Review: Halloween

Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is still traumatised by the events from 1978 and now lives in a high-security compound. She’s estranged from her grown daughter (Judy Greer), but her granddaughter (Andi Matichak) has recently reached out. Meanwhile, killer Michael Myers is about to be transferred from the insane asylum he’s been institutionalised in for decades. Wouldn’t you know it, the bus he’s being transported on crashes and now Michael’s on the loose. But Laurie knew this day would come, and she’s been waiting…waiting for the chance to finally kill him. Haluk Bilginer plays Michael’s shrink, whilst Toby Huss plays Greer’s husband.

John Carpenter’s “Halloween” is unquestionably one of the greatest horror movies ever made. Nope, won’t even hear any arguments against that very obvious fact. None of the subsequent sequels have been able to come anywhere near close to matching it in any way. In fact, while they are of variable quality, I wouldn’t give any of them an unequivocally good grade, let alone the A+ I’d award the original. The Rob Zombie remake wasn’t terrible by any means as it had a really interesting first half, but the second half was a pale imitation of the original film. Its subsequent sequel was absolutely dreadful, shockingly made (Probably as bad as the stupid outlier “Halloween III: Season of the Witch”). When I heard that we were getting yet another film called “Halloween”, I wondered why we needed yet another remake so soon after Zombie’s two films. Thankfully, this 2018 film from director David Gordon Green isn’t actually a remake. It’s a direct sequel to the first film that retcons every film after it, thusly also removing the familial connection Michael Myers and Laurie Strode shared. I had mixed feelings going into the film about the latter issue, as I actually liked the connection/bond but wasn’t overly stubborn about it. In fact, I was mostly concerned that this film was from the director of “Your Highness”. Scripted by Green, actor Danny McBride, and Jeff Fradley (a colleague of McBride’s), if I were to rank the film alongside all of the other “Halloween” films, it would probably rank slightly ahead of Zombie’s “Halloween” remake, as well as being ahead of every other “Halloween” sequel except maybe “Halloween 4” (I haven’t seen that one in about 10 years or so). In other words, it’s yet another “Halloween” film that isn’t good, let alone great. This one gets quite close to being good, though.

Things start really, really well with an appropriate nod to the original through credits font and colour. That was absolutely necessary in my view. I also liked that Green and his co-writers make mention that Dr. Loomis has died, since the film is set many years after the original. Dr. Loomis (like the actor who played him, Donald Pleasance) having died during that time makes sense, but it’s nice to have the name-drop in there as well. Although two actors are credited with playing Michael Myers/The Shape, my best guess is that original actor Nick Castle (also a writer and director) is playing the part when we first meet Michael in an opening scene that is expertly shot by Michael Simmonds, as well as scenes that don’t require much physicality (Castle is in his 70s now after all). Meanwhile, three composers are credited in the film, Daniel A. Davies, and John & Cody Carpenter. I’m guessing John is merely credited because his original theme was used, although perhaps he and son Cody re-recorded the theme verbatim for the new film. Like Carpenter’s original film, the theme is still simplistic musical brilliance, and as spine-chilling as ever.

The goodwill the film had built up with me dissipated for a while with the unfortunate casting of no-namers Jefferson Hall and Rhian Rees as two dopey true crime podcasters visiting Michael in the insane asylum. I’ve never seen either actor before to my recollection and referred to them throughout as ‘Not Jared Harris’ and ‘Not Sally Hawkins But Equally Annoying’. These two obnoxious, phony characters are a constant annoyance, as are the sadly amateurish performances given by Hall and Rees. Thankfully they don’t hang around the entire film, but they do make the first portion of the film and the film as a whole less enjoyable for being a part of it.

I’m also thankful for Jamie Lee Curtis, who is quite frankly the only real reason to see this film. In what may be the best performance of her underrated career, she builds upon the performance she gave in “Halloween H20” despite the film ignoring that film’s events even existed. Here Laurie Strode is a no BS woman with a lot of psychological scars, who sees Michael as merely empty evil. Although I completely roll my eyes at the characters and performances of Hall and Rees, Laurie’s refusal to give these clearly awful, exploitive people a damn thing (whilst gladly accepting their money nonetheless) is fully earned. The performance slightly reminds me of another underrated performance by an underrated actress: Sigourney Weaver in “Death and the Maiden”. Laurie isn’t terrified of Michael, she has simply consumed herself with the inevitability of his release and her plan to finally kill him that she is completely obsessed and it has alienated her from her daughter. She’s unable to focus on anything else, the rest of her life has been completely on hold waiting for this moment. So Laurie may indeed be ready to face Michael, but she is pretty unequipped to re-enter normal society until it’s over. I’ve previously underrated Curtis as an actress, but in recent years I’ve come to appreciate just how talented and versatile she is. This was what all of her previous performances were working towards, in my view. Elsewhere in the cast, Judy Greer is always terrific and her husband here is The Wiz from “Seinfeld” (actor Toby Huss). He’s funny, and he can’t be beat! He’s the Wiz! Will Patton is solid as the sheriff, but isn’t exactly given much to work with. The real disappointments in the cast are Andi Matichak and Haluk Bilginer. Matichak is here simply so we can get callbacks to the original via substitutes for young Jamie Lee Curtis, P.J Soles, and Nancy Loomis. She doesn’t make much of an impression. It also gets a bit ridiculous when we see her wandering around afraid that someone is after her when the audience already knows Michael is busy somewhere else. Those cutaways seemed greatly and stupidly unnecessary to me. As for Mr. Bilginer, he’s simply not a very good actor, alternately dull and hammy in a role that turns out to be a lot more interesting than when we first meet him. So it’s a shame the role didn’t go to a genre favourite.

Some won’t like those callbacks I mentioned earlier, but I love those shots of dead trees. Haddonfield doesn’t appear to have changed much, ominously. Great nod to the original where an intended victim cocks their head to the side. Yeah, I see what you’re doing there. Well-done. Clichéd or not, the subsequent murder scene has a nice grit to it, too. I was however somewhat disappointed that unlike Carpenter’s simplistic but perfectly effective original, Green and his co-writers have complicated the plot to mixed results. Some of the twists are terrific, but those podcasters really are an unneeded, unwanted eyesore. What’s more, by complicating the narrative and going for more drama, it actually damages the film. Yes, the best thing about the film – the character of Laurie and the performance by Curtis – actually ends up working against the genre the film is supposed to be working in. For a horror film, the dramatic & character emphasis works to lessen the tension somewhat. So while I might find a lot of the scenes interesting from a dramatic perspective, it dissipated the tension and failed to grip me with its terror. Green does get in a few really nice, creepy moments, the horror scenes are on their own, rather brutal and simplistically so. However, due to that dramatic emphasis, they aren’t allowed to create an overall scary atmosphere or constant tension. One scene actually shows that Green and co. are actually capable of getting the balance right: The scene involving a babysitter and the Emmanuel Lewis-lookalike she’s babysitting have a nice, funny yet sweet banter between them. I didn’t want either of them to die, and it only took one scene to get me there.

I will definitely give Green and co credit for getting one aspect of the horror right: Michael Myers. ***** SPOILER ALERT ***** Killing a kid is always a dicey thing to attempt in any film, let alone a horror film. You don’t want to seem sick and cheaply exploitive. However, here it serves to drive home just who and what Michael is: Pure, soulless, unrelenting evil. I was quite surprised it went there, but I’m good with the decision, uncomfortable as it may be. ***** END SPOILER ***** I also thought it was brilliant when we cross-cut between two different sets of characters and fooling me as to who Michael will turn up to kill. The technique doesn’t work in that other scene (which happens later) where we already know where Michael is, but here it was really clever. The twist in the final quarter is pretty brilliant, and I didn’t see it coming at all.

I really liked some of this, but disliked some of it, too. It’s watchable and Jamie Lee Curtis is outstanding, though Laurie ends up just another cog in the wheel after a while. Unfortunately, watchable isn’t enough to get a good grade out of me. Nearly, though. It just needed to be more simplistic and unrelentingly tense like the original.

Rating: C+