You don't believe in the boogeyman? You should.
Halloween is a 2018 slasher film directed by David Gordon Green, written by Jeff Fradley, Danny McBride, and David Gordon Green, produced by Miramax, Blumhouse Pictures, Trancas International Films, and Rough House Pictures, and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Judy Greer. The film was not nominated for any Academy Awards. This is the eleventh film in the Halloween franchise, although it skips over the middle of the franchise, acting as a direct sequel to the original Halloween. It will be followed by Halloween Kills.
"The bus crashed." -Laurie Strode
Plot
40 years after the events of the first film, Laurie Strode is finally trying to cope with her PTSD and maintain a relationship with her daughter and her granddaughter. However, while Michael Myers is being transferred to a different institution, the bus crashes, allowing Michael to escape. Michael dons the mask once more and returns to Haddonfield, Illinois to track down Laurie Strode. But this time, Laurie is prepared.
Positive Aspects
In my life, I have seen only a couple of horror movies. Among these are Jaws, Doctor Sleep, The Shining, It, It: Chapter Two, and Halloween. Halloween is, by far, the nastiest, bloodiest, and scariest of the bunch. This movie is legitimately terrifying. There's something so internally scary about Michael Myers. The supernatural strength and emotionless killing that he does makes him one of the best horror movie villains of all time. He just represents the face of pure evil, and they do a really good job of showing that off in this.
The directing is great. There are some fantastic shots of Michael Myers and the finale is also shot in a very distinct way that works very well. The coolest scene is Michael's return to Haddonfield. It's insanely creepy, but it's shot in two long takes. They show Michael stalking through the neighborhood, nobody noticing him, as the iconic score plays in the background. They do such a good job of capturing the pure evil of Michael, as he kills two people for no reason at all, while kids just go along trick-or-treating on Halloween night.
The final sequence with Laurie looking for Michael around her house is insanely intense and scary. Once again, this was a product of the directing. It is so suspenseful and nerve-racking, and it really does actually pay off when he finally jumps out.
Jamie Lee Curtis is amazing in this. She does a great job of acting paranoid and nervous, but also worried for her family. She continues to just nail the role of Laurie Strode and resume where she left off at the end of the original movie. I think that Judy Greer has some good parts. One of the highlights of her performance is in the final part when she shoots Michael. She isn't in a ton of it, but she does a mostly good job of acting like her mother is crazy. Andi Matichak does a great job in her first role. She acts like the normal horror movie trope of the high school girl that gets chased down by the killer.
On that note, this movie does a great job of portraying badass women. Laurie, Karen, and Allyson are all strong, great female characters that always fight back against the pure evil that Michael Myers is. I liked that they decided to basically switch Laurie and Michael in this film. She's ready for him now and she wants to kill him. They also put her in a ton of shots that are replicas of the original, but Laurie replaces Michael in all of them.
They upped the ante with the blood, gore, and just overall nastiness of the film. The makeup and design of the brutal murders is great. It is absolutely nasty, but it looks so real. They love showing you the extra stuff. They show brains and organs and it is nauseating. Kudos to the makeup and design artists, though, because this stuff does not look easy.
Negative Aspects
I mean, it's a slasher film. It has the pretty generic, cliche stuff that a normal slasher has. Most of the victims are idiot teenagers that are way too high and/or drunk to even comprehend that they are getting killed. There is a crazy doctor in it that is obsessed with the science and psychology of Michael Myers. There is a lot of screaming, and it ends with Michael pretending to die. It doesn't really do anything special.
I also think that they forced in too many side characters that are underdeveloped and stupid. The journalists are bad characters, and they feel like they are just there so that Michael can use them as his first victims. The doctor does almost nothing throughout the entire film, until he suddenly kills one of the important characters and gets his faced stomped on. I also think that they tried to make the movie more interesting by adding in too many subplots. Once again, it goes back to the journalists and doctors obsessed with the psychological aspect of Michael Myers and trying to get him to say something. It felt lazy and dumb, and it pulled you away from the main focus, which is Michael's murder spree.
There is also this weird part where Judy Greer delivers a monologue about her childhood in a completely monotonous voice. I don't know if that was what the director told her to do, but it is incredibly strange and feels out of place.
They also don't do a great job of tying up loose ends. Allyson's boyfriend cheats on her, they have a screaming match, and then it doesn't get resolved. Julian, the super funny little kid that Vicky babysits, isn't confirmed as dead or alive after Michael invades his house. Karen and Allyson don't actually ever find out that their husband/dad was killed. I just wish that why would've added a couple of little epilogue scenes to finish off these small arcs that nobody ever touches on. Maybe they will in Halloween Kills, but it would be nice if I didn't have to wait three years to find out.
Final Score
Despite a somewhat cliche plot and some unfinished storylines, Halloween succeeds with the horror, acting, characters, and some great directing.
I will give it a Savory rating. Age range is 16+.
SWEET N' SOUR SCALE
Sweet (Great) Savory (Good)
Sour (Bad) Moldy (Terrible)
"Halloween"
Fun Factor: 7.5/10
Acting: 8/10
Story: 6.5/10
Characters: 8.5/10
Quality: 7/10
Directed by David Gordon Green
Rated R for strong bloody violence, scary images, disturbing themes and behavior, sexual content, language, thematic elements
Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode
Judy Greer as Karen Nelson
Andi Matichak as Allyson Nelson
Nick Castle as Michael Myers
Haluk Bilginer as Dr. Sartain
Will Patton as Officer Hawkins
Virginia Gardner as Vicky
Miles Robbins as Dave
Toby Huss as Ray Nelson
Jefferson Hall as Aaron Korey
Rhian Rees as Dana Haines
Dylan Arnold as Cameron Elam
Drew Scheid as Oscar
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