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Halloween (2018), R, ★★★


Ah, yes. Another iconic horror villain has come back into the fray. We had Pennywise coming back into our minds and now, we have the hair-raising Michael Myers. He is one of those villains that is at the pinnacle of the horror genre that created inspiration for other villains that did not work out well, including its sequels. I did not mind Halloween II. Director David Gordon Green and comedic actor/writer Danny McBride pitched the script to creator John Carpenter and he replied to say that they get the gist of a Halloween movie and its tone. So, we had a lot of terrible sequels after Halloween II, but besides the Michael Myers creation, all I cared about were the stories and the stories did not work. We come back with a movie, 40 years later after the movie came out and in this movie after the Haddonfield murders. The movie gets rid of its sequels and now has blessed us with a fun sequel with some imperfections.

True-crime podcasters, Aaron Korey and Dana Haines (Jefferson Hall and Rhian Rees) travel to a sanitarium to interview Michael Myers (Nick Castle/James Jude Courtney), who was captured after Dr. Samuel Loomis shot him off the balcony during the events of the first movie. Michael neglects to talk even when Aaron mentions the sole survivor, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). Afterwards, the two podcasters go to interview Laurie, who is suffering from PTSD, at her secluded house, preparing for Michael's return. Laurie declines to talk to Michael again before he is transferred to a maximum security prison.

The bus transporting the patients crashes and the inmates flee, allowing Michael to escape and resume his homicidal ways. Laurie learns about the bus crash, causing her to freak out and prepare for Michael's return to Haddonfield. She breaks into her daughter's, Karen's (Judy Greer), house to get some supplies and causes an argument between them. While murders start to increase during Halloween, Laurie and Sheriff Frank Hawkins (Will Patton) team up to stop and kill Michael once and for all.


The bottom line is I had fun with this movie and I really like the first half of this movie. The mood is set with establishing the new characters and also Laurie Strode and her state. We explore her psychological state as she is disturbed, isolated and crazy. From that perspective, it is a fantastic character study mixed with in the promoted bloody horror, which its crafted very well. However, I was a bit disappointed that it was not as revolutionary as IT because it retreats to homages and themes surrounding the story instead of delving into the story. Also, the humor from mostly the teenagers, detracts from the atmosphere and it did not quite mesh like IT did, and it puts Laurie on the side. Also, there is a creative decision that I did not quite agree with nearing the beginning of the third act that felt like more of an anti-climactic afterthought than anything then we resume back to the story.

Jamie Lee Curtis is dynamite in the role as she fits into the role like a glove and you can make a parallel to Sarah O'Connor with Terminator 2, thinking that she is a more powerful woman ready to take on anything evil coming her way, even though people think she is insane. I have no problem with the parallel, it is just that even though she is great in this movie, I wished that the movie focused more on her and her preparation and rancor against Michael Myers. It would have been more of a blast than what we got. Will Patton is solid as the sheriff, Judy Greer is sublime and is an underrated character actress. Also, people/casting agents need to look Andi Matichak as she stood out and a little bit and has a presence alongside Curtis.

Green ties up the mythology between this movie and the original quite effectively, bringing in eerie, crafted suspense, with its continuous shots, and also showing the gruesome violence and never backs away. The violence here is contextual and relevant because of Michael Myers' murderous personality and also it re-creates the scary atmosphere within his character after 40 years. This movie re-sets the slasher genre, which became tiresome or just tired, and becomes a more solid psychological look at the state of both pursuer and victim in fascinating ways. It's a psychological/physical stand-off that we are waiting for. I wished it could have been more of a great or very good horror movie that could have been in the category of stronger films that came out this decade. But, Halloween is a fun movie to watch in October with your friends and/or close ones.

***


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