Forty years ago in 1978, John Carpenter created one of the most striking horror pictures of all time, “Halloween”. It displayed a broad act of criminal activity as well as revolutionizing the slasher film genre as a whole. Many people mention this film as one of the greatest horror films of all time, while other people consider it to be the film that made John Carpenter not just a sensitive force in horror film making, but also the film that launched his career. Forty years later, after spawning many sequels including two reboots by Rob Zombie, a great director named David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express, Stronger) decided, “Why not recreate the authenticity Carpenter incorporated in 1978 and make the audience just pulse-pound their hearts into a new dimension?”. That project (also the true sequel to the 1978 classic) would none other than be the best horror film I have seen this year, “Halloween (2018)”.
Jamie Lee Curtis returns to play her character that she played in the original film as Laurie Strode. Strode, as a temper mother, has a very effective PTSD disorder because she still is thinking about the terrorizing murders of his son Michael Myers forty years ago. That makes Laurie even more temper where she is shooting at targets like a livid hunter in the wilderness. Now, Laurie is desperate and armed for revenge towards Michael Myers, the ruthless Halloween killer himself, preparing for a final deadly interaction bound to happen.
You are looking at such a director like David Gordon Green, who pretty much can do any genre like providing raunchy humor and social commentary in “Pineapple Express” and providing great, rousing tension in the outstanding Boston Marathon biopic from last year, “Stronger”. I could tell by the trailers of the movie that Green seems not just capable, but also ready of really delivering a true, raw horror masterpiece this year in the veins of this year’s “Hereditary”, “Lizzie”, and “A Quiet Place”. Truth be told, he improves upon these films in righteous glory. So far, this is the best horror film I have seen this year because it does such a brutal and authentic risk to capture the uncomfortable feeling audiences gathered back in 1978.
What I also admire about this film is that at times, it does not feel like your average mainstream horror film. It is more of an independent horror film, one that is eerie and raw at the same time. For example, the opening scene shows two interviewers whom are eager to communicate with the ruthless Michael Myers without his mask silent as a mental human would act. After one of the interviewers speaks with Myers, the rest of the mental people locked with their bare hands are acting like non-caged animals. That speaks the chilling cinematography work of Michael Simmonds. The still and long shots of the top of the mental institute building feel very complex where at times, it glances at the dangerous aspects of the location in terms of the reaction of the interviewers’ communication towards Michael Myers.
To me, the greatest and boldest aspect of this film is none other than Jamie Lee Curtis’ performance as Laurie Strode. You see in the previous films that she was a down-to-earth, typical high school student, where in this installment, she is a livid, stricken mother anyone in this society would never come across due to her fear of Myers. Strode would instead be a person that would not just ruin a fun time, but even at a dinner night-out where she references the horrifying night in a similar scene during the first act of the film. Curtis delivers one of the year’s best actress performances where she portrays both a deadly hunter as well as trying to perform the most honest treachery towards Michael Myers in the climatic third act.
For anyone looking for suspicious and rousing horror, it is there. It is extremely terrorizing where it completely avoids a bad case of the jump-scare flu and takes such an outstanding risk at showing real criminal activity to behold. The main reason why it is so rousing is because the original actor who played Michael Myers from the first film, Nick Castle, returns on screen. Without any spoilers, there is one scene where it locates at a worn-out bathroom and many people in my theater were utterly flabbergasted. Green clearly knows how to delicately build tension when necessary regardless of his genre experience after the past 18 years.
However, as expected, there are minor flaws in a slasher film like this. The police have no complete existence throughout the film. Most of the characters including two high-school students named Allyson and Oscar can get on my nerves at times. These problems are usually very noticeable since these films heavily rely on horror aspects. Like I mentioned, there are aspects in this film that feel suddenly out-of-character for a slasher film including Jamie Lee Curtis and her emotional characteristics. But in the end, flaws are expected for that kind of film. It is totally normal.
On a final note, “Halloween (2018)” is a striking horror masterpiece to behold where David Gordon Green ignites his passion for the eerie and criminal horror genre and then brings its alive towards the audience making his best made film yet. Jamie Lee Curtis is more livid than ever and the tension feels as devastating as the original. If anyone does not believe in that statement, witness this masterpiece and believe the hype.
Grade: 9/10
