Well horror fans, I'm sure you've all seen it by now and have your own thoughts on this extension of a horror classic. Before I begin, I will admit that, aside from Rob Zombie's remake of the series in 2007 - which I enjoyed, I was never a huge fan of the original films. That said, I love horror movies, so I have always watched them with a Michael Myers like *undying* hope that I will fall in place with my other horror-loving fiends as a super fan of the Halloween franchise. So there I sat, in a theatre in October eating my Yellow #5 cheese covering Red #6 hot cheetos quietly anticipating if I would leave wanting to immediately buy the latest adaption of William Shatner's face to wear this Halloween ...
In this extension to the Halloween franchise, Jamie Lee Curtis returns to her iconic role as Laurie Strode, who comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago. The return of Curtis had me excited, as I'm sure it did many others, for it beckoned a true continuation of the timeline in the original series of films, not a remake as Zombie had done. However, as mentioned, annoyingly, the plot was cast in an alternative timeline in which Myers was captured by police shortly after his original killing spree and sent to Smith's Grove Sanitarium.
Halloween 2018 centers on Laurie Strode's (Curtis) Dooms-day-like psychotic preparation of herself and disgruntled daughter for a final encounter with Myers, which she knows will happen one day - probably Halloween, the only day they ever transfer Michael Myers. Strode's character is about as one-dimensional as it comes, with only one goal in life, revenge. Meanwhile, 11 movies into the franchise, the act of transferring a mental patient from one hospital to another remains an unsurmountable feat in the Halloween universe, as Myer's escapes, once again. How did he escape you might ask? Good question, very pertinent to the story right? A tipped bus and slaughtered staff is all we're given, the first total let-down of the movie for me. Also, once again ... why the fuck do they insist on doing every Myers transfer on the anniversary of his murder spree???
The movie proceeds on rotely delivering the typical scenarios one might expect from a Halloween movie with a somewhat relieving bit of unique flare towards the end. Michael is a rampaging force who murders without motive. If you like the original, you'll probably be ok with this movie, and if you've never seen the original, then the story may feel somewhat original. I've seen them all, 11 movies of a silent dude with a knife and an unwavering love of nomex jumpsuits. They can be quite comfortable I guess.
This brings me to the thing I find most interesting about the Halloween franchise ... outside of their female empowerment in a movie genre dominated by boob flopping victims. It is my opinion that the character of Michael Myers, and thus the Halloween franchise, will never be interesting, by the every nature of our brutal antagonist. It seems to me that Carpentar used Myers to explore his own understanding of what evil truly is, Dr. Lumas being the avenue for this exploration. Many times in this series Lumas points out that evil is measured by lack of empathy, and Michael is void of empathy or emotion, so ultimately evil. This is a pretty profound statement, and I agree with Carpentar's assessment of the definition of evil, though I don't think it takes 11 movies to point this out. The problem is, ultimate evil, as defined in this fashion, is just not all that entertaining, since emotion and empathy breed motive, which gives raise to story lines and plot. Without them, you simply have a dude wearing some odd shit slaughtering everyone in his path - my ultimate issue with this franchise. Sure, each movie has a few suspenseful moments, startle scares and all the necessary ingredients to make Myers Murderous Meringue Pie, but once you take a bit, you find it's nothing but crust ...
Michael Myers may be immortal, but it's about time for this franchise to end.
Production 4/5 :: Acting 3/5 :: Storyline 2/5 :: Shatner's sexy ass face 5/5
Thanks for reading,
Gory Corey