My Review of Halloween (2018)

Written by Jeff Fradley & Danny McBride & David Gordon Green
Directed by David Gordon Green

Laurie: "I always knew he'd come back. In this town, Michael Myers is a myth. He's the Boogeyman. A ghost story to scare kids. But this Boogeyman is real. An evil like his never stops, it just grows older. Darker. More determined. Forty years ago, he came to my home to kill. He killed my friends, and now he's back to finish what he started, with me. The one person who's ready to stop him."

I waited nearly a week since this movie's release to see it in the cinema and then nearly another week to review on this particular day. Since it's announcement last year, I've anticipated this movie quite a lot. After the disastrous reboots at the behest of Rob Zombie, could David Gordon Green, Danny McBride and Jeff Fradley fix what was previously broken within the franchise?

After thinking about it long and hard and trying not to get swept up in personal bias and hyperbole, the answer is a resounding yes, yes they can. I'm not going to pretend that this movie isn't without some flaws but they're relatively minor ones compared to other sequels but the main thing is this - this movie feels like it's paid attention to what made the original so impacting and while it doesn't always successfully replicate that, it certainly evokes the same  spirit nonetheless.

It's been forty years since the events of the first movie (and the sequels are ignored) and Michael Myers (Nick Castle/James Jude Courtney) has been locked up for that amount of time and is about to be transferred to a maximum prison to live out the rest of his days. Before that happens though, two documentary makers, Aaron Korey (Jefferson Hall) and Dana Haines (Rhian Rees) decide to rake up the past and in doing so, inadvertently spur Michael back into action.

Before the inevitable escape and sequel to his infamous killing spree, Aaron and Dana also happen to stop and catch up with Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) who in the space of four decades has become a paranoid recluse, obsessed with killing Michael while struggling to mend her broken relationship with daughter, Karen Nelson (Judy Greer) and tolerating the latter's husband, Ray (Toby Huss).

Laurie's relationship with her granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak) is somewhat better as the latter seems to share some similarities with her grandmother, having to witness an escape Michael Myers bumps off her friends, one by one. Friends including babysitter, Vicky (Virginia Gardner), boyfriend Dave (Miles Robbins) and Oscar (Drew Scheid). Allyson's own boyfriend, Cameron (Dylan Arnold) manages to be the only other teenager apart from Allyson to survive Michael Myers but he also does one better by not having to interact with him in the first place.

The kills in this movie aren't too inventive but neither are they too gory either. There's an attempt to echo some moments from the first movie when Michael escapes the bus and makes his way back to Haddonfield in his pursuit of Laurie and they're effectively done. The actual reunion between Michael and Laurie is beautifully tense with the former experiencing a fate that he's endured in two previous movies while also setting up the soon to be announced sequel following the movie's deserved box office success..

The biggest strength of the movie is of course Jamie Lee Curtis. Laurie Strode is her iconic role and movie wise, she's best served here since her debut in the role back in 1978. There's also a wonderful chemistry with Laurie, Karen and Allyson, so the fact that all three of them survive the movie is a blessing. Ray is less served as a character but I did like Will Patton and Haluk Bilginer's performances as local Sheriff Frank Hawkins and Michael's obsessive therapist, Dr. Ranbir Sartain while the teenager characters (Vicky mostly) were entertaining enough before Michael picked them off.

Michael himself was also a strong point of this movie, certainly showing focus and determination to get back to Laurie while the relationship with the two of them was nicely commented on throughout the movie. I liked Laurie's essential breakdown of Michael to both Aaron and Dana and how she had prepared for their reunion.

- The movie had a pumpkin style opening credits and orange wording end credits with Michael breathing heavily.
- There were nods to several other movies, even if this sequel abolished the previous canon of Michael and Laurie being related to one another.
- This film was also released on Michael Myers's birthday as well, considering that in the movie's canon he was born on October 19th.
- PJ Soles who played Lynda in the first movie was briefly seen as a teacher in this one while Cameron is the son of Lonnie from the first movie as well. Samuel Loomis got a voice cameo, courtesy of Colin Mahan.
- John Carpenter and his son did the score music for this movie.
- Chronology: Forty years since the events of the first movie.

Halloween (that's now three movies in this franchise with the same title) certainly felt like a return to form. It won't surpass the original movie and it's probably on a par with the fourth movie in terms of sequel goodness, though it could've done with a little trimming, length wise. Saying that, this felt like the right way to modernise both Laurie Strode and Michael Myers for the current horror generation while at the same time taking pride in the original and sequels that came before it. A triumph overall.

Rating: 8 out of 10