Review of Halloween (2018) by Alan W — 25 Oct 2018

I normally do not enjoy watching horror films much, let alone slasher films, so if it wasn't for the positive reviews, I probably would not have bothered with this. With that in mind, this 2018 incarnation of the 40 years old franchise is a decent, thought through and well executed genre film that should satisfy its core target audience and then some.

The bravest and most original thing the script by David Gordon Green, Jeff Fradley and Danny McBride does is to rip out all the previous sequels and reboots and continues only from the original 1978 film, thus de-cluttering the franchise and avoids unnecessary plot gymnastics and contrivances.

This script still finds itself squarely in conventional genre territories but is now updated for 2018. The mortality rate is much higher for those with the Y chromosome as they are dispatched in a more graphic and brutal manner than that of the female victims which are often less gratuitously bloody or done off-screen via sound effects.

And then there's the central cross-generational trio of female protagonists led by the return of Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode (again), who is fully prepared to turn the table by making the hunter the hunted.

For cineastes and genre fans, the most fun to be had is in the spotting of homages and references to the original film and the franchise. From the grainy titles to John Carpenter's eerie score to the knowing re-staging of notable scenes from previous films, they show a passion and attention that were sorely missing before.

Judged on its own merits, this is a solid genre film that no doubts delivers, and most surprisingly, coming from a director who is known more for films such as Stronger and Pineapple Express.