Review of Halloween (2018) by Jarhead335 — 22 Oct 2018

Halloween as a reboot accomplishes its job: It's entertaining, I had fun watching it, and it is soaked in atmosphere relevant to the holiday. A very fun theater-going experience, despite its flaws. This film flips the script between Laurie and Michael in an inventive way, which made for an intriguing watch. Unlike the original masterpiece and subsequent follow-ups, in this version it feels like Michael himself is the central driver of the plot. The camera follows him often, and rather than a mysterious figure who appears and disappears at will, Michael comes off more brutal murderer than mystical evil. On the contrary, Laurie herself takes the role of mythical figure, popping up at random across town in her pursuit of knowledge related to Michael's escape. Otherwise this reboot is a fairly standard visit to Haddonfield: babysitters die, no one questions the man in the mask, and teenagers make poor decisions.

Ultimately, the plot is serviceable enough to not get lost in, the kills are gory and interesting, but at the end of the day the movie just wasn't that scary. It feels like Michael has been made human, too tangible now to be downright nerve-wracking. Coupled with (surprise!) yet another open-ending leaving Michael's death unconfirmed, and I just didn't feel as strongly about this film as I wanted to.

Fun, fan-servicey, an enjoyable experience. But not something that will truly last in the public conscience.