Halloween (2018)

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40 years after the events of the first film, Michael Myers manages to escape and returns to Haddonfield, Illinois to wreak havoc and kill indiscriminately. Laurie Strode (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) has become a paranoid shut-in, preparing only for Michael to escape so that she can kill him once and for all. Halloween was of the movies I was anticipating the most this year, especially as a die-hard fan of the slasher genre. No, I don’t know why this is called Halloween, even though it is a sequel to the very first film, and not a reboot. One of the things that made me curious about this movie was that Danny McBride and David Gordon Green wanted to ret-con the twist from Halloween II, essentially making it so that Laurie Strode and Michael Myers are no longer siblings. Jamie Lee Curtis gives what may easily be the best performance of her career thus far. I completely buy that this is the way she would act in the situation. It is easy to pick on acting in most slasher movies, but that is definitely not the case here. The acting is solid on pretty much every account. Aside from Jamie Lee Curtis, I have to give props to Judy Greer as Laurie’s daughter Karen and newcomer Andi Matichak as Laurie’s granddaughter Alyson. Something that I think helps make the performances in the movie work is the way the characters in the film are written. The main three women of the film are given some depth, making you understand why they act the way they do, why they feel the way they do. There is humor in the film, and some people are going to find it off-putting. It actually worked for me because it got me to care about characters that are arguably only there to die. The best example to me is the normally stereotypical hot blonde party girl. She has a legitimately solid back and forth with the kid she’s babysitting, which actually gives both of these characters some likability and realism. It also doesn’t hurt that the comedy in the movie legitimately made me laugh, especially when it could have been forced and could have fallen flat. There’s also a twist halfway through the movie that will turn people off. This also worked for me because I actually felt that they built it up decently. Outside of the Rob Zombie movies, this might have been the most brutal I’ve seen in a long time. Overall, Halloween may just be the best sequel in the Halloween franchise. If you get the chance to see this movie, I highly recommend seeing this movie, especially if you are a Halloween fan.

10 / 10