Review: 'Halloween'

As far as can think of, this is my first horror sequel that I went to see on the big screen, and for good reason.

Horror sequels, prequels, re-boots or re-makes do not fair well. There are very few successful ones or even cult favourites that fall into the horror genre.

This particular new release had a good amount of buzz after its screening at the Toronto Film Festival last month. Plus, the drive and passion female actor Jamie Lee Curtis was showing in the build-up to its release had many people pumped.

That was enough for me to check it out, as I really like the first Halloween. Most of my all-time favourite horror films are from this era of the late 70s and early 80s. So I was certainly going in for some of the same magic that made horror films from that time become so iconic.

This did that for the most part. I've never had the chance of seeing the 1978 original on the big screen. So it felt great hearing the original theme in this. The way it was used on a few occasions certainly enhanced the various situations that was happening on screen.

It starts pretty well, introduces to new character rather well and begins the development of characters we already know and gave us early hints of where we're going with this which excited me. This film was making Michael Myers scary again and it worked really well. It rejuvenated the mythology around Myers and they explore it in the film through various characters. There is one scene in particular as we heads towards the final which could make or break the film for some people. If you know which one I'm thinking of, then I think it was a cool way of exploring the obsession of wanting to know more about the reasoning of Myers' actions.

As the tension mounts, we are then given a pretty memorable finale with some well executed suspenseful scenes and climax.

I must mention that after seeing it, I made a strange comparison that actually makes sense. The story structure felt similar to that of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. When when you watch it, I hope you can also see that similarity as well.

All the performances were solid but never exceptional. That is except for Jamie Lee Curtis. I've always admired Curtis' general personality and characters in most of her films. She is most definitely a strong female actor and represents that in a lot of her characters.

The development her character was given felt right in moving it forward from the original along with Judy Greer and Andi Matichak's characters. While I like the content Greer was given, I don't think Matichak was completed. It started off well. But we never got a conclusion of any kind to her story.

To be honest, I could say for a fair amount of the supporting or minor characters stories. They all seemed to be incomplete or never fleshed out. It's as if they forgot to give a conclusion to their respective sub-plots.

As I'm mentioning negatives, I'll also mention other notable problem I had with the film. There were multiple flaws that are common place in horror films. But as it is a big trope within this genre, I did let them go up to a point. But it still prevented me from giving it an exceptional rating and just settling for a solid one instead.

Onto to the positives. I love it that it didn't hold back on the violence. It was well deserving of its 18 certificate, as there are several gruesome sequences.

There were some nice nods to the original, some more obvious than others. They even inverted some moments from the original which felt inventive in its execution. All of its moments of paying homage never felt like they had to stop the film to do it. It all felt very seamless.

The cinematography was pretty good on the whole. I loved it that they had some cool tracking shots that again pay homage to the original.

I think I can safely say that this is definitely the best Halloween film since the original. But to be honest, it didn't need to much to accomplish that. But I'm glad they tried to do something effective with this latest imagining. I would also go out and say that it is one of the best horror sequels ever.

This would be a great watch on Halloween night at the cinema for sure. While it is obviously scary, it felt fun more than anything else. It's not the type of horror film where you will struggle to sleep afterwards. I feel most people will come out with a smile on their face feeling pretty satisfied with what they saw.

It may not be that original or radical . But it is certainly a very satisfying watch, it has that appeal to a popcorn audience and films like this keep me giving hope of what the horror genre can be when done right.

I must mention that there is not a post-credits scene. But there is something at the end of the credits. So as the credits are not that long, it wouldn't hurt waiting to see what it is.

Rating: 7/10