Review: Lock Your Doors Before Seeing ‘Halloween’

Halloween (2018) is bringing Michael Myers back! Jamie Lee Curtis returns as “Laurie Strode” and she’s gearing up for a head on collision with the terror that is Michael Myers. Check out our review to see what you can expect.

Halloween (2018) Trailer:

Halloween (2018) Movie Review:

The Good:

In a number of different ways, Halloween (2018) pays homage to the original films, and serves as a treat to fans of the franchise. One way is found in just the dialogue where you’ll notice some funny references to the previous Halloween movies. Those inside jokes will only be received well by people who probably actually saw all seven plus Halloween movies and its variations. What I appreciated is that even if you haven’t seen the original movies in a long time, the characters find cool little ways to catch you up through their interactions.

Another way this new Halloween (2018) pays homage is of course by using the original theme music. We all know it so well even if you haven’t watched the previous movies. So when it comes into play in the film with some minor upgrades to the music, you can’t help but to get  a flood of nostalgia hit you and know it’s about to go down! Thankfully, the score is nicely complimented by some legit cinematography. I loved how they would angle certain shots in such a way that would show Michael Myers blending into the background, or moving about. Let’s put it this way; Drax (Guardians of the Galaxy) is going to have some serious competition with Michael Myers in a contest of standing still and being invisible.

I thought Jamie Lee Curtis was solid in returning to the role of “Laurie Strode”. I appreciated how this film showed the after effects of the trauma from her previous experience. As you can probably see from the trailers, she’s essentially become “Sarah Connor” from the Terminator series. As a matter of fact, her readiness and preparations due to her fear of Michael Myers is one of her character’s best features.

It should also be noted that Jibrail Nantambu was easily one of the most entertaining characters in the film. I loved how he just kept things real despite being the obvious comic relief. If you have seen the previous Halloween Resurrection film, then I would say he was the much more realistic and less corny version of Busta Rhymes character .

Now let’s talk about the man himself, Michael Myers. This guy was just so mean! I loved how they cast a much larger and taller actor to play the role. The film had so much graphic violence that it allowed Michael to truly embrace the menacing embodiment of evil he’s been described to be.

The Bad:

I think one of the biggest issues with this film lies primarily in the writing. One issue right off the bat is just how a certain characters knows exactly where to be during the climax of the film. I mean it didn’t make any sense as to why or how the character knew to go to an exact location in a scene. This definitely felt like lazy writing and directing whereas we’re not giving a more authentic transition from one scene to another.

Another issue with the writing came in the form of dumbing down the characters. Despite being one of the smartest characters in the movie, the writing had to dumb down even Laurie’s character. It just seemed to contradict the entire point of her preparing for decades for Michael Myers, and yet she still commits some pretty dumb decisions when dealing with him. Other characters had some not so bright moments in the film too, but it was just disappointing that Laurie had to be among them too.

Besides that, the writing inconsistency continued to affect the deaths in the movie. Obviously, we know that Michael Myers is a killing machine. However, in this film, I think we get mixed messages as to why Myers kills or not. Some of the killings make sense. Some killings do not make sense. Then we have the instance where even the non-killings don’t add up either. So, I think the motivations for Myers end up contracting themselves. If you want to tell us that Myers has a purpose in his killing like the Terminator. Fine. If you want to tell us that Myers kills randomly because he’s a homicidal maniac. That’s fine too. However, this back and forth with his sense of killing is just off setting. I thought it was a missed opportunity to at least add a bit more clarity to Myer’s character. While some may love the mystery of Myers, I don’t think that’s essential to who, or what, his character comes off to be.

Let’s shift over to the killings in this movie. As I mentioned before about the inconsistent motivations by Myers, some of the killings were poorly written. Actually, I should say, it’s hard to say if the murders had any purpose for the story given the fact that some of them felt forced. By forced, I mean that some killings seemed to be inserted into the movie almost as a filler just to appease audiences with another kill. Personally, I think that some of those instances could’ve been better thought out with a little more time to help it make sense. As a result  of this all, some of the deaths in this movie are dumb and avoidable. The most terrifying moments of these slasher types of movies is when the death scenes are tragically unavoidable. Those type of scenes really help elevate Myers as a legitimate force of evil.

Moving on, I was a bit disappointed with some of the predictable twists in the movie. They’re pretty obvious if you pay attention to the signs. The movie just does a little bit too much foreshadowing in some cases. I mean they might as well have just made some characters say one thing and then turn to the audience and give a huge wink to show their true intentions.

Lastly, there’s one scene in the film that literally serves zero purpose whatsoever. It may as well have been a deleted scene that you could skip on the blu-ray. You’ll know it when you see the cop sandwich scene. Do you get a cheap laugh? Yes. Was it still a waste of 2-3 minutes? Yup!

The Verdict:

I believe that Halloween (2018) was a great film to breathe new life into a classic franchise. If you’ve never seen the other Halloween movies, then after seeing this film, you’ll probably understand why movies like the Scream franchise even exist. I would hope they find a way to do more. This movie brought some dignity back by erasing many of the previous Halloween movies.

Halloween (2018) is what I’d like to call a seboot, so it will act like a sequel and a reboot at the same time. The only Halloween movie you’d need to know or recall is the original Halloween and maybe the second Halloween film. The rest of those movies are effectively erased. If you haven’t seen them, it’s not THAT big of a deal as this movie will catch you up anyway. After seeing Halloween, you may even be enticed into going back and rewatch the original film too. Either way, be sure to go see Halloween in theaters!

Genre:  Horror, Thriller
Director: David Gordon Green
Writers: David Gordon Green, Danny McBride
Stars: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak

Halloween is in theaters now.  Be sure to follow E-Man’s Movie Reviews on Facebook, Subscribe on YouTube, or follow me on Twitter/IG @EmansReviews for even more movie news and reviews!

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