‘Halloween’ makes Myers terrifying once again
By Jack Murphy// Staff Writer
Directed by David Gordon Green, “Halloween” is what Green and screenwriter, Danny McBride, have called the proper sequel to John Carpenters 1978 horror classic of the same name. The film stars Jamie Lee Curtis reprising her role as Laurie Strode, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton and Haluk Bilginer. Nick Castle, who reprises his role as The Shape from the 1978 film, and newcomer to the series and stuntman, as well as James Jude Courtney, plays Michael Myers. Forty years after Michael Myers murdered four people and was arrested after being shot by his psychiatrist, he is transported to a new penitentiary, when the bus crashes freeing Michael. As Michael Myers heads back to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, to continue his murderous spree, Laurie Strode (Curtis), the sole survivor of the 1978 murders, has been training herself for Michaels return. She becomes an incredible marksman while dealing with PTSD and paranoia, resulting in her being an outcast to the rest of her family. Now as The Shape returns to Haddonfield, he looks to finish what he started forty years ago. The original “Halloween” is one of my favorite horror films ever made, along with films such as “The Shining” and “The Thing,” another John Carpenter film. The original film has changed the way horror films are made to this day, and it still is one of the shining examples of how to make a fantastic horror film. The concept for “Halloween” seemed interesting, and both the trailers were fantastic. Yet I was left disappointed by the final result.
Starting with the positives, Jamie Lee Curtis is fantastic. Curtis comes across as a damaged mother and victim of severe anxiety and paranoia, as Myer’s transportation and escape really terrifies her. However, when Michael does return to Haddonfield, Strode becomes a formidable match for the unstoppable masked murderer. Speaking of Myers, the film nailed making Michael Myers scary again. After seven other Halloween films that feature Myers, the film began to make Michael Myers look less scary. This iteration of “Halloween” makes him an unstoppable force of evil like he was in the original. John Carpenter returns to do the score for the film, and while it’s not as good as the original score, it has a couple of tracks that are very good and work for the film. Finally, there’s a sequence during the second half that is one take-shot of Myer’s doing his thing on Halloween night that was heavily inspired by “Halloween II.” The scene was really well shot and pretty intense. That being said, let’s get into why this film was so disappointing.
One of the most important things that make Carpenter’s “Halloween” so great is the atmosphere and the tension that lasts throughout the majority of the runtime. The mixture of the iconic score and the overall visuals created a terrifying atmosphere that no one has been able to recreate in the series since. 2018’s “Halloween” is not scary because it has a lot of scenes that kill the tension just as it’s beginning to build up, whether it’s a comedic scene that doesn’t work or a scene that involves useless high schoolers and Laurie Strode’s granddaughter Allyson (Matichak) that feel repetitive and overall useless to the larger story. Jamie Lee Curtis gave such a good performance, which makes it more frustrating that they’re focusing on characters such Allyson, some of her high school friends and especially Dr. Sartain(Bilginer), or as Laurie Strode calls him in the film, “The new Loomis.”
Dr. Sartain is the most irritating character in the movie. According to the film, he took over for Dr. Loomis as Michael Myer’s psychiatrist and was on the bus that was transporting him to his new prison. There is a twist in the beginning of the third act (that I won’t spoil) involving Dr. Sartain that is so bad, so out of left field, and so poorly written that in the movie theater I was just frozen in a state of shock. Did the twist take me off guard? Yes, but for all the wrong reasons. Above all else, my biggest problem with “Halloween” is not only they didn’t make a more creative title, as there are three movies in the Halloween series now named “Halloween,” but that the film feels messy. While director David Gordon Green has directed many comedies such as “Pineapple Express,” and “The Sitter,” the closest thing he’s done to a horror film is “Joe” with Nicholas Cage back in 2013.
While Green did a great job handling the characters of Myer’s and Laurie Strode, I feel that a more seasoned horror director would have done a better job managing this script and hopefully, the comedy would’ve been cut along with it.
I do recommend seeing “Halloween” for yourself, as I’m more a minority when it comes to my thoughts on the film. I feel I’m harsher on horror films and especially “Halloween” film considering I’ve seen so many of them. However, “Halloween” should still be praised for making The Shape unpredictable and horrifying once again.
Michael Myers returns to wreack havoc on Haddonfield in this continuation of the orignial classic. Photo by Universal Pictures