HALLOWEEN (2018) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

halloween (2018) movie

Genre              |   Horror Thriller

Classification   |   TBA

Running time   |   100+ minutes

Released         |   18 October 2018

cast

Jamie Lee Curtis ... Laurie Strode
Judy Greer ... Karen Strode
​Nick Castle ... Michael Myers
James Jude Courtney ... Michael

director

David Gordon Green

writer

Danny McBride ... (screenplay)
David Gordon Green ... (screenplay)
​John Carpenter ... (characters)
Debra Hill ... (characters)

cinematographer

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music

​​John Carpenter

film editor

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box office result

Worldwide               $? million

Australia                 $? million

North America        $? million

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the best dialogue

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HALLOWEEN (2018) MOVIE IMAGES

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Posters

HALLOWEEN (2018) STORY SYNOPSIS

​Laurie Strode comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago.

HALLOWEEN (2018) MOVIE REVIEW

 Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 24 October 2018
Pop ​Movee Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Forty years on and it seems quite astounding that a sequel could seem so connected to its predecessor yet be so relevant to the here and now...

For the purposes of full and honest disclosure, I am a huge fan of John Carpenter and a huge fan of the 1978 HALLOWEEN film. As I write this review, I’m listening to the John Carpenter ANTHOLOGY: MOVIES THEMES 1974-1988…

In all honesty, there’s not much wrong with the 2018 follow-up to Carpenter’s Serial Killer classic. While Carpenter himself serves as Executive Producer and provides the musical score for this new film, it’s been left to a new generation of movie makers to interpret Carpenter’s original.

The trio of Danny Gordon Green (serving as Director & Writer), Actor-Writer Danny McBride and frequent McBride collaborator Jeff Fradley have delivered the kind of sequel that needed those forty years in between to make it worth the wait.

Among the smart moves they made in getting this project off the ground, they;

1. Have pretty much ignored everything that happens between the closing credits of the 1978 film and the opening credits of the 2018 film.
2. Got Jamie Lee Curtis to come back for the right reasons.
3. Got John Carpenter to get as close to being involved in making a film for years.
4. Got Jason Blum involved in putting together the deal to make and distribute the movie.

If the story had been garbage, none of this would have happened…

HALLOWEEN opens with an examination of “Evil” incarnate.

Investigative reporters Aaron Korey (Jefferson Hall) and Dana Haines (Rhian Rees) have been given permission to interview Michael Myers (the original 1978 “Shape” Nick Castle) before he’s shipped off to a new ultra-high security psychiatric facility. Over the protests of Doctor Saratin (Haluk Bilginer), Michael’s Doctor, the convicted serial killer is being “put away” to die.

In an effort to get Michael to break his forty years of silence, Korey pulls a magician’s trick, revealing that he has the killer’s mask. All around, other patients lose what’s left of their tenuous grip on reality, baying and howling as some kind of “other” force descends upon the facility’s outdoor yard.

What’s obvious to the viewer (and perhaps Dr. Saratin) is the arrival of Michael’s mask is the thing that brings the killer, metaphorically speaking, back to life. The scene marks the convergence of “Evil” with a vessel, in the shape of Michael, that is familiar and knows will do its bidding without question. It’s pretty clear that Green, McBride and Fradley weren’t just thinking about making a run-on-the-mill sequel or some kind of nostalgic indulgence when they wrote the story for this film.

HALLOWEEN makes a very real effort to show people that “Evil” is not just a concept. It’s a real state of being that allows for a human to completely disassociate from everyday reality and inflict all kinds of pain and suffering to which no other person is immune. It would be very easy to draw parallels to contemporary events around the world to highlight the point the story makes, however, if you’re looking for a deeper message, then give some consideration to the thought that Michael Myers is simply representative of the “Entitlement” epidemic that has swept through so many parts of this planet since the dawn of the 21st Century.

Never in our planet’s history, has there been so much concentration upon “Self” and, where Narcissism was once seen as something to be frowned upon, these days the very idea of falling into a psychological void where the only means of acknowledgment a person exercises is to inflate their own sense of self to the point where others cease to infringe upon that person’s awareness is accepted as the norm. Case in point; the “Selfie”.

Michael Myers is, quite literally, the pointed end of entitlement. Punching, ripping, stabbing and slashing his way to fulfilment. For those who are keen studies of the HALLOWEEN franchise, and the Serial Killer sub-genre in general, Michael, nor his close colleagues Jason or Freddy, ever rely upon machines to do their bidding. Michael is the most physically forceful and the least imaginative, but that’s the trick, isn’t it?

Michael is frightening because he could exist.

Others that came after Carpenter’s 1978 film were either riffing upon or just flat-out exploiting what had been established with Michael Myers.

Herein lies the appeal of the 2018 film...

Michael hasn’t changed. The story doesn’t attempt to morph him into something else. (Unlike the various HALLOWEEN sequels that have appeared over the years.)

What is different about the new film is Michael’s appetite for destruction. The forty years he’s been locked up mean that he’s got a lot of catching up to do and, boy, does he get to work.

There are, at least, fifteen kills that can be attributed to Michael in HALLOWEEN.

For those unfamiliar with the Serial Killer sub-genre, its fans take a perverse delight in attributing kills to their favourite characters. Quantity is one thing, but Horror fans also want quality. The more inventive a kill, the more satisfied the fan. There’s certainly no shortage of either quantity or quality in this new film. With that said, the quality of the kills is not built around how elaborate they are but, rather the brutality of them. Again, Michael’s kills are not staged. They are not premeditated. They occur in the moment because Michael is something less than a human, but is possessed of something more than the average person.

But what of Laurie Strode?

The “Final Girl” has not had a happy life. For her, “The Night He Came Home” has never ended. This new film provides the opportunity for Laurie to do what she and Dr. Loomis (the late Donald Pleasance) were unable to do on Halloween night forty years earlier.

Jamie Lee Curtis is really, really good in HALLOWEEN.

Without her presence, it would have been almost impossible to do what this new film has achieved and exist as a direct sequel to the original film.

Irrespective of whether the 1978 film has been viewed, HALLOWEEN fills in Laurie’s backstory with great economy, placing the viewer in a position where they immediately empathise with her predicament.

Unfortunately, her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) does not readily acknowledge her Mother’s plight.

Karen has been scarred by her Mother’s Ahab-like obsession with Michael and, because of this, has created an alternative lifestyle that invites the very dangers Laurie tried to hard to protect her from (as explained in various scenes and flashbacks throughout the film).

Not satisfied with two “Final Girl” characters to confront Michael in the film’s finale, the writing team introduce a subplot with Laurie’s Granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak). Matichak turns in the film’s best performance, balancing the need to “be” a teenager against an acceptance that what her Grandmother has shared with her about the encounter with Michael is a reason to be aware that there are all kinds of “Evil” for which she should be on the lookout.

HALLOWEEN could have easily descended into a “Girl Power” movie; especially in light of the “MeToo” environment that serves as the rallying point for victims of all manner of evils inflicted, unsurprisingly, by men who seem to be devoid of empathy! Green doesn’t allow this happen and the film is so much better for it. In an ironic twist, the three generations of “Final Girls” accept that to beat Michael they must employ a SURVIVOR-like motto: outwit, outlast and outplay!

HALLOWEEN also boasts several really strong supporting performances that help keep the movie grounded and, in one case, brings some comic levity that helps push the film through its Second Act.

Besides Hall and Reese, veteran character actor Will Patton turns in an understated but important performance as Hawkins, Haddonfield’s current Sheriff. The writers give Hawkins a neat bit of backstory that make his character extremely relevant to events despite not having featured in the original film.

Toby Huss provides some goofy “Dad” humour as Ray, Karen’s husband.

However, the scene-stealing performance of HALLOWEEN is delivered by young Jibrail Nantambu as Julian, a young kid who encounters “The Shape” in his bedroom! Nantambu’s banter with Vicky, his Babysitter (Virginia Gardner), is a real highlight of the film. It provides a funny counterpoint to the lurking dread of Michael and forms part of an extended scene that is a homage sequence to the 1978 film where Lynda (P.J. Soles) and Bob (John Michael Graham) meet a grisly fate at Michael’s hand.

There’s a great deal of care taken by Green to make sure that he doesn’t stamp all over the fond memories that franchise fans may have of the subsequent HALLOWEEN films produced between the original and this new film. There are Easter Eggs littered throughout the new film that show that the Director and his production team were aware they needed to acknowledge  those films. The focus, though, remains fixed on the direct link the story establishes between the original and its 2018 follow-up.

There’s one scene in the finale that is a genuine “come full circle” moment that fans of the original will understand the playing field is finally even. Despite Michael’s menacing physical presence coupled with his unrelenting need to inflict death, Laurie’s need for closure has finally become such a consuming force that she is no longer prepared to run from her “Boogeyman”.

The Verdict...

HALLOWEEN isn’t for the faint hearted. The kill count is high and it’s brutal. It’s an extension of the 1978 film, expanding the discourse about the nature of “Evil”. For those who love the visual thrills of the Horror genre, there’s plenty on offer. For those in need of a more visceral experience, there’s that as well. Danny Gordon Green is the principal architect of HALLOWEEN, but it’s pretty clear everyone involved has a great love of John Carpenter, his movies and - especially - HALLOWEEN (1978).

Even if you’re just a casual watcher of Horror movies, don’t pass up the opportunity to catch HALLOWEEN (2018) on big screen. It’s a great film that allows the viewer to ponder its meaning well after the lights have come up and the terror has subsided.

HALLOWEEN (2018) USEFUL LINKS

​Halloween (2018) - IMDb
​Halloween (2018 film) - Wikipedia
​Halloween (2018) - Rotten Tomatoes

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