2018
David Gordon Green
9/10
Considering that it's now been almost seven years since the release of the latest direct-sequel to the original Halloween film, I'd imagine that it has had plenty of time and rewatches for me to dive into it on a deeper level. While I'm a sucker for some of the original sequels in the '80s, it was neat to see a whole trilogy drop in real time throughout my twenties, in a scope far more in line with John Carpenter's true vision of The Shape from 1978. 1981's Halloween II may have been directed and written by Carpenter, but it was more of a reluctant choice (one that I'm still happy we have).
Nothing will top the original movie, and holding the same place on my scale will always sit Halloween III: Season Of The Witch (one that was also more in line with Carpenter's original plans of an anthology series). But after many years of revisiting Halloween from 2018, I can safely say that this is the runner-up for me, and the only one since Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers that I view several times around the spooky season. The earlier sequels are all sorts of fun, feeling festive, visually appealing, and packed with endless charm, but I'd be hard pressed to say they're really unique or well-written; that's not even to say that they're poorly written, but calling them great may be a misfire. But the 2018 sequel of the same name manages to sidestep that description.
For starters, the plot itself has a refreshing feel to it, rather than simply being another onslaught of kills that the typical slasher builds itself around (they saved that for Halloween Kills three years later). Rather, the killing and the brutality of this film is merely an afterthought, and while some of the gore here definitely has that frightening shock to it, I still wouldn't describe it as over the top. Instead of jump-scares and Rob Zombie-like overloaded blood, those elements of shock tend to be implied, or they lie within something around the aftermath of the kill. My personal favorite example would be the off-screen one that you get of the gas station attendant, when it shows his mutilated face, with minimal blood in exchange for an eerie, dead expression with the mouth agape. The few drawn-out ones have more of a point, such as Michael taking out Dana Haines in the dingy bathroom, or the slow leadup to Dr. Ranbir getting his face stepped-on.
More important than the execution of the kills is the way the plot itself is carried out, somewhat working as three parallel stories that eventually meet each other at some point or another. On one hand, you have the aforementioned Dr. Ranbir's obsession with Michael, showing not only a soft spot for The Shape, but actively sees him as a project of his own, implying that he's to blame for the bus accident leading to Michael's escape. Then you have the Laurie Strode angle, which directly follows her traumatic experience from the classic film, and how it affects every aspect of her life. Her family has a complicated, somewhat non-existent relationship with her, she's locked away living in paranoia behind all sorts of security and weapons, and like the doctor, almost has an obsession with Michael, portraying herself in a way that almost feels like she wanted him to escape. There's a parallel to be drawn between the two characters, but that's an article of its own. She could then personally take on her demon, potentially bringing closure to her conflict that has haunted her for four decades. And then finally, perhaps the "main" plot is Allyson's encounters, which start as nothing beyond a teenager trying to get through the Halloween season without her family drama bringing her down, while partaking in the partying and debauchery that a young mind may want to indulge in. All three of these are paced wonderfully, collide with each other at the perfect time, and end up resolving themselves in a way that made sense. Michael's somewhat short-lived killing spree is shown for the purpose of divorcing The Shape from Laurie, reverting him back to the character he was in the first film; a deranged psychopath that escaped a mental institution that's simply out to stalk and kill. This is one of the real selling points, as one could assume he even forgot about Laurie until she, ironically, put herself in front of his proverbial shotgun.
It helps that Halloween is pretty self-aware, and has likeable characters. The tropes of sex, drugs, and booze hardly make it onto the screen. Allyson fills the shoes of the original Laurie Strode type character as the one who doesn't partake, but even those that do, it's either minimally shown or is the cause of a problem, not represented as the norm (see Allyson's fight with Cameron over it). There are also loads of nods to the original sequels, from re-using names like "Mr. Elrod", to Silver Shamrock masks, to the daytime bathroom kill, or the older woman cutting ham, and so forth. Joke lines and tongue-in-cheek dialogue that doesn't feel too on-the-nose make their way in, such as Laurie referring to Ranbir as "the new Loomis." Making the Nelson family realistic people that the audience could relate to, while working in old recordings of Dr. Loomis and little snippets of day to day life seal these things up nicely. Something I also can't overlook is how incredible the opening scene is. The unsuspecting journalists that in what we could assume a mental asylum setting would look like in the modern age was a solid way of setting this up, before adding in suspense with the holding of the mask scene, and the reactions of the other patients building it with the score.
And that, of course, brings us to the last factor, the general feel. The score in this is really well written, working in the classic theme with new touches and a modern energy in the new tunes, and everything is visually pleasing as well. As much as I may be a fan of the goofy Halloween 4 mask, reworking the original one was absolutely the right move. The neighborhood feels like something you could find in any suburban U.S. town, Laurie's home for the final showdown is a beautiful setting to end things off with, and modern production and newer minds once again lets things feel very realistic. I won't pretend this film is without flaw, as some of Oscar's scenes, and the teens' dialogue were rather dumb, but all of this type of thing is kept to a minimum, and I don't think any nitpick straight up spoiled any scenes. The worst parts of this occur about halfway through with the babysitting scenes, working almost as comedic relief over anything else, or perhaps a cheap way of bringing Laurie's plot and the doctor's together.
But at the end of the day, I can't knock this very hard for that. The importance of stressing Michael's detachment to Laurie and the stark contrast of her attachment to him is one of the key parts of linking this back to the classic film. It's far more of a slasher than the original ever was, but not in a way that's trashy or over the top, and it isn't what holds the movie together. Rather, the characters, the settings, the smart placement of events, the narratives, the even pacing, and jarring tactics are what do that. No hate for the original sequels, but this is easily the best one that isn't Halloween III.
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