Halloween was a throwaway movie when it came out. It was hated and banned in some places (mostly because you got to see some of the slashing through the eyes of the killer) and from the ashes of that and all of the sequels comes a very important film.
At a time when Hollywood is under attack for the way it portrays women on the screen and treats them off screen, comes this amazing story of female empowerment. That's right, you got snookered; Halloween, the slasher film, is actually one of the first films to embrace it's female characters. Now, you aren't hit over the head with the message in the film and you won't even notice that no male characters are needed to come in and "save the day". Heck, it's not even a "girls rule" kind of thing, it's just that these ladies have had enough of Michael Myers shit and they know they have to handle their business. The fact that they are females is incidental to them, but important to the viewing audience.
Enough with the subtext though. Halloween also provides fan service with the inclusion of classic characters, music and even an opening sequence that is a wink towards the original. The kills are updated for an audience that expects more and the movie even has a little of that "Scream" self-awareness when a character mentions the body count of the original murders portrayed in the film.
The reason slasher movies initially got a bad rap was because you didn't really get to know or care about the characters. Sure, it's cool to see a psycho put a spear through someones neck, but it's not a loss if it's just a random person. With Halloween you get characters you care about, you know how they function and you even think you know how they'll function when the killer shows up. Halloween gives you an emotional investment with a look at the wreckage that is the Strode Family.
I am finding a hard time finding any way to pick this movie apart on any level. It would please the fanboy in me to say that it doesn't measure up to the original, but it is a better film. The first was all jump scares and terror, Halloween 2018 has all of that along with meaning and purpose.
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