Review: Halloween 2018

In 1978 Director John Carpenter created Halloween starring Jamie Lee Curtis in her first role as teenage Laurie Strode. It told the story of a homicidal maniac named Michael Meyers who escaped from his mental institution and comes back to his hometown of Haddonfield, Ill. where he first killed his sister at age six. He begins to terrorize the neighborhood including Jamie Lee as Laurie Strode who was also his sister who was born after he was committed and never knew about him.

Now 40 years later and after 8  sequels and two remakes a new Halloween that is supposed to be the sequel to the original is made with Jamie Lee Curtis reprising her role as Laurie Strode again as a grandmother who lives in a cabin deep in the woods with a gated entrance with camera and microphone. Two investigators from the Attorney General’s office, a man and woman team, who have been investigating the Meyers case seek her out. Laurie is very reluctant to talk with them at first as she is very paranoid and traumatized from what happened all those years ago. One of the investigators has the original mask worn by Michael and they visit him at the mental institution, but Michael never talks even as they try to coerce him into speaking by showing him the mask.  Later on when he is being transferred with other patients to another hospital, the bus crashes in a ditch and he escapes.

I thought this version had a lot of the same scenes as the original and the kids and characters lacked substance and you really didn’t care about them. .This film lacks the charismatic character of Dr. Loomis played by the late Donald Pleasance as Michael’s doctor who is obsessed with him chasing him everywhere and has spooky and insightful remarks about Michael. In this version a doctor who was a student of Dr. Loomis has taken over Michael as his patient. I didn’t care for this one either as he lacked the fascinating wisdom and wise comments of Donald  Pleasance’s  character.

The film picks up about three quarters into the film when Laurie confronts her long-time foe Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago, with her daughter and granddaughter in her cabin which has been well fortified with guns and sliding steel  barred doors and a downstairs safe room as they try to fend off Michael.

Overall I’d give it one and a half to two stars, but it is doing really well having grossed 176 million since being released and only cost 10 million to make, but as film critic Rex Reed said, “what was once scares in the original are just chuckles in this one.” The original still holds up as the best.

Check out the exciting trailer!!