Wisely ignoring everything except the first sequel, this new Halloween picks up 40 years after the events of the first two movies. For the uninitiated, the script quickly brings the audience up to speed on what the characters have been doing over the decades. To some degree, this feels like some form of elaborate fan-fiction, slavishly devoted to the original film while making a genuine attempt to advance the narrative and characters into the current age. Some of it is more successful than others, the script is predictable and a lot of comedic attempts fall very flat, but it succeeds in revitalizing the terror of Michael Myers accompanied by his traditional theme. The cinematography is rather well done, although very dark for much of the last act, the way they render Myers as a hulking creature of the shadows is rather impressive. There's a decent amount of tension and suspense, and the grisly kills get pretty creative in parts. The last act is a hoot, and its nice to see Jamie Lee Curtis reprise her role with all the fire and fury 40 years of PTSD nightmares has built. On the whole, nothing revolutionary, nothing original, but a genuinely enjoyable sequel to a franchise that, like the titular character, had long been assumed dead, buried, and decomposing.
Halloween (2018)