Halloween 2018 Review

And thus it was Halloween 2018 came out last year to excellent reviews and an enormous box office return. With a budget of $10m it pulled in over $255m. That’s insane for a slasher movie, simply unheard of. Put it like this, media darling Scream did $174m with a $14m budget… like I said, insane!

But why is this new Halloween the most successful slasher movie ever made? You can point to a few things. Bringing in John Carpenter as executive producer would’ve given it some clout with genre fans. Obviously Jamie Lee Curtis coming back (again) was a HUGE bonus. The fact that it was exactly forty years since the classic original added something to the mix. Releasing it in October (seems obvious but hasn’t always happened) helped. With all of those factors I’d have said it’d do similar business to the remake which came out in 2007. It tripled that!

The fact is, Halloween 2018 is just a fantastic piece of modern cinema. It might not be as intelligent as Get Out or (despite a calamitous final act) Hereditary but pound for pound I found it much more entertaining than both. Halloween 2018 is gleefully aware of what it is but instead of making fun of itself and winking at the camera, it takes itself very seriously and invests in its monster. To paraphrase another monster, it set out to Make Michael Great Again.

How did it do this? Well as nuts as it sounds, Michael Myers is (mostly) defined by the mask. You nail that and you’re well on your way. The Halloween franchise has been plagued by shitty masks that don’t even come close to emulating the terror of the original mask from 1978. This movie goes out of its way to show you that this is the same mask that Michael wore on Halloween night 1978 and the wear and tear the mask has endured in forty years only serves to make it even more terrifying. Bravo to Chris Nelson of the make up FX team. He went to extraordinary lengths to make us believe it was the same mask.

The decision made by writer/director David Gordon Green with co-writers Jeff Fradley and Danny McBride to completely ignore all but the original was genius too. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’ll watch any Myers movie (bar Resurrection) even Curse (it’s hilariously bad) but Halloween became a shitshow. You can argue the toss as to when this happened: Maybe it happened when they decided Laurie and Michael were siblings. Maybe it happened when Michael became some kind of a druid curse. It certainly happened when Busta Rhymes kicked Michael through a window. Or maybe it happened the moment they hired Rob Zombie. All of these reasons, among others, are reason enough to jettison the whole backlog of sequels and build on the original. In many ways, the fact that Rob Zombie had already remade Halloween worked in their favour because it took that full remake option off the table…

Jason Blum is also a factor. He acquired the rights because he wanted to make a great horror movie. He picked people he believed could deliver that. He challenged John Carpenter to get off his couch and help make this as good as it possibly could be and he tasked him with writing the score. This proved to be extremely shrewd. Carpenter has been touring his quite magnificent music for a few years now (I was lucky enough to catch his show in Dublin a couple of years ago…incredible) with his son Cody and a rock solid band behind them. He’s more musically focussed than he has ever been and the work being done by himself, Cody and Daniel Davies (pictured above) is remarkable. They could have delivered a decent play on the old Halloween theme and that would have been fine but what they actually delivered is a pulse pounding, electrifying score that elevates this movie to a higher level. Kudos to all involved.

I am going to discuss the movie now so spoilers from here on in:

A couple of journalists, Aaron and Dana, visit Smiths Grove State Institute to try to get a word with Michael before he is transferred to a much more secure hospital. They meet the extremely helpful Dr. Sartain who took over treating Michael from the late Dr. Loomis. Sartain takes the couple out to the yard where Michael is getting his hour a day of sunlight. They are warned not to get too close. Predictably Michael doesn’t acknowledge them until Aaron takes Michael’s old mask out of his bag. He has borrowed it from a friend at the states attorney’s office. I suppose a forty year old case, who’d give a shit? Anyway, Michael with his back to them seems to sense the presence of the mask and moves ever so slightly. Just for a second you can see some of the scars from his battle with Laurie from 1978. Fuckin’ chills!

The journalists leave the hospital a little deflated by the encounter. But they are not without hope. We next see them driving to meet Laurie Strode.

Before I continue, it is important to say a word here about Jamie lee Curtis and the character of Laurie Strode. She basically invented the resourceful final girl with Carpenter and the late great Debra Hill but in this movie she’s telling, not only mothers but grandmothers too, you still have strength in you. You’re a long way from finished but sometimes you have to fight for it. It’s truly inspiring because in an age where we’re telling young women to stand up and take what is rightfully theirs, we may have forgotten to send that message to older women. It’s just so fucking powerful and positive.
Add to that, the #metoo movement was in full voice when this movie came out and there are obvious parallels. Laurie was attacked and years later she gets to shine a light on her attacker and fight back. Cynics say they played up to this in the media. I disagree. I think they took what was happening  with #metoo and added another voice to it. Laurie Strode’s voice. It might have taken her forty years but she’s getting justice. Rose McGowan is currently going through something similar…

Unsurprisingly Curtis is astounding in the movie. Every single syllable, every movement, everything… I just believe her. In movies like this, that’s a hard job. Look back at all the slashers you’ve ever seen. The acting is either terrible or it plays it safe and winks at the camera… None of that shit here. Curtis is so strong that it infects the rest of the movie. Laurie Strode is real therefore Michael Myers is real. Therefore, Haddonfield is fucking real. Brilliant!

Back to the journalists. They visit Laurie who reluctantly lets them into her very secluded but very secure home. They try to convince her to visit Michael before he is transferred (the night before Halloween) to his new “home”. She declines. We learn that she has had failed marriages and her daughter was taken from her by concerned social workers. Laurie’s life has been a reaction to that fateful night in 1978. If it ever happens again, she and her loved ones will be ready…

Her daughter Karen, played well by Judy Greer, seems pretty together when we meet her. She’s married and has a daughter, Allyson played by Andi Matichak. They are a typical suburban family and we like them well enough. Karen has friends who we meet and again, we like (most of) them. Her boyfriend, Cameron seems a little dickish but that might just be me. Oscar is the fun but flawed comic relief friend. But her other friends, Miles and Vicky are great. This is important when the killing starts. It’s more impactful if you care.

The movie starts to floor it when Laurie, sitting in her car, watching as a bus full of inmates, including Michael (and his doctor who is way too sympathetic toward Michael) pulls out of Smiths Grove on its way to a destination it will never reach. Laurie already knows what’s going to happen. She’s in pain but her anger outweighs her fear. The anticipation of what’s about to occur is unbalancing her. She’d rather be in a wardrobe fighting Michael than hiding in one waiting for him to find her…

As expected, the bus crashes, Michael escapes killing many including a boy who you’d guess is about thirteen years old. This immediately establishes Michael as a fucking monster. No redemptive qualities here, he’s fucking cold to the core. Michael needs a car, there’s a boy in the drivers seat, he kills him. There’s nothing more to it. That’s not to say he indiscriminately kills. Far from it. Plenty of people survive the bus crash. Prisoners are seen strolling around and many are picked up by police later. Michael wants to go home. He doesn’t need to kill everyone to get there. He picks his battles. Some people found the killing of the boy a bit too much… it feeds into a scene with a baby later in the movie. I’ll get to it soon.

Laurie shows up to a family dinner. She’s a mess. “I saw him, I saw the shape”. She’s the only one who truly understands Michael’s nature. Karen chastises her. Allyson is far more sympathetic. Regardless, the night is pretty well ruined and people go home sad, confused and angry.

Meanwhile Michael heads back toward Haddonfield and finds the journalists from the opening of the movie at a filling station. It’s broad daylight but that doesn’t stop Michael from killing several staff members. Michael has always been a prankster. After all it’s trick or treat time. Having removed teeth from one of the station workers, he follows Dana into the public toilet. He pushes her door. She tells him to move along. He moves to his left… but moves back to her door, his hand reaches over and he pours the teeth onto Dana’s head. It’s. Fucking. Terrifying. But it’s exactly what you expect from Michael. He’s been dorment for forty years, now he’s having some fun. Dana screams and does her best to escape. Aaron hears her and comes running with a tire iron. He does his best… they both die pretty horribly. Michael goes to their car and takes back his mask. Haddonfield is in for on shit night. The music is perfect here too.

Meanwhile, Laurie has heard about the bus crash and goes into attack/protect mode. This just further isolates her from her family. Karen declares that the world is full of kindness and Laurie is the problem. She kicks Laurie out of her house.  Allyson is ready to party at her school’s Halloween bash. She and Cameron are going as Bonnie and Clyde. She’ll be Clyde, he’ll be Bonnie. Nice J Oscar is partying with them while Miles will be going to see Vicky (played by absolute stone fox Virginia Gardner) who is babysitting. Not good in a Halloween movie!!!

The Police Dept in Haddonfield are deeply concerned by the disappearance of Michael Myers, none more than Officer Hawkins played by the always good, always looks like he needs a hug Will Patton. He was there the night Michael was captured in 1978 and like Loomis, he wanted to kill Michael. Well, nothing is going to stop him from dealing out justice tonight.

At this point, Michael is having a hell of a time. He’s strolling around his old haunts. Reliving his night and offing innocents when he feels like it. One scene sees him go into a house. He kills a lady which is bad enough but as he goes to leave the house we hear a baby in a cot and there simply isn’t a person in the audience who isn’t thinking “oh shit, there's a baby in that house”, especially after he the way he took the car in his escape. He looks at the baby briefly as he walks out of the house and we breathe a sigh of relief. INCREDIBLY, this upset some people. “Why didn’t he kill the baby?” Fuck me! What the fuck is wrong with people? First of all, he only killed the kid earlier because he was in his way. Second of all, the baby simply isn’t a threat. Third of all and I repeat: What the fuck is wrong with you?!!!

Moving on. Laurie is out patrolling. She’s not going to wait for Michael, she’s going after him. She wants to face him. For his part, Michael has found a babysitter in the form of Vicky, who is happily making out with Miles. Her scenes with the kid are hilarious. Michael’s trick or treat levels reach a fever pitch here and when he finally attacks Vicky we are sad. She screams at the kid to run which he does… boy does he run! Miles, hears Vicky scream and goes to help her. We see his remains later. Officer Hawkins arrives to a house with two dead people in it. He’s understandably nervous as he searches for Michael. Laurie sees him first. She’s outside telling people to get off the streets…When she and Michael finally see each other, it’s from the street looking up to a window in one of many houses in Haddonfield. She doesn’t hesitate, she takes out her gun and shoots. The shot is perfect, straight into Michael’s face…. But it’s a reflection from a mirror… Michael leaves at this point. Whether he’s bothered or excited by seeing Laurie, we can’t tell. He does give her the signature head tilt though 

At this point Laurie is desperate to make Allyson and Karen safe. Allyson has had a fight with her boyfriend and has left the party with Oscar who idiotically makes a move on her. She leaves him alone. He ends up in a “Mr. Elrod’s” back garden (nice nod to H2 there). There’s a garden light on a sensor… Oscar is sitting in the garden looking a sorry figure. In the background a figure appears. We already know he’s doomed but Oscar thinks it’s Mr. Elrod and starts confiding in him.. it’s hilarious. The light switches off and when it comes back on “Mr. Elrod” is noticeably much closer. Oscar is clearly freaked out but still thinks he’s talking to Mr. Elrod. The light goes off again and just as it comes back on Michael attacks. It’s a fantastically paced jump scare. Oscar ends up impaled on a fence. Allyson finds him and runs. Unlike Halloween 1978 the neighbours let her in. She ends up in a car with officer Hawkins who has brought Dr. Sartain along. 

Laurie is frantically searching for Allyson with Karen. They can’t reach her via phone as it got destroyed at the party...

Hawkins sees Michael on the street. He drives straight into him. Michael is unconscious on the road. Sartain kills Hawkins. He’s completely obsessed with Michael and wants to feel what he feels when he kills. It’s a strange twist but I appreciated it. A doctor this dedicated to Michael would probably have to be insane. Poor Allyson can’t catch a break. She’s trapped in the squad car with and unconscious Michael beside her and Sartain who just wants to get the Michael and Laurie show going. He drives toward her house. Michael wakes up and instead of killing Allyson attacks Sartain… on the road again Sartain looks up at Michael and asks him to say something. Michael responds by stomping on his face and killing him instantly…

The final shopwdown between the Strode women, all three generations of them and Michael Myers is brilliant. Laurie does most of the hunting. Michael finally attacks her and they fight. It’s fucking viscious. Laurie ends up thrown out the top window of the house. Michael looks down and she’s gone. It’s a brilliant play on the end of the original movie. You get the feeling Michael thinks “so that’s what that feels like”… It all ends with Karen and Allyson in an underfloor panic room. Karen had earlier referred to it as a cage. She finally picks up the gun Laurie showed her how to use as a girl. Laurie attacks Michael from the shadows, using his tricks against him. Karen screams from below, pretending to be usless. Michael can’t resist. He approaches. “It’s not a cage, it’s a trap” She shoots him. He falls into the panic room but is already getting up as they are leaving. A moment later he is trapped. Laurie hits a switch and iron bars imprison him in the panic room. He just stares at the women. Emotionless. Still. And waits. Laurie burns the house to the ground.

The Strode women have won but Haddonfield has, once again, taken an absolute beating from this maniac.

It was recently announced that this movie will spawn two more movies. Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends. Some people eye rolled at the announcement. I was chuffed. I want to see where they take this. Because the filmmakers have committed to the material. Nobody is abandoning ship here. It’s a long term project by people with a genuine passion for Halloween.