Review: Halloween (2018)

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What are we going to do, cancel Halloween?

Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) has never recovered from the killing spree Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney and Nick Castle) went on back in 1978. It's ruined her relationship with her daughter, Karen (Judy Greer) while her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) makes more of an effort to see her. Michael has been institutionalized since then, and when he's being transferred to a new facility, his bus crashes and he returns to Haddonfield for Laurie. Only this time she's ready.

You can't really blame Michael for wanting to go back to Haddonfield. The police department is dumb as hell and don't even alert the public that he's on the lose. So he's free to kill twice as many people as he did in the first film before he finally finds someone in Laurie's family. 

I love the Halloween movies. I think it's kind of a shame they chose to retcon 4 and 5 because I actually liked Jamie but I can't complain when they made a film this solid. This is easily one of the best of the series. Sure, some disbelief must be suspended but it's creepy, the music is outstanding, and they pay homage to the older films without being in your face about it. 

Jamie Lee Curtis is amazing as always. No one goes through what Laurie does without some trauma and turning her into a reclusive badass was an interesting choice. I'm always a fan of Judy Greer and I'm glad she actually got something to do here. Matichak is also a nice addition. Jibrail Nantambu who plays Julian, a child Allyson's friend is babysitting also needs a shout out because he was hilarious during his short amount of screen time.

If you're a Halloween fan, or a horror fan, this is a must see. It's not as scary as the original was but it's great fun.  

Recommended: Yes

Grade: B

Memorable Quote: "No make Dave go first!" - Julian (Jibrail Nantambu)

Comments

  1. keith71_98October 31, 2018 at 8:25 AM

    I was on the fence with this movie for several days before finally just stamping a score on it and moving on. It does a lot of things well but it also annoyed me in several places.

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    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 31, 2018 at 9:46 AM

      You brought up a good point in your review that I agree with, and it's that it isn't scary. It's very entertaining, and I was slightly creeped out in places, but I never felt afraid like I did when I watched the first Halloween all those years ago.

      Delete
  2. BirgitOctober 31, 2018 at 2:13 PM

    I might see this now since reading your review and i did finally see the original. Too bad Donald Pleasance is dead otherwise you know he would be in the film. On another note, my former brother in law was married back in the early 1990's. They had something in the paper for sale, can't remember what, and a man came by and they spoke with him for quite a while. After, this man started to call my bro in law's wife and he even found out where she worked and showed up there. One night she woke up feeling like someone was in the room, she opened her eyes just a little and it was this man staring over their bed! She remained still and he left. They contacted the useless police who said there was not much they could do since he didn't do anything. They claimed they would put a police car around the area. One Sunday eve, he came knocking at the door with a puppy he wanted to show her. She freaked and called her hubby who was working. He told her to call 911. The guy took off which led to a police chase. He rammed his car into a tree and started running but the cops caught him. The puppy was unharmed but they found all these illegal weapons in the car. He had become fixated on bro in law's wife so who knows what would have happened. The police told them he is put away but they would let them know if he was ever out. Well.... he got out after a few short months and the police never told them and somehow the evidence was gone. I bet his parents had connections so this does/can happen

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  3. thevoid99October 31, 2018 at 3:25 PM

    I've heard a wide arrange of opinions on this film but I'm still interested in seeing it. Especially as it does have some involvement from John Carpenter.

    ReplyDelete
  4. JayOctober 31, 2018 at 8:25 PM

    I'm sort of named after Jamie Lee Curtis but I can never bring myself to see these.

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    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamNovember 1, 2018 at 6:50 AM

      That's cool! But I get it, you don't like horror.

      Delete
  5. Often Off TopicNovember 1, 2018 at 11:41 AM

    Do you reckon it's watachable if you haven't seen any of the other Halloween movies? I have my boss at work raving about this movie every day - he only sees like, 5 movies a year but he's making me feel like I'm really missing out!

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    1. Brittani BurnhamNovember 5, 2018 at 1:13 PM

      I think the only one you really need to see before this is the first one, but you can do without the sequels.

      Delete
  6. KatyNovember 4, 2018 at 3:03 PM

    Nice review! I've only seen the first one, and wanted to see this one but didn't know if it was good. Do you think I need to see the other ones or is the first one just enough?

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    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamNovember 5, 2018 at 1:12 PM

      No, I think you'll be fine. They really don't tell you anything you need to know from Halloween 2.

      Delete

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