HALLOWEEN (2018)

HALLOWEEN (2018)

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2018 -- Yes, I am a big fan of Jamie Lee Curtis. Who didn't love her in "True Lies" and "Trading Places"? But this is about her feature film beginnings as the original "Scream Queen". Shedding those bit roles on The Love Boat and Operation Petticoat too hook up with the then B-Movie king...John Carpenter in one of the most legendary horror slasher films since Hitchcock's "Psycho".

1978's "Halloween" propelled Carpenter from schlock films like "Gorgon the Space Monster" and "Sorcerer from Outer Space" to more respectable stuff like "The Fog", "The Thing", "Christine", "Big Trouble ins Little China" and "Starman" before fading back in to crap. Curtis returned in "Halloween II" but Carpenter moved on. He actually had very little to do with the subsequent Halloween 3,4,5, 20 Years Later, or other variations. And you could tell.

Director David Gordon Green was only three years old when the original "Halloween" was released but he has taken a different path with decent quality films "Snow Angels", "Pineapple Express", "Prince Avalanche", "Joe" and the very good "Stronger" with Jake Gyllenhaal. Now he revisits John Carpenter's Halloween with no numerical suffix. What nerve!

This version is the sequel that erases all those other sequels by not even acknowledging there relevance nor existence. The murderous Michael Meyers doesn't escape the original... he is caught and incarcerated for 40 years. He doesn't just disappear so there can be an innumerable amount of sequels.

More over, Laurie Strode (Curtis) didn't hop off merrily into the sunset. She is older, emotionally screwed up and can't keep a husband. After all these years with Michael in a mental institution, she has steeled herself for the day she can kill him herself and be done with it. She isn't the run and scream little girl of before. And she certainly isn't the Laurie Strode who comes back in "Halloween: Resurrection" and gets whacked.

Green gets everything that made Carpenter's "Halloween" right. With fresh camera shots projecting a masked face on what the film has listed as "The Shape" (James Jude Courtney & Nick Castle). After a rather slow build the killing is more graphic and bloody. We get a chance to appreciate new technology masterfully applied to an old story.

Plus we get to see jamie Lee in a resuscitated role with new life and a much different slant. She is quite entertaining as you can tell she really got into the role. Equally up to the task as the new psychiatrist for Michael is Haluk Bilginer Dr Sartain. He replaces Dr Loomis (Donald Pleasence), so much so that Laurie refers to him as the 'New' Loomis. He has a different take on Michael as a type of killing addict.

The one thing that remains the same through all the films, is that for some reason someone makes a mistake handling Michael and...the killing begins.

"Halloween" is the true sequel for true fans of the original. It fast forwards to the now, even by presenting itself as a #MeToo type of woman power slasher film. -- GRADE B+ -- GEOFF BURTON

GEOFF BURTON