Halloween

I love horror sequels. The shameless franchising and endless elaboration of horror sequels force filmmakers to stretch an idea to the breaking point. Jason X(Jason in space) is prime example of this. That being said, there is a purity and simplicity to the original Halloween that makes it particularly hard to sequelize. If Rob Zombie’s Halloween taught us anything it’s that learning more about Mr. Myers only serves to defang and nullify the antagonist. Halloween(2018) manages to do what no other Halloween sequel/reboot has done, which is to elaborate on the concept and themes without demystifying. In many ways this feels like The Force Awakens of horror movies, going back to the core dynamic with one of the original stars to lead our talented new cast through a familiar story. Not to say that this is a complete retread, because it is not. The story actually goes to some thematically interesting places, taking the idea of pure evil incarnate from the original and adding a new twist on what it is and how it must be dealt with. They have also added a lot of humor to the film, something that really isn’t present in the franchise, but humor is a huge(and overlooked) part of John Carpenter’s filmography. I will say that the quicker modern pacing made me miss the seething dark tone of the original, but I was never expecting this movie to be quite THAT good. I’m not without my complaints and nitpicks, but Halloween is a scary piece of popcorn filmmaking that is meant to be watched in a packed October theater.