Review of Halloween (2018) by Tim R — 19 Oct 2018

Let me start with the positives, because there are quite a few. Firstly, the performances were great all across the board. There really wasn't a single member of the cast that didn't give it their all. Jamie Lee Curtis, especially. She's just phenomenal in this film. Her portrayal of the effects of trauma on someone's mental state was perfect. All the scenes with her were golden. Judy Greer as Laurie's daughter, Karen, does a great job, as does Andi Matichak, who plays Laurie's granddaughter, Allyson. All in all, great work from the cast. They all turned in great performances.

Michael Myers is scarier in this movie than he has ever been. Michael has always been a symbol of pure evil, and this movie does its very best to drive that home. The things he does in this movie are horrific and terrifying, and that's exactly the way it should be. I have to give credit to Danny McBride and his co-writers for nailing that aspect of the character. He is a force of pure evil and does not care about anyone or anything. This movie got that right, and I commend it.

One final positive to note is the direction. David Gordon Green does a beautiful job directing this movie. It feels like Halloween in this movie. The falling leaves, the jack o' lanterns, etc. There are a couple long takes in the middle of the film that are very impressive. Also, there's a clever thing that Green does in which he copies trademark shots from the original film while putting a specific twist on them. I thought that that was a really smart way to relate the themes of the film symbolically and visually. The cinematography was good too. It was a beautiful film to look at.

Now, the negatives.

This movie completely fell apart at the beginning of the 3rd act. I won't spoil it, but a certain character does something that comes completely out of left field and is just mind boggling. The moment it happened, I turned to my brother and said, "Dude, this is stupid." After this completely random and bizarre event occurs (Which by the way, has absolutely no effect on the plot) the rest of the film takes a nose dive. The climax is okay in certain moments, but overall very disappointing. There's a pretty suspenseful scene that takes place in Laurie's home, but otherwise, it was really mediocre; verging on bad.

Also, there were many instances of comedic relief that came at wildly inappropriate times. There is a child in this film that someone is babysitting and he exists solely as comedic relief. He literally comes into contact with Michael and the scene is played for laughs. There are also other scenes of random comedy scattered throughout, so it makes the film feel very tonally jarring a lot of the time. We go from being terrified at this force of evil, to laughing at the fact that a certain character packed a single brownie into his lunch. There was very little tonal consistency, especially in the last half. It reminded me of the Last Jedi in that way. *shutters*.

Overall, the new Halloween was fantastic for the first hour or so, but as soon as the 3rd act began, it just got worse and worse. Had the 3rd act been just as good as what came before, this movie would have been a solid 8 or 9, topping all the other sequels. However, because of just how disappointing the finale of the movie is, and the tonal inconsistency, I can't give it a score that high. It's better than many of the sequels, but I think the original 1981 Halloween II still has it beat. There were great moments in this movie. A lot of them. It's really a shame.