10/21/18 - Halloween (2018) - 5+/6-/10

I felt it before the extended “Laurie slaughters mannequins” scene, but her final girl turned murderous robot prepper ala Sarah Conner put a stamp on the larger contextual nature of this film. This 1978 to 2018 is a Terminator to T2 kind of feel. A drift away in tone from distinct horror to, in the case of H2018, a comedy sprinkled pseudo-reverse stalker. There are plenty of standard horror pieces, but it felt more like a big block love letter to the original than a revitalized unique vision. A sturdy and finely crafted ode to the original, bringing something new, but lacking in the intimate masterful horror of its pioneer and  never transcendent in scope or practicality.

There wasn’t a ton here on the acting front. Curtis’ Laurie was fittingly manic and single-minded, but everyone else was fairly nondescript. I was a bit disappointed in Patton’s dead delivery and lack of charisma. Matichak’s “new Laurie” had some fine moments. Everyone else was fine, but pretty standard for what film they were in. This film really missed a Plaesence/Loomis, bringing gravitas and heft.

I did like the millenialzation of tropes against type (dancing instead of hunting {also, who is going hunting at 10 pm?}, Cross-dressing bf, the babysat child being the truest voice of the audience ever, etc.). I have to say that my favorite character and scene was the babysat child (Oscar, played by Jibril Nantambu). Funny, legit smart, completely likable. They revel in poking at the genre and the mythology of the Halloween films, with some fan-servicey but still enjoyable throwbacks (reverse intro, Halloween 3 masks, plenty of near identical scenes, and the “someone falls out the window” reveal [which was the best], etc.).

I didn’t find the jokes all that funny or particularly clever. They also didn’t feel dramatically altering to the nature of the film. I didn’t care about the cops lunch, the bad dad jokes, or any of the other bits. They were just empty and often, pointless. Perhaps they brought levity to cut through the dramatic tension, but there placement within the cut more felt like non sequitur pacing than buffering.

I think what bothered me the most was some ridiculous plot twists (the major one was terribly egregious), some completely dropped elements (bf fade away), and bloodletting of the killer drama. He was seen so much, killing so many people willy nilly, and not respecting the juxtaposition between legitimate real 50/60 yr old crazy HUMAN and inhuman unstoppable unfeeling murder machine. There were diminishing returns on the frights and terror of his rampage as it steamrolled through the town. There was a harshness and violence and even some masterfully coordinated chill kills (the long takes of him murdering a couple women in their houses towards the beginning were the most effective of the whole film). But when he he began giving us Freddy/Jason kills (those cops and their flashlight? C’mon!) and setting up bait and switch spots (isn’t he a straight ahead doesn’t matter coming to get you killer? To the point that he walks directly at gunfire and moving cars. Why would he set up a Mouse Trap fake out out of nowhere? Not to mention his lack of time or character.), I lost not only interest but any sense of horrific doom. The whole thing lead to a lack of frights, which is the point of the film.

The premise of the film was good. Erase the sequels from existence, a Serial-sequel podcast digging up new info on a famous old crime, Meyers escapes and Old Laurie is waiting. It worked overall, with some hiccups, but I was far from impressed. Sure, it’s isn’t Season of the Witch or a different garbage sequel. We can easily give it a firm pat on the back for being definitively the 2nd best Halloween film, but that is a relatively low bar to clear. This is a weird mashup of slick big budget and b-movie tropey basic, but it works pretty well and is solidly average. I liked that it played with the standard H format, but was able to mix it up and bring something energetic to the film franchise. That said, the novelty wasn’t enough to blow me over and the film as a whole just felt a tad hollow. Just didn’t love it.

Random thought:

• Was I missing something? In Laurie’s kitchen there seemed to be tile floor, but underneath there just appeared to be boards that you could just about see light through. That doesn’t add up.