Halloween (2018) Movie Review

If you ask me what franchise I re-watch on a yearly basis, you can bet your sweet ass that Halloween is in the top three. It’s the quintessential Fall movie franchise. So, obviously when I heard that there was a new one with Jamie Lee Curtis (the queen) starring and John Carpenter producing, you know I lost my mind. When I heard it was having its premiere at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) and Jaime Lee would be in attendance, I knew I had to do anything to get in that screening. Well, turns out all I needed to do was just get a ticket. This story got uneventful real fast.

Now this took me a while to write because I want to tell you things, but I also don’t want to spoil anything. Let’s start off with the fact that we are lead to believe that this Halloween would be very much in the true crime angle. That lasted about ten minutes. So, don’t get your hopes up over that. Now that that Band-Aid is ripped off, let’s talk about the storyline. These two true crime podcasters go to see Michael Myers at this mental facility to see if they can get him to talk about that fateful night 40 years ago. He doesn’t say anything because he is Michael Myers, BUT they do hint at the fact that he might have a beard. So, yeah. That is something. They also try to give him his mask back, but again nothing happens. They leave, and for some reason the mental facility/prison is like, “Hey let’s put Michael Myers on a bus and move him to a different facility on his anniversary, right after he just saw his mask again. We are sooooo smart.” Guess what happens? Bus breaks down and he escapes.

Cut to Haddonfield. Laurie Strode is older, time has passed. She has grey hair now. She also lives in a home that she designed to be the perfect safe house and protect her from Michael Myers, should he ever come home. SPOILER ALERT, he does. We get introduced to Laurie’s daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak), who is still in high school (I’ll get to that in a bit). It’s clear that Karen and Laurie’s relationship is strained because of her upbringing. You probably would be a bit cautious too if someone murdered all your friends but was still alive, and you would probably be a bit overprotective. It was probably hard being a mom. Usual high school drama happens; mom and daughter fight, girl has secrets about colleges, girl’s boyfriend cheats on her to reveal that she don’t need no man, blah blah blah. Pointless. We get it, you hit all the teenage tropes Blumhouse.

Of course, Michael comes home to finish what he started 40 years ago, but this time Laurie is prepared to fight back! Okay, that is literally all I can talk about because if I go any further I’ll spoil things and you will hate me. I don’t want you to hate me.

Let me just tell you now that the soundtrack is amazing. The score that was created by John Carpenter and his son Cody is both nostalgic with a modern almost jarring overtone. It’s just great, I can’t wait to buy it when it gets to vinyl. Danny McBride wrote this screenplay and I am truly in love with that man. He can do no wrong. Fight me on it. He went from making dumb stoner movies to rewriting a classic and taking his career to a whole new level. He is wonderful. Also, if you get a chance to see Arizona, his new dark horror comedy, do it. It is also great and I believe that movie is like a weird prequel to his character in Pineapple Express.

The granddaughter Allyson is useless. Her character for one kept calling Laurie ‘grandmother’ like it’s 1920. Secondly, the only reason her character is even in the story is to have a high school party where people can die and the sex appeal in young girls wearing questionable Halloween costumes is prominent. They were written in just to die.

The gore is upped in this film. I get it, back in 1978 that was super scary to the audience but not so much to us. I like when there isn’t as much gore, but the audience seemed to really enjoy the added bloodbath factor. At the end of the day this is a fan film. It has way too many nods to the original to the point where you question if they are overcompensating for something. Don’t get me wrong, one or two nods to the original is awesome, but there are way too many and they aren’t needed. Make your own film; make your own classic moments instead recycling old ones.

Jamie Lee Curtis and Judy Greer are amazing. I could write a million essays about them being great, but they are great. See this movie for those two bad-ass bitches! The best mother/daughter fighting team ever. I truly wish this installment was more focused on their relationship and they just wrote the granddaughter out entirely. Jamie Lee is still so strong and steals every single scene she is in, but Judy gives her a run for her money. Both are such strong and empowering leads by the end of the movie and I hope this inspires more women to make horror and write strong women in horror.

Halloween is well made and fun, but at the end of the day it’s just another sequel. It’s way better than majority of them, but it’s nothing new. Yet, you and I both know we will give it our money and add it to our already-stocked collection. It’s Halloween, you can’t have an incomplete collection. Go and see it, you will probably enjoy it. It’s a Halloween film and ‘tis the season.