Development After
Halloween III: Season of the Witch, executive producer
Moustapha Akkad wanted to move further with the series, and bring back Michael Myers. Producer Paul Freeman, a friend of Akkad with a long list of credits to his name, explained to
Fangoria magazine in 1988 that everybody came out of
Halloween III saying, "Where's Michael?" Debra Hill planned to produce the film, while Carpenter teamed up with
Dennis Etchison who, under the pseudonym Jack Martin, had written
novelizations of both
Halloween II (1981) and
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) to write a script to
Halloween 4. Originally,
Joe Dante was Carpenter's choice in mind of director for the project. However, Akkad rejected the Etchison script, calling it "too cerebral" and insisting that any new
Halloween sequel must feature Myers as a flesh and blood killer. In an interview, Etchison explained how he received the phone call informing him of the rejection of his script. Etchison said, "I received a call from Debra Hill and she said, 'Dennis, I just wanted you to know that John and I have sold our interest in the title 'Halloween' and unfortunately, your script was not part of the deal." As Carpenter refused to continue his involvement with the series, a new director was sought out.
Dwight H. Little, a native of Ohio, replaced Carpenter. Little had previously directed episodes for ''
Freddy's Nightmares and the film Getting Even''.
Screenplay On February 25, 1988, writer
Alan B. McElroy, a native of
Cleveland,
Ohio, was brought in to write the script for
Halloween 4. The
writer's strike was to begin on March 7 that year. This forced McElroy to develop a concept, pitch the story, and send in the final draft in under eleven days. McElroy came up with the idea of Brittany "Britti" Lloyd, Laurie Strode's daughter, to be chased by her uncle, who has escaped from Ridgemont after being in a coma for ten years. Dr. Samuel Loomis goes looking for Michael with Sheriff Meeker. The setting of the place was once again Haddonfield, Illinois. The character of Laurie Strode was revealed to have died, leaving Britti with the Carruthers family, which included Rachel, the family's seventeen-year-old daughter. Britti's name was later changed to Jamie, a homage to Laurie Strode actress
Jamie Lee Curtis. McElroy told
Fangoria: In the original draft, Sheriff Ben Meeker was to be killed during the Shape's attack on the Meeker house, during which a fire started in the basement and burnt down the entire house. The scene on top of the roof with the Shape, Rachel, and Jamie was supposed to be engulfed in flames, but this idea was scrapped due to budget issues. Danielle Harris, who previously had a reoccurring role on the
ABC daytime
soap opera,
One Life to Live (as Samantha Garretson) was ultimately cast in the role after auditioning in New York. Director Dwight H. Little recalled that Harris was around the tenth actress to audition for the part, and that he "knew when she walked into the room, before she even spoke, that she was the one."
Rebecca Schaeffer had auditioned for the role of Rachel Carruthers, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. Cornell chose
Halloween 4 and successfully landed the role of Rachel following a screen test.
Beau Starr was cast as the new Sheriff, Ben Meeker, replacing Sheriff Lee Brackett (
Charles Cyphers), and
Kathleen Kinmont was cast as the Sheriff's daughter, Kelly.
George P. Wilbur was cast to play Michael Myers.
Filming Principal photography began on April 11, 1988. Instead of filming in
Pasadena, California (the original filming location and stand in for Haddonfield) due to high-rising costs, filming took place in and around
Salt Lake City, Utah. As filming was taking place in March,
George P. Wilbur, who was cast as Michael Myers, wore hockey pads under the costume to make himself look more physically imposing, and he was often filmed in mirror reflections or off-center so that the audience could witness him "in pieces" rather than have an encompassing view. During filming, the cast and crew made it a point to take it easy on Danielle Harris, as she was only a young child at the time, and made sure that she was not scared too badly and knew that none of it was real; to this end, Wilbur regularly removed the mask in front of her in order to remind her that it was just a movie and he was not going to hurt her. The late night scenes caused issues with the cast. Garlan Wilde, a gaffer for the film, was injured during the scene between Brady and the Shape when he dropped a light and accidentally slit his wrists. He was rushed to the hospital. In addition, while filming the rooftop scene, Ellie Cornell cut her stomach open on a large nail while sliding down the roof, though she continued filming the scene despite losing a sizable amount of blood. The only scene left in is when Loomis is thrown through a glass door; as Michael comes up behind him, the unaltered face and blonde hair is visible. Director Dwight H. Little thought the use of the blond mask stemmed from a tired crew member grabbing an incorrect mask from the prop area. Though nobody on set caught the error, it was acknowledged in the later stages of production. Little confirmed the mistake was left in the film and would have been fixed if his team had more time.
Post-production Following a screening of the film's
rough cut at the Thalberg Building on the
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio lot, director Dwight H. Little and producer
Moustapha Akkad decided that the film's violence was too soft, after which an additional day was spent filming bloody special effects, particularly involving the film's climactic sequence.
Special effects make-up artist
John Carl Buechler (director of
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood) was hired to create several effects for murder sequences seen in the final cut of the film.
Music The score was performed by Alan Howarth, who had assisted John Carpenter on
Halloween II and
Halloween III. Howarth gained approval from Dwight H. Little before he could accept the offer, creating a new score that referenced the original's but with a
synthesizer twist. Howarth also included new tracks such as "Jamie's Nightmare", "Return of the Shape", and "Police Station". The soundtrack was released to CD, vinyl, and cassette tape on September 28, 1988. ==Release==