Review of Halloween (2018) by Dirigiblepulp — 14 Jan 2019

The umpteenth rebootquel of the franchise. This time we go all the way back to the beginning, something that is becoming an increasing phenomenon in the moviegoing marketplace. People don't want remakes (the original is too special), but they also don't want sequels (cheap money grabs). But how about both in one? While parts of it are quite good, other parts are downright lazy and woebegone.

Although it purports to be a direct sequel to the first film (inexplicably disregarding the 2nd film to get rid of the brother/sister storyline), it homages, and in some cases takes scenes and plot point from nearly every other Halloween film. It's like a mashup, but set to the tune of reboot. Laurie's PTSD storyline is taken from H2O, but cranked up to 11. The first time Michael picks up a knife again in the kitchen with the old lady is taken from 2. The doctor character does his best Loomis. The bathroom kill scene with the podcasters is from both 4 and the Zombie remake. The final shot is from 4.

We are asked to take Laurie as as serious character study -- she has PTSD and is estranged from the family she ostensibly loves -- but instead of her learning anything about herself she is ultimately proven right and let off the hook for her years of misplaced paranoia, since in this film Michael was somehow captured right after the first film ended and has been locked up ever since.

Why disregard the 2nd film, which could have given her plausible reason to still fear Michael? They never found his burnt body and he could still be out there. H2O knew to do this, but here we get a half-assed Michael locked up storyline for the third time, and yet again he escapes while changing facilities.

This film also includes strands of desperate thematic relevance. Michael supposedly represents the patriarchy. While a slasher movie might be a good fit for that kind of exploration, was Halloween really the right platform? If the plan was really to return Michael to his mysterious randomly killing ways, how can he represent the patriarchy? (In another strange twist he doesn't kill a baby when given the chance. I don't want him to kill a baby but why even address that?). It's all just very weird and out of place in the overall context of this film.

There are good moments however. Michael's mask is back to its grand evil beauty. It's haunted, aged, worn and sad. Like how this whole movie should have been. Jamie is fantastic, and the climax actually raises some goosebumps, if ultimately underwhelming. The score is appropriately electronic, with a good balance of referencing the original and sprucing it up.

Green has a few nifty long tracking shots in this, but they feel like homage pastiche. Both ostentatious and not enough. Atmosphere is mostly lacking, the whole film is edited so fast and no shot lingers for too long. It doesn't have a creeping singular vision, instead its stuck in the past with a few face slaps of modern relevance to make it feel fresh and new.