Halloween (2018)

[baumer]

Discuss

[Eastwood47]

This is SPOILER heavy so if you want to know nothing about this film, please do not read further.

First let me say if you're going to make the bold step of removing EVERY sequel ever produced on an anniversary installment, you better have a story that really justifies it. They didn't do anything here. Instead of Michael chasing Laurie because she's his sister, now he's just "staying alive" to get one more opportunity to find her. YEAH... that makes allot more sense. Either way he's still chasing HER, so the motivation never gets any more grounded.

 

Now lets cover the unending plot treatments that offer more laughs than screams in this comedy of terrors. First the director tries endlessly to reverse treatments on Laurie Strode and give her the Michael Myers moments. How? Lets count the ways... Instead of Michael stalking people, they have Laurie watching her granddaughter through the same classroom window Myers watched her. That made my audience snicker because its handled too heavy handed as a plot device. It's hard to see this old woman just standing there and derive anything from it except what its intended to do. As Deadpool would say, "Lazy writing." 

 

Instead of Michael fading in and out of darkness, we have Laurie doing this and at the most inopportune times when she should be looking out for the people he's trying to kill. This time SHE gets knocked off the balcony and nails the ground. Only this time, Michael looks down and SHES gone. OH BROTHER.

 

Instead of Michael busting through closet doors, you have Laurie tearing down those poorly built structures. And if none of that is enough, she spends more time wielding a knife than Myers and does about as much, if not more, damage to him between that and the shotgun that blows off the fingers on his left hand. 

 

Some noted lapse in logic that are painful to watch surround Laurie Strode's Fortress of Solitude. The house has every conceivable barrier to keep a person from entering the house, including a heavily gated entry. Yet at every turn, all of these defenses are inexplicably down when they shouldn't be.  The first massive oversight is when the family is gather back at her house and she is locking down her house in preparation. Yet somehow, incredibly, the "NEW" Dr Loomis (accompanied by Myers and Strode's granddaughter) drives straight into the drive way unabated. So Myers is loose, but the front gate is left open?  Ah, but it gets better...

 

After the house is locked down, her daughter's husband inexplicably walks out an OPEN front door to approach a squad car. What happen to the fifteen locks on that entrance? Myers is outside and yet the front door is left swinging open?!! REALLY?! Even more so Laurie NEVER notices him once on the endless television screens inside the house connected to close circuit cameras surrounding the property. Great...

 

Even funnier, the front door that Michael enters has GLASS PANES ON IT!! Uhm... Laurie what is the point of having a heavy secure door if you're going to have brittle glass as door decorum? Utterly idiotic.  But the best part? None of these devices built to keep him out are adequate, so she creates the most  ridiculous trap made since her feat in Resurrection with the loop of rope. Here she decides her house can become one big gas tank waiting for a spark to set it ablaze...sans Halloween II. It's just ridiculous folks. 

 

Nothing makes any sense and things happen just because they can, not because it makes any sense. Hell his new doctor even looses his mind and stabs a police officer after hitting Myers with his car (another nod to Halloween II). If that isn't bizarre enough, the doctor says, " So that's what Michael feels," and puts on the mask! SIGH...

 

If you were looking for a review of the story, you won;t find it here, because there isn't one. Outside of establishing new characters, all of them just become moving targets for Myers. Need I also add, Myers first victim is a CHILD. So the film has no sense of direction, class, or even a desire to hold a moment. Everything is just one sequel nod after another or one laugh, intended or not, after another. The best original scare in the whole film is when a boy sees Michael because of motion lights being on. But as they cut off, and come back on, he gets closer. That's done well. The boy who is being babysat is terrific and probably the most realistic character in the whole affair. 

 

Carpenter's iconic score is there, but it pops up at odd moments where it never seems to fit. Some of his new material IS good, but only serves to remind me how much those scenes need help just to sustain the moment under the dead weight of a weak script. I know how the trailers look and I see what many a critic have said. That's why I went to see this tonight. I thought we actually had something new. I'm here to tell you there is NOTHING new. The pieces are just moved around on the same predictable playing board with the same cliche kills, not to mention ending that the first Halloween sequel got right. This one just set the house ablaze and went straight to a title card as they're leaving. Hmmmm. I wonder if Myers survived? Duh... Here we go again. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 19, 2018 by Eastwood47

[Krissykins]

Loved it. 

 

Judy Greer’s moment was fantastic. 

 

The actress who played the blonde friend was very refreshing. All the teenage boys were miscast though and the cheating boyfriend didn’t get what he deserved. 

 

The deaths were brutal. The score was amazing. Michael looked incredible. Jamie Lee was obviously great. 

 

There were some pacing issues in the middle where it was a bit all over the place. Karen’s husband was miscast too. 

They also showed too many of the cool moments in the trailer. 

 

Those opening credits gave me goosebumps. That tracking shot. 

 

The last 20 minutes blew the doors off! 

[ainsleyb]

A disappointingly standard slasher. It takes way too long to get going and have Michael put on the mask. All of the nods to the original are just role reversals of the first film and the new characters are uninteresting and purely there to be killed off. The cheating boyfriend not being killed seems a baffling choice as they spend time showing what a scumbag he is.

 

The comedy is forced and feels out of place in a brutal slasher and lauries house just doesn’t make sense. It’s designed to be a fortress but it’s actually really damn easy to get in and she must have known that because it’s designed to include traps within the house.

 

its good to hear the score up on the big screen but I would personally rank quite a few of the sequels above this. It’s nowhere near as bad as Zombies awful remakes but it lacks creativity in the kills and much like the franchise, it feels tired and overdone.

 

6/10

[excel1]

This is a decidedly mixed bag that is enjoyable but not close to the orinakl.

Good
-Part of the overall story angle- the "prey becomes the predator and predator becomes the prey" theme is unique and believable 

-Daughter and grand daughter are both well written and acted. The Daughters moment at the end was a big delight
-Atmosphere mostly well established. 
-Music very good throughout
-A few legit suspenseful scenes that truly harken back to the original. By far the most intense yet believable scene of the film was Myers following the two kids with the motion sensor lights. The music blasts as the kid is sadly mangled and the granddaughter flees. 

-The babysitting kid Julian was fucking hilarious 

Decent

-JLC is OK but her character is a bit ridiculous. Conceptually a great idea but execution is quite poor. She is a great actress, this is a script issue

-The family dynamic scenes are smart though they oddly feel both overlong and underdeveloped.

 

Not Good

-Massive gaps in the overall story that stand out more than usual due to obvious amount of thought put into other components- not explained why Myers is drawn to her, absurd logic gaps, and the next point:

-The new Doctor is a total absurd waste and his 'turn' scene garnered enormous laughs from my audience. That was beyond absurd 

-Poor editing leaves what should been truly suspenseful scenes falling flat. The scene where Laurie arrives at the baby sitter house and sees both Hawkins and Myers through the house windows should have been suspenseful ala the scene in REAR WINDOW but instead its lame.

-The extreme gore is very silly

 

 

Inexcusable
-The studio gave away FAR FAR FAR too much away in the trailers. So many would be awesome scenes were spoiled for entire audience. This may have lead to huge gross but man did it Lower the tension
-We see way too much of Michael. Way way too much. "The Shape" he certainly is not here. He is back to the indestructible force
-Reshoots obvious, at least seemed this way, with the ending. Insane logic gaps - Laurie checking the closet as if Michael is hiding in the fucking closet? Her house is impossible to get into but is actually just a giant gas trap? Considering this, there were numerous chances to lure Michael into the house, trap him, and then ignite it. As others mentioned, the dimwitted Father - who the family apparently doesn't give a shit about - and others are just beyond dumb. 
 

C+

[Valonqar]

I actually didn't like it that Laurie's whole life was waste on waiting for Michael to inevitably come back. She's basically an elderly loony-tunes, a failed mother, a failed everything because waiting for Mikey took priority over everything. So she finally kills him in a team effort with her daughter and granddaughter, they embrace cause they are finally a family after 300 wasted years...and we all know Michael will be back in the sequel cause he's unkillable. So what was achieved? 

 

Anyway, as far as kills go, they are great and JLC is chewing scenery in a good way as the grizzled Laurie Eastwood. I wouldn't mind the character if this was the first movie and she's like that but we all always rooted for Laurie and to see her life ruined so much, sigh. I guess it's realistic PTSD and all that but still. 

[dxmatrixdt]

What the hell were they thinking making this movie?  

I see how it is a different version of what could have happened, but still....

it is like they took everything superficial out of the franchise and anything cheesy or homage was copy + pasted in.

some of the scenes seemed to be just filler, to complete the runtime, idk if the production or directors even knew what they were making.  

 

it is decent as a psychological horror if you faintly remember the first Halloween, but if you are going to replace all the superficial with random psychological scenes in need of creative counseling, just start with doing away with the title Halloween for beginners...

 

B as a horror movie

D as a Halloween movie

[ddddeeee]

The last twenty minutes made it all worth it.

 

Lots of people are seriously going to hate this.

[Krissykins]

I still prefer Halloween H20, that’s my grown up Laurie. 

 

But this is third, behind the original and H20. 

 

Seeing it again tomorrow 

[Amorphous]

Everyone seems to be loving it for the most part. REALLY confused about some of the complaints when the same could be said about the original. 

[Frozen]

I didn't like the ending. It felt rushed. Michael was too easily fooled.

 

Also they made such a big deal about him not talking and never saying why he kills, that I assumed by the end he would have in fact said something and maybe even explained himself. But no...

[Webslinger]

It isn’t on the same level as its original namesake, but this new Halloween works as a highly effective sequel and homage that mostly lives up to its potential. In abandoning the established events across the many sequels, director and co-writer David Gordon Green sets this film up as an intriguing study in the long-ranging psychological effects of the events of the original film and a slow-burn, character-driven affair cut from the same cloth as John Carpenter’s first film (right down to credits that mimic those of the original and make frequent use of its eerie classic score). There’s a surprisingly large amount of character development outside of just Jamie Lee Curtis’s Laurie Strode and her offspring, and it works as a chilling means of adding weight and meaning to Michael Myers’s senseless murders; seeing Myers kill unassuming, good-natured people just because they happen to land in his way makes the proceedings feel significantly more terrifying than they would be in a film with less interest in developing its murder fodder. The onscreen violence works in much the same way as Carpenter’s: relatively restrained in what it shows of the act, but deeply unsettling and unflinching in its grisly depiction of the aftermath (there were numerous well-earned squeals from my audience). Returning to the role that launched her to stardom, Jamie Lee Curtis doesn’t miss a beat in establishing Laurie as a paranoid survivalist; she plays Laurie’s decades-long mental trauma effectively and capitalizes on all opportunities for crowd-pleasing bravado in the climax. Newcomer Andi Matichak also steps into the shoes Curtis wore 40 years ago with solid work as Laurie’s initially terrified but ultimately resourceful granddaughter. The only real disappointment across a strong cast is that Judy Greer doesn’t get enough screentime as Laurie’s daughter, though her involvement in the climax makes up for it to some degree. This Halloween leans so heavily – though ably and deliberately – on the tropes the first film established that it doesn’t necessarily feel fresh, but it’s awfully damn fun as a crowd-pleasing homage and direct continuation of the original masterpiece.

 

B+

 

Stray Thoughts:

- I loved the lampshade-hanging conversation between Allyson and her friends in which she clarified that all that business about Laurie being Michael's sister was just made up by people who wanted to believe it was true. (More on this one later.) Kinda funny that Jamie Lee Curtis has played this character both ways in canon during this franchise's run.

 

- Not gonna lie: I laughed at the line-crossing humor in seeing the male half of the murdered teenage couple have the date tattooed thinking it would be the night he would lose his virginity, only to have it appear prominently after his gnarly death.

 

- No surprise given the involvement of Green and McBride as screenwriters, but there's a lot of effective dark comedy here too. It's not quite at a Scream-level of self-referential comedy, but it still feels light for a film with such graphic kills.

 

- ...that said, there were numerous points where the audience starting laughing as female characters were about to be offed, even though the film wasn't trying to present those deaths as funny. It felt weirdly misogynistic, but the movie itself more than makes up for that unintended reaction by giving the Strode ladies plenty of big moments toward the end of the film.

 

- The guys who sat behind me talked through a decent portion of the film, but to their ever-so-slight credit, all their chatter was actually about the movie. Their commentary was almost entertaining in its savviness at a few points. Nevertheless, I was so tempted to just turn around and clear up their confusion about whether Laurie was Michael's sister.

[Maxmoser3]

Really good movie! Loved Jamie Lee Curtis in it, Michael was great, the music was fantastic, and was very good. May give this a second viewing very soon! Grade: high B+

[RichWS]

Decent enough in the moment, but the plot holes and excessive comedy breaks were pretty rough. Completely falls apart when you start thinking about it.

 

The whole sandwich bit with the cops just as Michael reaches Laurie's house....why are we doing this now? So strange.

[filmlover]

By taking the franchise back to its roots and washing out the bad taste of the sequels/remakes, this is easily the best Halloween film since the iconic 1978 original. It works as a homage and continuation to the original while also feeling like a product of 2018, and Jamie Lee Curtis is terrific as a traumatized Laurie who has been preparing most of her life for her big showdown with Michael Myers. B+

[Cmasterclay]

It was entertaining enough in the reason with a quite good ensemble and some nice shots/scares, but this was really sorta bad for many of the reasons Rich outlined. Also his body count is like 40 people when it was 4 in the original Halloween. Disgustingly gory and senseless and cruel, Hostel like violence and gore. Gross. The kind of slasher movie that reminded me why I don't like slasher movies. 

[filmlover]

I actually kinda liked how Michael Myers was just out to kill in this one and everybody was fair game. Didn't expect the boy in the car to get it at all. I was just happy that the baby was spared. Too bad the boyfriend wasn't one of the victims.

Edited October 21, 2018 by filmlover

[CoolioD1]

if the kooky doctor guy had just decided to become michael myers in the last act and the for real michael myers was actually dead i think it would've pissed everyone off except me. love that quack.

[La Binoche]

I had a really great time despite its numerous flaws. Loved the switch in pov at the end allowing Laurie to become a mythic hero just like Michael is a mythic villain.

B+

[dxmatrixdt]

I thought that was funny flat-earther FTW scene when the new Loomis doctor flipped out and killed that guy.   It was ridiculous and kept me guessing at the movie with suspended belief.  

The H20 bathroom scene was really well done, I thought it was disgusting.

The other encounters with Michael Myers seemed a little unnecessary.... almost like they were each 5 minute existential encounters and dealt with impressions by the figure.  Some of that stuff, a lot with cuts to different scenes seemed to add to the runtime.  

I was mehh at the gun part.  The whole thing seemed illogical.  

the positive though is there is a lot of redeeming rewards throughout the movie, but some of the abstract here and other franchises that require super-focus to completely digest like the and that Snyderverse seemed really geared towards like an Adderall mindset IMO.

 

Hereditary is another good comp, but Hereditary starts off like you are getting served with the alphabet but after an hour, you wonder what is going on with it.

Edited October 21, 2018 by gravestonedt