Halloween Review – Staci suggests you answer the doorbell for more Michael Myers mayhem.

The original “scream queen” Jamie Lee Curtis returns to her iconic role as Laurie Strode, which she originated in director John Carpenter’s 1978 killer-classic Halloween. In this 2018 sequel, the traumatized survivor comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his slashing spree on that fateful October night decades ago.

Laurie has some serious issues after her harrowing Halloween all those years ago. She has become a survivalist, arming herself with guns, rifles, knives, baseball bats, and grenades. Her home is a bunker filled with booby-traps and is festooned with cameras and alarms. Even though she is a granny, she’s far from being a sweet little old lady.

This paranoia (wait… is it really paranoia if someone is really after you?) has wrecked her relationship with her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and made for an uneasy alliance with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak). When Myers (played with and without the mask by James Jude Courtney and Nick Castle) escapes from the hospital for the criminally insane, there is the proverbial hell to pay.

Halloween is a gory throwback to eras gone by, replete with horror, suspense, and action. There is never a dull moment, nor are there any lives spared. It’s brutal, yet beautiful—the cinematography by Michael Simmonds makes the most of the rich fall colors and deep midnight shadows, while John and son Cody Carpenter’s synth score adds deliciously to the tension. Director David Gordon Green keeps things moving right along with never a dull moment and even throws in a bit of admirably unforced comic relief.

Unless you’re a serious horror fan, you may not realize that while this flick is simply called Halloween, it is in fact a follow-up and not a remake—and one that disregards all of the franchise’s offerings in-between. That’s one of the things that makes it so smart and so bold: it picks up 40 years from the ending of the first, making for a slick sequel indeed.

If you’re looking for some retro-style scares, you admire kickass women, and you want a bit of gore with your trick-or-treat, then definitely see Halloween on the big screen.

Rated R
1 Hour, 40 Minutes

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Halloween Review – Staci suggests you answer the doorbell for more Michael Myers mayhem.