A Serious Review on 'Halloween' (2018)

Halloween was seriously hyped-up, and also seriously trashed for me, before I even saw it. However, James Charles and Kenzie Ziegler both said it was good, so I decided to take their expert opinions into account and go see it. I’ve seen pretty much every previous Halloween adaptation, sequel, or alternate universe movie (even the questionable Rob Zombie version), so I had pretty high expectations for this.

As always, Jamie Lee Curtis was a peach—she never lets me down. The other acting was pretty good. I mean I could complain about a few characters (i.e. Dave, Vicky, and Cameron’s friend whose name I didn’t even bother to learn), but I won’t.

While the movie was predictable in an "it’s-Michael-Myers-so-obviously-he’s-going-to-escape-and-kill-a-bunch-of-people-and-continue-to-go-after-Laurie" kind of way, the movie did have a few surprises. For a non-spoiler example, when Michael is walking through the house and hears the baby cry, the movie does a good job of making you think, “Oh my God, no, not a baby, is he actually going to kill a baby?” For a spoiler example, when the doctor goes off his rocker and kills the cop, I did not see that coming and if you did, you just have a demented enough brain to think that up, so that one is on you.

Back on characters, I quite liked Vicky even though she was destined to (spoiler) die from the very beginning, and I liked her dynamic with the kid she babysat, Julian. I did NOT like how whiny and useless and dim-witted the characters could be when faced with conflict. Both spoilers—but… when the male British journalist was getting pummeled into actual dust by Michael, the female British journalist did nothing. Nothing. Not one thing. She sat and she contemplated and that was the extent of her exerted energy in the scene. And also, when Allyson, Karen, and Laurie were trying to fight off Michael in the final scene, Allyson stared at the knife for a good 15 seconds (extremely long in we’re-about-to-be-brutally-murdered time) before grabbing it and taking action. Now, I know the second instance was mostly just to build tension, but the FIRST… no excuse.

Our bodies naturally go into one of two modes during a conflict: Fight or flight, maybe you’ve heard of it. I know our bodies can freeze and freak out because holy crap there’s a murderer, but come on, make a move. You would especially make a move if someone you cared about was in danger.

My last and only real complaint about the movie was the gore. The gore was great if you like gore. I don’t. I don’t particularly mind it, actually, but this was insane. From a brain-splattering-stomp to bashing a guy’s head against a bathroom wall probably 28 times (I didn’t count), the gore probably took up the better part of the movie’s budget. However, I do understand it, because now Michael is most definitely 10 times angrier and crazier than he was in the very first Halloween movie, and he most likely just wants to see as much bloodshed as is humanly (or should I say "Michael Myers-ly") possible.

Overall, I liked this movie, I really did, and I expect more to come. Because come on, we all know that if fire didn’t kill Michael in the original Halloween II, then it certainly won’t now.

Rating: 8/10

Would I recommend it? Yes (if you like horror movies)

Best Character: Laurie, Michael Myers, or Julian

Superlative: Quietest Villain or Most Creative Jack-o-Lantern Props (they were super cute, okay?)