Review of Halloween (2018) by Charles S — 29 Oct 2018

Halloween 2018 is a triumphant return to form for the Halloween franchise, and a signal for a new era of horror reboots, one that hopefully brings more to the table than the Michael Bay driven era of remakes from the early 2000s. Jamie Lee Curtis once again returns to her most iconic role of Laurie Strode, horror's ultimate final girl, for one last battle against her nemesis Michael Myers. Joining in on the fight is a whole family of Strodes, including Karen Strode played by Judy Greer, and newcomer Andi Matichak playing Allyson Strode. The three generations of Strode women band together in a fiery climax to rid Haddonfield of it's dreaded boogeyman once and for all.

Behind the scenes we have franchise creator John Carpenter returning after a long hiatus away from the series, this time as an executive producer and of course, also composing a new and soon to be iconic score. Malek Akkad, son of series grandfather Moustapha Akkad, now leads the series, and franchise newcomers David Gordon Green and Danny McBride join the series as director and screenwriter respectively, along with Jeff Fadley. Jason Blum also produces as apart of his studio Blumhouse, which is currently dominating the horror genre alongside Warner Bros, and we couldn't be happier about that. Horror has undergone a renaissance in the last few years. So many quality horror films and reboot are being made, and there is so much money being brought into the box office. We are all so lucky as movie and horror fans to be living in this era. I'm excited what we're gonna see next, in terms of both the Halloween franchise and horror in general.

As always, I'll start with what I did like first.

The acting and performances were all top notch. Jamie Lee Curtis brings her all to this role. When she passes away, it'll be this role and her work in horror that she'll be most remembered for I believe, and with performances like this, it's not hard to see why. There's a sincere grief and trauma that haunts Laurie all throughout the film. I could see the fear and pain in her eyes from everything she suffered all those years ago, and her interactions with her family were the most heartfelt and sincere moments I've ever seen in this series. Curtis also shines on the opposite side of that spectrum and kicks plenty of ass in the film as well. Her compound was full of Home Alone style booby traps and there were many moments of the film were Laurie mimicked Michael from the original Halloween, which I thought was insanely clever and the best kind of referencing and fan service. The other members of the cast were also all good. I especially liked Judy Greer as Laurie's long suffering daughter Karen. She had a lot of surprising moments, and her backstory felt natural and real. She also had probably the most badass moment of the film, when she pretends to be scared and cries out for her mom, and when Michael takes the bait and appears in front of her, she quickly snaps back and shoots him straight to the ground. Bad-fucking-ass. That's exactly the kind of character development I want to see in my slasher films. Andi Matichak was good as well. I thought a lot of the scenes of her and her friends were nice updated versions of the scenes with Laurie and her friends from the original film. Some of her friends were a little obnoxious and I could have done without them, but overall her character and interactions with her family and friends were a nice diversion away from the dark and brutal killings. I think the best teen characters were definitely Miles Robbins and Virginia Gardner. Gardner especially had a really good scene when she was babysitting, and the back and forth between her and the child she was watching was nice and sweet, as well as hilarious as hell. The entire theatre was cracking up during these scenes. Nick Castle and James Courtney share the role of Michael Myers, and it was refreshing to see to original Shape back in action. I felt the detachment, the evil, his pure menace as he stalked to streets of Haddonfield and racked up an impressive body count. As a whole, most of the characters were charming and likeable, something you can't say for many of the other Halloween sequels or slasher films in general. Many of the deaths were hard to watch because I genuinely didn't want the characters to die. GOOD SCREENWRITING! It's kinda important.

The directing and cinematography were the best since the original film. David Gordon Green made this movie his own, and didn't just rehash the same scenes over and over again. He paid tribute to the entire series in a clever and respectful way, which was smart considering many fans were upset about the ignoring of all the sequels. Those long tracking shots and the many shots of Michael lurking in the background and behind people were the true essence of Halloween. I was skeptical of Green's ability to helm one of horror's most iconic characters, but he succeeded in spectacular fashion.

I can't think of another horror series where the music is just as much a character as the actual characters in the movie, and the music here is simply superb, and it's even more incredible that it's provided by the man himself John Carpenter. Where do I even begin with Carpenter. He's the man. His filmography is so vast and he's created so many modern classics it's ridiculous. And he's scored almost all of his own films, with Halloween 2018 being the first film he's composed the music for that he didn't write or direct. The new themes, especially the one used for Allyson's chase scene. I liked the new variations of the classic score, and the ending credit theme is probably my favorite track of the score.

The choice to ignore all the previous sequels was the right one in my opinion. There are many fans out there that wished Halloween II had been included in the canon, but wiping the slate completely clean and just using the original film as a jumping off point makes so much sense. The continuity of the Halloween franchise is almost singularly unique amongst horror series. There are so many timelines and resets that trying to find a way to make a true sequel to this series is near impossible. So it makes sense to just go back to the original 1978 film and build a story from there. It provides us with a much better version of the story Halloween H20 tried to tell, and wasn't entirely successful in doing. We get a psychologically damaged Laurie who has pushed everyone away from her, two generations of Strodes that have been touched by Michael Myers in different ways, and we get the best motivation for Michael to hunt Laurie; she's the "one who got away". That to me is miles better than having them be brother and sister. It makes Michael scary again, and his pursuit of Laurie more interesting. The way the film narratively and cinematically links the film to the 1978 Halloween is so much more effective than the dozens of homages the series has paid to the original film, and makes for a more seamless transition between the two films. There were so many moments that mirrored or referenced the original, but in a unique way that I loved. It completely subverted my expectations time and time again, and it's been so long since a Halloween movie, or any horror movie, has done that.

This Halloween is relentless and brutal in the best way possible. Michael Myers truly is The Shape again, and the embodiment of pure evil that John Carpenter and Debra Hill intended him to be all those years ago. That long tracking shot of Michael going from house to house and randomly murdering people was the perfect image of what Michael Myers is supposed to be. Pure, unfiltered rage and evil. And I also respect horror movies that have the courage to place small children in mortal danger. The Halloween series has a history of this, and it's nice to see it return once again.

This was the first Halloween film since Halloween 6 that had a Halloween atmosphere. Some people already disagree with me, but the choice to film in the winter was a great choice, and the background and fall decorations all gave the film a nice crisp autumn vibe.

I liked that the original credits and fonts from the first movie were used. It was another bit of connective tissue that connected it with the original Halloween. Being such a young fan, I haven't seen a quality Halloween film in theatres, and seeing the font and iconic titles on screen felt like watching the original film back in 1978.

Things I didn't like.

The opening credits rubbed me the wrong for some reason. I didn't like the inflating pumpkin, even though I get the concept behind it. It looked to fake in my opinion, and the titles went by too fast.

Some of the humor was misplaced, and deflated some of the tension of the movie. The babysitter murder scene was a prime example, as the young child who was being babysat was making jokes during his babysitter's actual murder and it did not gel with the rest of the scene. Some of the other scenes with Allyson's friends were a tab bit off putting, and I would have preferred more scenes with the Strodes.

The podcasters didn't really add anything new or that interesting to the film. The two actors did a great job, and their opening scene was nice, with them meeting Michael at Smith's Grove, but their storyline never really panned out the way I wanted. I was expecting them to provide a commentary on how culture's fascination with serial killers, and while there was some of that in flashes, especially the cemetary scene, there wasn't enough to justify their inclusion in the film, and they ultimately only serve as a means for Michael to get his mask back. I wish they had more meaningful scenes before being violently murdered.

This is not a slight on the movie itself, but more of the series as a whole. Because Halloween has hit the reset button so many times, there's a sense familiarity to the proceedings. This isn't the first time Laurie and Michael have faced off against each so many years after the original, and the film loses some of its impact because of that. Several scenes also felt too similar to the other films, and so the film didn't feel as fresh as it could have been. Once again, nothing against the movie itself, but it being the 11th film in the series weakens some of its bite.

Final thoughts.

Perhaps no movie or sequel in the Halloween franchise will ever come close to topping John Carpenter's immortal classic, but Halloween 2018 comes mighty close. The story, performances, direction, and atmosphere are supremely ahead of anything this franchise has attempted before. I was blown away by the commitment by everyone involved with this project, and the film met my very low expectations and then some. It's far from a perfect movie, but very few movies are. The original Halloween itself wasn't an immediate classic, and I believe with time, this one may be seen as being worthy of that 1978 film by all audiences. The filmmakers held such a deep reverence for the Halloween franchise, and respected it and its fans, and that's why the film works on so many levels. I haven't seen a horror sequel/reboot made with this much respect and effort in quite some time, and the levels of success an box office the film is already achieving warms my heart. I hope this is a signal to a new wave of quality horror reboots. After the last wave left such a bad taste in the mouths of so many fans and movie goers, it's time our favorite slasher/horror icons get a second chance to reinvent themselves. And we should all be so lucky if they come halfway to matching David Gordon Green's Halloween.