Review of Halloween (2018) by James P — 21 Jan 2019

Movie was terrible - this review will contain spoilers.

Cinematography was fine - music, acting, and slasher style were pretty ordinary but undoubtedly competent. What ruined this movie falls into two main categories - 1. Placing more emphasis on SJW feminism than substance, and 2. Ridiculous plot devices devoid of subtlety.

1. On the first point, as is the case with the vast majority of Hollywood movies nowadays, the identity of the characters and their development in the story adhere strictly to a feminist / SJW narrative of overcoming the oppressive white patriarchy. I first noticed this in the movie when a man and his son happened upon the crashed bus Michael Meyers had escaped from. The brief conversation between the man and his son before encountering the bus went vaguely as follows - "Dad, do we really have to go hunting today? I want to go to dance practice." "Son, you really want to do dancing? Why don't you want to do somethin manly like huntin' and fishing'?" - Okay, so clearly they're using a common trope in horror films- demonstrate a character flaw before that character gets killed, so the viewer sort of sees it as justified. This old man was an "instrument of oppressive gender norms" so it was clear as day at that point that he was going to be killed and that the movie producers were conveying his "backward" gender conception is his character flaw death sentence. I then began noticing this social justice bent a little more and saw it everywhere - the boyfriend was a dumb cheater who destroyed her phone when she found out, the lovable male friend crossed the line and tried to kiss her, the dad was largely insensitive and callous, all of the male cops were incompetent... All of the male characters were either idiots, ethically questionable, downright evil or some combination of the three, while on the other hand, the females in this movie never demonstrated flaws or weakness. Laurie was sort of "flawed" in her obsession with Michael Meyers, but the viewer doesn't really believe it to be a flaw, since we know Meyers will be on the loose and sure enough he escapes and the other characters learn, as we've known all along, "she's not so crazy after all." And all other females are perfect in pretty much every way, with the movie culminating with the three women (who didn't mourn the murdered father AT ALL) being badass, brave warriors who confront and defeat the evil with their superior intellect and tenacity. Sooooo typical of modern feminism contaminating plots. There's nothing wrong in society with women reaching their potentials, and I don't think women ought to be held back, but it's nauseating and insulting to have that message forced down our throats with every major Hollywood movie. We get it! Not only is it insulting, but it's reducing the effectiveness of your movie. Horror movies are good because their protagonists are vulnerable, not because they're fearless heroes.

2. Here are some of my problems with the caveman-like plot devices used to get from point A to point B in this movie. First, Laurie has been so traumatized by what happened 40 years ago that she still thinks about it all day every day. I'm sorry, but that's completely unrealistic. People recover from trauma. Even if they maintain deep emotional scars, they will eventually recover. Many people have undergone trauma that is far, far worse than what Laurie went through, and they go on to lead normal lives in the vast majority of cases. Sure, some people might be predisposed to mental disorders, but in this movie, Laurie's strange paranoia is meant to convey just how SCARY Michale Meyers is. She was REALLY traumatized, ok guys! While that little plot device is meant to make me fear Michael Meyers, it really just makes me not believe what they're saying about Laurie's character.

Some of the murders were genuinely unexpected though, and for that the film deserves some credit. I couldn't believe they killed off the two journalists so early, and I know some other reviewers have called that lazy. Maybe it is but it worked for me, since killing such main characters is unexpected and makes me think the director means business. Similarly, when the babysitter is about to get killed, I expected the little boy to save her, but he didn't. It reminded me that the director meant business, but as this went on, I started to realize that everyone but the most major characters were likely to get stabbed.

How in the hell Laurie could have known that her little kitchen trap door thing would someday be used to trap Michael? That's so ridiculous! It was stocked with food and guns as if it was a bomb shelter to be used for hiding, and she even puts her precious daughter in there to protect her. And then the twist is like, just kidding, it was an offensive trap. Then why did you stock it with food? Why did you hide your daughter in it? How could you have possibly known events would transpire in such a way as to get Michael in the cellar? It's so unlikely and logistically ridiculous.

I could go on, but I've made the points that I wanted to make, and my fingers are getting tired. Don't waste your money on this movie.