Alan B. McElroy wrote the script for Halloween 4 in 11 days and beat the writer’s strike by mere hours. At that time he was Dwight H. Little’s writing partner.
George P. Wilbur wore hockey pads under the jumpsuit to give Michael Myers a much more imposing figure.
During production of the rooftop chase, Ellie Cornell was injured by a protruding nail as she slid down the roof. After a quick trip to the local hospital she finished the scene with her bandages in place.
Mike Lookinland (“Bobby Brady” of The Brady Bunch} was a production assistant. His wife, Kelly Lookinland, played the dead waitress.
The scene with Michael attacking the paramedic in the ambulance was created in post. They were having trouble with Michael’s escape and had to come up with a new way to plausibly get him free without using guns or weapons of any kind.
The scenes of the Ambulance leaving Ridgemont were the same exact shots of them arriving. The film was simply flipped in order to save time and money.
Director Dwight H. Little’s take on Myers was that he wasn’t a super natural creature but was just an escaped mental patient who was stalking his niece in keeping with the family connection.
The mask for Halloween 4 was meant to echo the look of the original however changes were made to compensate for George P. Wilbur’s physical size and larger head and adjustments were made to accommodate his features.
During filming, the burn scars on Donald Pleasence’s face were changed to tone down the over the top effect.
The character of Rachel’s friend Lyndsey wasn’t meant to be the actual Lyndsey Wallace from the original film but more of a nod to her character.
Jamie Lee Curtis gave her permission to use her personal photos during the scenes with Jamie in the closet and Michael later in the film.
The “Cops do it by the book” Tee worn by actress Kathleen Kinmont was designed for the film.
Gel was applied to all the car headlights to tone down the brightness and give them that ‘orange Halloween night’ color.
Originally the scene w/ Jenson & Kinmont in front of the fire featured more nudity and even though Halloween 4 is rated R, Moustapha Akkad decided to tone it down and leave more to the imagination.
Interior scenes of the Meeker home were filmed on location using a practical location. A replica of the roof was constructed for the rooftop chase scene for safety of the actors.
Regarding Wilbur’s performance as Myers, Little wanted him to be thinking and have some kind of consciousness and not be a robot. He wanted him to act as if he didn’t have the mask on.
Deputy Logan’s death (arm awkwardly behind his head) was a slight homage to Ronny Cox’s character from the 1972 Burt Reynolds film Deliverance.
The use of the blonde Michael Myers mask was a production mistake. The actual hero mask had been temporarily lost and there wasn’t any time to stop production. So a quick replacement mask was used.
The throat tear scene at the end of the film was also added post production to help increase the shock value of Michael Myers.
The well that Michael Myers falls into was not an actual well, it was built specially for the film.
Dwight H. Little was approached to direct Halloween 5 (and other sequels) and stated that he felt with the cast and crew at that time they “got it right” and he was slightly afraid/superstitious to try it again and make it work.
Halloween 4 – © 1988 Trancas International Films