Review of Halloween (2018) by K Nife C — 18 Oct 2018

Blumhouse Productions wouldn't have much reason to exist if it weren't for horror film franchises, and more often than not their movies scrape the bottom of the barrel when it comes to delivering anything beyond a date night jump scare. So I have to hand it to them for resurrecting a film series that was pretty subpar from the first sequel on, flagrantly retconning its last nine films, then somehow delivering a fitting sequel to the seminal 1978 original. David Gordon Green's Halloween joins Mad Max: Fury Road and Blade Runner 2049 in the small but growing echelon of successful decades-late soft reboots, and from beginning to end I was grinning from ear to ear.

I decided on a lark a few hours before I attended the screening to reacquaint myself with John Carpenter's classic original in order to more properly gauge the fan service, and the new film has it in spades. From the OG title card font to some very clever scene parallels, the 40 year gap between films is bridged almost seamlessly, hindered only by the unfortunate absence of Donald Pleasence (since, y'know, he's been dead for 23 years). The pacing, dread, and gore of the original are all here but suitably amped up a bit for modern audiences, as even the frat bro sitting next to me was audibly disturbed by a few of the kill scenes. Plus, you can't really beat the iconic score that permeates the runtime, keeping the dark atmosphere amidst the more perfunctory and predictable passages.

What elevates the film past meeting the baseline expectations set out by the original is that the movie reminds us that slasher flicks can be a lot of fun. In terms of dialogue, the exposition is treated with the proper amount of import to maintain tonal balance. Sure it's ham, but it's closer to prosciutto than Lunchables meat. As for the extraneous character driven moments, they range from naturally conversational to straight up comedic, and I wish Jamie Lee Curtis had told me after I'd been inducted to NHS "Screw college, go to Mexico." Speaking of Jamie Lee, it's obvious that her break through lead role has led her to this labor of love, and she's joined by an equally committed cast. This could have been a disaster or another easy cash-grab, but Halloween won't disappoint for horror fans and general audiences alike.