I missed the Halloween sequel/reboot in theaters, and ever since it debuted to enthusiastic reviews, I've been eager to take this long-awaited trip back to Haddonfield. Thank you, home video!
It's been 40 years since a young upstart named John Carpenter threw down a directorial Ace of Spades that changed the face of modern horror. Carpenter would go on to become a genre voice on a par with Stephen King. I'm weather-beaten enough to have seen the original Halloween on opening weekend, and in those halcyon pre-internet days, all there was to guide you were trailers and word of mouth. Halloween blew the doors off, like Jaws, using music (also scored by Carpenter) to create a relentless sense of dread. I vividly remember people literally running up the aisles to flee from the theater. Faceless killer Michael Myers predated Jason, Freddie - he paved the way for them all, begetting decades of lesser "slasher" films that helped give the horror genre a bad name. But that original! Featuring the debut of Jamie Lee Curtis and an unstoppable killing machine that would foreshadow The Terminator, Halloween was a tightly wound B-movie on steroids that never let up - and audiences went crazy for it.
The sequels, not so much. There were myriad attempts at Halloween sequels, including 1998's Halloween H20 - also featuring Curtis - but none of them caught on. This (2018) Halloween wisely dismisses all those lesser chapters as though they never existed, giving us the first genuine-feeling bookend to the original - and it works beautifully.
Produced by Carpenter (with Blumhouse Productions) and directed by David Gordon Green, (Joe, Our Brand Is Crisis), the film wisely puts the focus on the lingering aftermath of the original story. Michael Myers is still institutionalized - a hulking shape who never speaks, not even to his psychiatrist, Turkish actor Haluk Bilginer filling the Donald Pleasence role. Michael just waits, like a missile waiting for the right button to be pushed. A pair of journalist podcasters unwittingly twitch something in him, and events are set in motion.
The survivor of Michael's rampage, Laurie Strode (Curtis) is now a grandmother - but she's a grandmother you don't want to mess with. Halloween is all about the staying power of trauma, and Laurie Strode has never gotten over the trauma of That Night, 40 years ago. She's had a family, a granddaughter - but the entire time, her real soul mate has been Michael. Like Terminator 2: Judgement Day's Sarah Connor or Aliens' Ripley, she knows that one day, a reckoning's gonna come - and she's spent the decades behind fortified walls, training, shooting, stockpiling, instilling fear in her daughter, that The Boogeyman is out there, and you can't ever let your guard down.
Curtis is absolutely amazing here, really digging into the role and bringing pathos and genuine empathy for victims of trauma to her role. At times both fierce and vulnerable, she makes what could have been a stock action trope and turns her into a compelling heroine. Even meeting for a casual dinner gives her anxiety, Curtis abruptly downing someone else's glass of wine to somehow just get through it.
Like two trains in a nightmare math problem, eventually these twin forces are going to collide. Nice to see Will Patton, somewhat subdued as local law enforcement. Andi Matichak and Judy Greer are Laurie's daughter and granddaughter, both of whom are dealing with the chaos Laurie leaves in her wake. Virginia Gardner and Jibrail Nantambu are both terrifically memorable as another babysitter and her wily charge. But this is Curtis's picture and she owns every scene.
Green made Halloween for a stunningly low $10 million, and it went on to earn nearly $254 million worldwide. So will we get a sequel? With those numbers, someone's bound to be tempted to get creative. But one of the strengths of this worthy sequel is that it stands alone so well, and doesn't cheat the audience in the 3rd act. It's also such a strong, potent premise - that alone will be hard to top.
It sounds like James Cameron's upcoming Terminator sequel is taking a page from Carpenter's book, shrewdly ignoring the many lame sequels and only acknowledging films 1 and 2 - and bringing back Linda Hamilton as an equally steely silver shotgun-wielder is also a very smart move.
Maybe a sequel with Laurie Strode and Sarah Connor kicking ass together?
I'd buy that for a dollar.
It's been 40 years since a young upstart named John Carpenter threw down a directorial Ace of Spades that changed the face of modern horror. Carpenter would go on to become a genre voice on a par with Stephen King. I'm weather-beaten enough to have seen the original Halloween on opening weekend, and in those halcyon pre-internet days, all there was to guide you were trailers and word of mouth. Halloween blew the doors off, like Jaws, using music (also scored by Carpenter) to create a relentless sense of dread. I vividly remember people literally running up the aisles to flee from the theater. Faceless killer Michael Myers predated Jason, Freddie - he paved the way for them all, begetting decades of lesser "slasher" films that helped give the horror genre a bad name. But that original! Featuring the debut of Jamie Lee Curtis and an unstoppable killing machine that would foreshadow The Terminator, Halloween was a tightly wound B-movie on steroids that never let up - and audiences went crazy for it.
The sequels, not so much. There were myriad attempts at Halloween sequels, including 1998's Halloween H20 - also featuring Curtis - but none of them caught on. This (2018) Halloween wisely dismisses all those lesser chapters as though they never existed, giving us the first genuine-feeling bookend to the original - and it works beautifully.
Produced by Carpenter (with Blumhouse Productions) and directed by David Gordon Green, (Joe, Our Brand Is Crisis), the film wisely puts the focus on the lingering aftermath of the original story. Michael Myers is still institutionalized - a hulking shape who never speaks, not even to his psychiatrist, Turkish actor Haluk Bilginer filling the Donald Pleasence role. Michael just waits, like a missile waiting for the right button to be pushed. A pair of journalist podcasters unwittingly twitch something in him, and events are set in motion.
The survivor of Michael's rampage, Laurie Strode (Curtis) is now a grandmother - but she's a grandmother you don't want to mess with. Halloween is all about the staying power of trauma, and Laurie Strode has never gotten over the trauma of That Night, 40 years ago. She's had a family, a granddaughter - but the entire time, her real soul mate has been Michael. Like Terminator 2: Judgement Day's Sarah Connor or Aliens' Ripley, she knows that one day, a reckoning's gonna come - and she's spent the decades behind fortified walls, training, shooting, stockpiling, instilling fear in her daughter, that The Boogeyman is out there, and you can't ever let your guard down.
Curtis is absolutely amazing here, really digging into the role and bringing pathos and genuine empathy for victims of trauma to her role. At times both fierce and vulnerable, she makes what could have been a stock action trope and turns her into a compelling heroine. Even meeting for a casual dinner gives her anxiety, Curtis abruptly downing someone else's glass of wine to somehow just get through it.
Like two trains in a nightmare math problem, eventually these twin forces are going to collide. Nice to see Will Patton, somewhat subdued as local law enforcement. Andi Matichak and Judy Greer are Laurie's daughter and granddaughter, both of whom are dealing with the chaos Laurie leaves in her wake. Virginia Gardner and Jibrail Nantambu are both terrifically memorable as another babysitter and her wily charge. But this is Curtis's picture and she owns every scene.
Green made Halloween for a stunningly low $10 million, and it went on to earn nearly $254 million worldwide. So will we get a sequel? With those numbers, someone's bound to be tempted to get creative. But one of the strengths of this worthy sequel is that it stands alone so well, and doesn't cheat the audience in the 3rd act. It's also such a strong, potent premise - that alone will be hard to top.
It sounds like James Cameron's upcoming Terminator sequel is taking a page from Carpenter's book, shrewdly ignoring the many lame sequels and only acknowledging films 1 and 2 - and bringing back Linda Hamilton as an equally steely silver shotgun-wielder is also a very smart move.
Maybe a sequel with Laurie Strode and Sarah Connor kicking ass together?
I'd buy that for a dollar.
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