TEN YEARS AGO HE CHANGED THE FACE OF HALLOWEEN. TONIGHT HE’S BACK. A decade ago, he butchered 16 people trying to get to his sister. He was shot and incinerated, but still the entity that Dr. Sam Loomis (the legendary Donald Pleasence) calls “Evil on two legs” would not die. Tonight, Michael Myers has come home again…to kill! This time, Michael returns to Haddonfield for Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris of HALLOWEEN 5 and THE LAST BOYSCOUT) – the orphaned daughter of Laurie Strode – and her babysitter Rachel (Ellie Cornell of HALLOWEEN 5 and HOUSE OF THE DEAD). Can Loomis stop Michael before the unholy slaughter reaches his innocent young niece?Michael Pataki, Sasha Jenson and Kathleen Kinmont co-star in this smash sequel that marked the long-awaited return to the original storyline and remains infamous for its startling twist ending and graphic violence.
Halloween 4 arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p transfer in the original aspect ratio 1.85:1 - I will start by stating that this looks in a lot ways like an upconvert of the Divimax DVD release. There are noticeable white specks that pop up once in awhile if you're looking for them, a line all the way through the left side of the picture during the opening sequence for a few seconds. There are moments of softness that hampers fine detail. There were some scenes where trees in the background looked mushed together instead of standing out from each other subtly.
All this being said if you can pick up this title on the cheap you will pleased by the stronger color reproduction, nice detail on closeups despite the inherent softness that rears it's head from time to time. Grain lovers will be happy , there are no signs of DNR as far as I can tell. Black levels wavered a few moments but on the whole were quite deep and exhibited good shadow detail. Contrast was a solid performer. Overall this isn't a shiny new transfer like some may have been hoping for but when in motion the image is a decent upgrade. 7/10
Audio is provided by a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track. While not an overly aggressive track the musical score gets some nice heft from the LFE. Dialogue was crisp and clean except for the moments where it was clearly ADR and then sounded a little canned. Surrounds let the score breathe a little and some more tense scenes are subtly enhanced by the rear effects. Overall this lossless track is a good upgrade from the Divimax DVD
These are the same special features that were on the Divimax DVD version and while the commentaries are solid listens it would have been nice to have the over 30 minutes of extended and deleted scenes that were originally promised for this Blu-ray debut of the film.
* Audio Commentary with Writer Alan B. McElory
* Audo Commentary with Actors Ellie Cornell and Danielle Harris
* HALLOWEEN 4 & 5 Discussion Panel
* Theatrical Trailer