Halloween (2018) ***
A reboot/sequel of a classic film in a beloved series that was already rebooted/remade (in 2007) was always going to have strikes against it and be overly scrutinized. But as someone who doesn't hold the original 1978 film (and definitely not the series) in quite the same high regard as most horror fans (*ahem* Black Christmas (1974) is better), I am satisfied with Halloween (2018).
Ignoring all but the first film for this new sequel was a good call in my book. There are dumb characters and dumb moments, but that's true for every film in this series, by varying degrees. There is nothing overly clever about the 2018 film—barring one seriously lame scene with "the new Loomis", which was a huge misstep—it plays it straight as a solid slasher (one with a main character with some obvious history though). And Jamie Lee Curtis does the role justice—never going too Sarah Connor on us but still ready to battle her old enemy, yet with a realistic sense of fear and vulnerability (save a couple of throwaway one-liners during the climax that weren't necessary). One other minor complaint—some of the humor works well, but a couple of scenes were just tone deaf.
There are tasteful callbacks to the 1978 film, a cute reference to the third film, and even a shot-for-shot remake of a scene from the second film that I liked. The new score by John Carpenter, his son Cody, and Dave Davies' son Daniel doesn't call attention to itself, but reinterprets the classic cues while adding some tense new ones to the mix. Director David Gordon Green also doesn't try to reinvent the wheel with the look and feel of the film—instead framing very similarly to the 1978 film (although a few scenes are subpar), and thankfully sparing us from the all too common abundance of shaky cam in modern horror. All in all, H18 is a serviceable piece of genre filmmaking that neither surprises nor infuriates this viewer.
You can find my Halloween Franchise Films Ranked list here.
Ignoring all but the first film for this new sequel was a good call in my book. There are dumb characters and dumb moments, but that's true for every film in this series, by varying degrees. There is nothing overly clever about the 2018 film—barring one seriously lame scene with "the new Loomis", which was a huge misstep—it plays it straight as a solid slasher (one with a main character with some obvious history though). And Jamie Lee Curtis does the role justice—never going too Sarah Connor on us but still ready to battle her old enemy, yet with a realistic sense of fear and vulnerability (save a couple of throwaway one-liners during the climax that weren't necessary). One other minor complaint—some of the humor works well, but a couple of scenes were just tone deaf.
There are tasteful callbacks to the 1978 film, a cute reference to the third film, and even a shot-for-shot remake of a scene from the second film that I liked. The new score by John Carpenter, his son Cody, and Dave Davies' son Daniel doesn't call attention to itself, but reinterprets the classic cues while adding some tense new ones to the mix. Director David Gordon Green also doesn't try to reinvent the wheel with the look and feel of the film—instead framing very similarly to the 1978 film (although a few scenes are subpar), and thankfully sparing us from the all too common abundance of shaky cam in modern horror. All in all, H18 is a serviceable piece of genre filmmaking that neither surprises nor infuriates this viewer.
You can find my Halloween Franchise Films Ranked list here.
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