'Halloween' (2018) Review

Halloween takes place 40 years after Michael Myers murdered five people on Halloween night in 1978. We're supposed to go into this movie completely ignoring the second, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth movie. In my opinion, you should go in thinking of the first AND second one.

As you see in the trailer, Laurie Strode has all sorts of traps and guns in her house for when Michael eventually returns to get her. All of that seems a little excessive for someone trying to kill you once. Would you be traumatized? Yes. Would you build your house like Fort Knox? Most likely not. Now, if this person comes after you at the hospital after you thought he was dead, then building your house that way would be more understanding.

The first time I saw this movie, I was in the mindset that this is basically Halloween 2. I came out disappointed. The second time I saw it, I thought about how it could be Halloween 3. I came out feeling much better about everything. So, if you can, watch Halloween 2 and keep that in mind.

My main issue is not what I had just written above. My main issue was... the music. Yes, the music. The music never came in at the right time, or it never came in at all. When Halloween (1978) came out, it was deemed the worst horror movie because there wasn't any music. John Carpenter added the iconic theme song and it became the best horror movie in history.

They seriously should have kept that in mind. To me, it made Michael less scary when he was stalking or killing. The music is what really made the impact. There's only one scene where that happened and, if you ever see it, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

When it came to the editing, it was pretty bad. Choppy and too many jump cuts. Looked like what I edited when I was ten.

The overall movie was pretty solid. However, I think they did rush it and didn't put enough detail into much of anything. You're introduced to the characters as if you already know them and the story was too jumpy. You can go ahead and say that's how the original one was, but that was originally supposed to be a student film at UCI Film School. I think the audience deserves a bit more than that in this one, especially after 40 years.

They tried to make this one too much like the first one. I'm all for the original movie, but that was filmed on a $325,000 budget ($25,000 going to actor Donald Pleasence AKA Doctor Sam Loomis) in 20 days, 40 years ago. Nostalgia is cool, but times have changed. They had millions of dollars to make this movie and I just think they could have done a little more with it.

However, there were cool little odes to the first one. If you've seen the first one a million and one times like I have, you'll immediately know them when you see them. I do recommend watching the first one before this one (not because you'll understand it more, but because you'll appreciate the easter eggs more).

Now, finally, to the man of the hour: Michael Myers.

I am fascinated with Michael. It's the psychology of him that fascinates me. The entire point of Michael is that we don't know why he does what he does and they made that very clear in this film. Michael and Laurie are not siblings in this movie (they mentioned it in all the trailers, so that's not a spoiler) and I think that's great. What it does give us, as an audience, is that sense of reason. I always liked the idea that Michael was Laurie's brother, but it's more horrifying to think he's going after her because he wants to.

That's the worst part about Rob Zombie's versions (which is regrettably on my television at the moment). He made Michael too human. He gave Michael a reason to do what he loves to do. He humanized him and that just ruined the fun of trying to figure Michael out.

In this movie, he goes after every damn person that gets in his way and who just happens to be in the neighborhood. They made him absolutely ruthless and angry. He is the embodiment of evil in this movie and it's perfect. There's only one moment where he's a bit of a softie, but he does not disappoint.

Not to mention, his mask was awesome.

There is more I would love to say, but due to spoilers, I won't. I'll probably post another review in a few weeks with all the spoilers.

All in all, I give this a good 80% on the Fettometer.