Review of Halloween (2018) by Pipec — 25 Dec 2018

Without Curtis, "Halloween" is next on the list of Michael Myers.

Jamie Lee Curtis is back, and by far, she's the best of all this. Curtis is a scream-queen by nature as her mother Janet Leigh, one of the founders of the term, played MarionWithout Curtis, "Halloween" is next on the list of Michael Myers.

Jamie Lee Curtis is back, and by far, she's the best of all this. Curtis is a scream-queen by nature as her mother Janet Leigh, one of the founders of the term, played Marion Crane in Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece "Psycho." But Curtis isn't here to scream this time. 2018 has been one of the richest years in terms of productions with heterogeneous women in front and behind the camera in recent times; Laurie Strode and her clan have been one of the strongest driving forces. Fed up with running and hiding, traumatized by a past that hurt aggressively her own daughter, Mr. Carpenter's final girl turns herself into a badass-yet-scared avenger ready to kill this guy off. Honoring the role that became her a big-name actress, the twice Golden Globe winner unfolds an exploration of trauma that's underdeveloped even despite the strong female empowerment the film breathes, often synthetically. Overlooking the character's narrative, structural imperfection, Curtis is a beast as Laurie. The "Scream Queens" actress does keep her Horror Queen title alive, the facial metamorphosis by facing Myers off is unmissable, her panic gives you full idea about what she went through in just a couple of seconds; it's overwhelming how she unwittingly speaks volumes about her trauma through hysteria and roughness that brings to mind Lieutenant Ellen Ripley from "Alien" or Sarah Connor from "Terminator." We all missed Curtis on the big screen, this makes it up. Respecting the timeless original plot of Debra Hill and John Carpenter, the screenplay penned by Jeff Fradley, Danny McBride and David Gordon Green misses the mark diluting a number of expendable modern-day/yesteryear film horror tropes that even if they get a raison d'être in the duties to meet new audiences' expectations and try to satirize its own copies severely harm the reason for this sequel to exist, neglecting its own disciples: fan or not, no one wants to watch a high school costume party with drunk, horny young folk swarming around the screen when you get, after four long centuries, Michael and Laurie together for less than two hours. A heart-breaking letdown and/or dishonorable marketing campaign turns out to be the core purpose of this sequel, misleading with an event that, judging by time and quality, falls short as for the promises out of the trailers.

There are undeniably two leads, but unfortunately, they fade against the disguised and oddly effective symbolism the script deals with. Moving "Halloween" into millennial ground is a logical step to take, but not by means of clear-cut overtones such as a feasible money-hungry third entry by Blumhouse or analogical sequences that besides compensating the pains of a woman represented as three, reaffirms once and again the name of the next scream-queen of the franchise, if you don't think so, pay attention to the last shot of the film. Aesthetically, it's a crowning achievement. Despite rawness and hyper-violence executing some homicides, there are no gore, tension and thrill, and yet the movie is masterfully crafted. In this field, killer-victim sequences shine the most, as the possibly memorable but devoid of substance false one-shot murder scene with Michael breaking into a neighborhood to make his own thing the Halloween night. Throwing the uber-generic chases off, the final 15-minute sequence is disturbingly oppressive, with Laurie looking for her larger-than-life nightmare behind a door or inside the closet all over her place, the suspense building and paranoia grate on your nerves, adding the cat-and-mouse final chase, which, by the way, is visually dynamic. Paradoxically, it seems that the brand-new horror tropes took the entire feature over, quick example: the game with darkness in the backyard scene, which brings clear reminiscences of David F. Sandberg's "Lights Out.".

"Halloween" by David Gordon Green lacks any tension and paralyzing effect as well as own essence and direction — even if you watch it on October 31st, just like I did, — and yet it's a glorious comeback for Jamie Lee Curtis, an old-school slasher with on-the-nose modern deviations which falls by the wayside by juggling too many expendable agents. This sequel had it all to conquer: firstly, Curtis and her fundamental acting skills; secondly, Michael and his brutal knife and legacy as film icon; thirdly, Carpenter himself as advisor and composer; then, the suspense and thriller genres prone to some hard-to-watch well-crafted scenes; and lastly, horror mastermind Jason Blum's production company, which alongside Universal Pictures have become the most creatively and commercially successful horror-film machines in Hollywood today. Green's festival darling does not flee or hide, rather, toys and misleads with the maneuvers of its star.