HALLOWEEN (2018)

HALLOWEEN (2018)

Tagline: You don't believe in the Boogeyman? You should.

(Horror, Crime, Strode Me, Strode Me) [R]

If I were you guys, I wouldn't celebrate either. I would just put up a Christmas tree instead. Skip over all the creepy Halloween s--t, right? Does your grandma ever talk about it?

In this one Michael Myers who has been locked away for decades’ escapes when a bus crashes transporting him to another facility and begins a brutal killing spree on Halloween. Meanwhile, Laurie Strode has been preparing all this time for his return much to the dismay of her family who all believe she is crazy and needs psychiatric help. 

First off, I was kind of worried that we wouldn’t get the iconic score for this installment that we normally get. For some reason, most modern remakes, retellings, re-visitations, or continuations all seem to screw up the basics. Fortunately, we do. I have been reading complaints for 4 years now that somehow this thing is boring, but I didn’t get that at all. After a fairly brief introduction to the characters and some script references to the events of the first film HALLOWEEN (1978), everything gets going at a pretty brisk pace with not very many character development scenes after that. 

Acting wise you really can’t go wrong with Jamie Lee Curtis coming back as Laurie. I also didn’t mind Judy Greer in this as Karen (Laurie’s daughter). We don’t get a ton of her, but she’s kind of the scream queen no one really talks about as a scream queen. She is in 2 HALLOWEEN movies, CURSED and THE VILLAGE, but maybe that’s not enough? I guess it is subject to personal opinion? It was nice seeing Will Patton as Officer Hawkins, and Haluk Bilginer is really good as Dr. Sartain, but man on man, his character is bonkers. Outside of the TV show “THE RUNAWAYS” I am not a big fan of Virginia Gardner’s thus far. She plays another very unlikable character in this movie. Maybe that's her thing now? (see FALL). I am not a fan of Andi Matichak who plays Allyson in this film, so you can kind of see where this cast is going for me after the big names. 

Cinematically this is no JASON LIVES: FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI (one of the most well-shot horror films ever regarding lighting and camera work), but we get a lot of great contrasts in the lighting from oranges to blues in certain scenes. The overall feel of the movie keeps in line with the contrasts you want to keep things eerie and haunting. Yes, HALLOWEEN is a slasher, but it’s also psychologically nerve-wracking while still managing to sneak in a few funny and fun moments in the midst of a full-blown fright fest. 

Plot-wise this is a really strong horror flick in my opinion and this is coming from a dude that grew up in the ’80s and watched both the crappy 2007 and 2009 movies. Now – if you aren’t familiar HALLOWEEN is basically a “choose your own adventure” movie series. This movie is a direct follow-up to HALLOWEEN (1978). It does not care about HALLOWEEN II (1981), HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS (1988), etc. (aka. The “Thorn” timeline), the “Remake” timeline, or “H2O” timeline. I’ve included a handy graphic in case that gets confusing. 

In spite of this movie being maligned by critics and some fans, I thought it was outstanding and a really solid entry in the series. If you don’t believe me, just go back and watch any of the HALLOWEEN flicks after HALLOWEEN II. They all have issues even if I do think that HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS and HALLOWEEN 5: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS were decent. 

I have to give this one a solid 5 out of 7. One thing that could have bumped this up to a 6 or 7 would have been some casting improvements and giving us some more relatable, likable characters. Basically, every dude in this below the age of 30 is portrayed as a cheating a-hole or a dude who just misreads women like some kind of moron or doesn’t fully understand the danger of what’s going on.  

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF BLUMHOUSE PRODUCTIONS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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