the wall with the shotgun.

• Originally, it was Rachel that Jamie stabbed at the end of the film, not Darlene (Karen Alston).
• While reviewing a rough edit of the film, the filmmakers decided it was too soft. Special effects expert, John Carl Buechler was brought in for one extra day of blood shooting. He did the thumb in the forehead effect and the redneck’s twisted head.
• The mechanic’s death scene was filmed, but had to be cut for being too gory.
• While filming Brady and Michael’s confrontation, the film’s gaffer, Garlan Wilde was greatly injured while putting up a light. He fell and cut his wrists and had to be immediately rushed to the hospital.
• Alan B. McElroy makes a cameo in the film as a state trooper at the ambulance crash site.