Review:
*Originally written October 24th, 2018*
Well, here we are. A film that had a lot to live up to. A film that promised to wipe the slate clean of all the garbage Halloween sequels and be the sequel we deserved to John Carpenter's horror-slasher classic of the '70s. There were lots of question marks as to whether this to work or not, but with a solid crew behind it and John Carpenter returning to produce and score, plus Jamie Lee Curtis back as Laurie Strode, they've not only managed to make a successful sequel to the original, but one of the best slasher films in years.
The Halloween franchise is one of I've held dear since my childhood. I first got acquainted with the series during late night showings of the sequels when I was very young. I couldn't tell you which sequels they were, but there was something about Michael Myers and his cold, relentless brutality that stuck with me. I eventually got to see whole series eventually, and while they got worse with each one, I still liked the mythology and presence of Myers. I even have a soft-spot for Rob Zombies first remake, not the sequel though, that was one of the lowest lows of the series.
So after a a lot of bad sequels and remakes that killed the franchise for 9 years, we're finally back with Laurie Strode as the lead and its a direct sequel to the original that ignores every following sequel, and it is beautiful. Rather than the overly complicated and increasingly silly backstory behind Michael Myers, he's returning to what he should be, the embodiment of pure evil. A silent killer that brutally murders people without remorse and for no real reason.
We open with him at a mental institution for the criminally insane as he is awaited transportation for a maximum security prison. He's interviewed by two people who do a true crime podcast, leading to an insanely effective cold open that involves a chained up Michael and his original mask before smash cutting to the opening credits that pay homage to the originals opening, while doing something new with it.
You know where this is going though, Michael breaks out and returns to Haddonfield for another round of teenager slaughtering mayhem. But the twist is this time Laurie is waiting for him and she's been preparing for 40 years to finish Michael off. I rarely expect excellent performances from a horror film, but Jamie Lee Curtis is fantastic here, playing Laurie as a much more prepared and stronger character that has shades of Sarah Connor from Terminator 2 while having her own tragic back story. Seeing the mental repercussions of Michael's original killing spree on Laurie's friends was a fantastic touch, that really ground the film in some sort of reality and makes Laurie easy to root for.
What makes this sequel of Halloween work is how it doesn't try to over explain Michael or give him a reason for his crimes. His psychiatrist has spent decades trying to understand him, but came up with nothing. He doesn't even seem to have a real vendetta against Laurie at all either, he will simply kill anyone he comes into contact with. He doesn't even seem to care about Laurie, she even comes for him, not the other way around. Making for a great role reversal and an insanely unexpected and expectation subverting third act that involves three generations of the Strode women.
In terms of brutality and gore, Halloween certainly earns its 18 rating, people are stabbed, shot and beaten to death in unflinching and increasingly brutal ways. Michael's penchant for violence has never been more unchained that is has been here, he is an absolute tanking force of nature that makes you feel every uncomfortable moment of his rampage. It even goes to some surprisingly dark places most mainstream horror franchises wouldn't touch. There's even a beautiful series of long takes as Michael weaves in out of houses, killing the inhabitants and getting hold of whatever weapon he can while John Carpenter's gorgeous and varied score blares in the background. It was a moment of pure cinematic nirvana.
Even with the brutality and gore, David Gordon Green manages to direct the film with an insane amount of confidence and tension as all these kills are earned and are built up. It's rare a horror film doesn't rely on multiple jump scares and rather let's the scene build as we know what Michael is capable of, but watching as the characters have no way out of their horrific situation. One of the little touches I loved was that we never saw Michael's face too. While he spends the first act without his mask, we only ever see the back of his head or very out of focus shots of his face, it just adds a little bit more to that mystery of Michael and the only time we see his face is from archive footage from the original after seeing him be unmasked as a 6 year old after murdering his sister.
I was also pleasantly surprised by Danny McBride and Green's script, which I had no idea what to expect. McBride obviously being majorly comedy focused in his career was something I had my reservations about, but they mostly knock it out the park. There are moments of humour spread throughout, but they don't do that Marvel thing by throwing a lame joke into a middle of a scene that's meant to be tense only to ruin it, but they leave all that stuff on the outside, letting the scenes of horror breathe massively. My only real complaint about the script is the bizarre and out of place character turn late into the film that comes out of nowhere and is wrapped up so quickly that I have no idea why it was even there. That aside, it's all pretty great and there are huge amount of nods to the original that pay homage to it while making its own original take on such iconic imagery.
Halloween 2018 is everything I possibly could have hoped for, it wraps up a story that started 40 years ago perfectly and makes up for much of franchises short-coming while being its own beast. A tense, violent and horrific ride that was a complete blast and might just be the best horror film of the year. It's rare that a film comes along where all I want to do is just watch it again, but here we are. Go see Halloween, support good horror films.
9/10 Dans
Halloween is in cinemas now in the UK and has a 4K Steelbook available to pre-order from HMV
Watch the trailer below:
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