Halloween (2018) is the direct sequel to the 1978 classic with the same name and it’s directed by David Gordon Green. This movie takes place forty years after the events of the first movie, and while Michael Myers has been locked up, Laurie Strode has been preparing for the day he comes back home. We see how the traumatic even bled into her daughter and even her granddaughter. The movie stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak and Nick Castle.

Before I saw the movie I was curious to see how Jamie Lee Curtis felt about this movie, seeing her not-so-great relationship with the franchise’s sequels (H20, Resurrection) and I love how she spoke about this movie. Clearly she wouldn’t do it if she didn’t think it had a good story. She explains how this movie is essentially a story about trauma and how a single event can change your life, your family and behaviour. It’s realistic how Laurie is portrayed here. She isn’t the same person as before. The first movie was simply about good (Laurie) vs evil (Michael). This sequel takes that and expands on it by giving Laurie the upper hand thanks to the trauma. It’s sort of like a Batman and Joker relationship. Michael created the person that would eventually hunt him down.

I heard people were comparing this movie to The Force Awakens in terms of how it brought back the franchise. While I do see where they’re coming from, I don’t really agree. The Force Awakens copied the original almost to a tee just with new characters, and while I love TFA,  I would compare this movie to Jurassic World. Jurassic Park and Halloween ’78 are classics, everyone loves them. The new sequels brought back iconic elements, paid homage to the classic while still continuing the story. I love both Jurassic World and the new Halloween. They’re not as great as the originals and they know it, they are simply trying to move the story forward in a new modern way.

I’m going to start with the negatives just because there really aren’t a lot. First off, I absolutely think that the “new Loomis” is trash. Waste of time, useless character which never went anywhere. I don’t know why he was included. Fan service I guess? Next is the opening scene, this is a direct sequel so it would only be fair to compare. This new opening scene is not horrible, it’s just odd. The characters in it are not crucial to the story, when you look back at it, you’ll think ‘oh yeah they were in this movie too’. It’s an odd choice for sure. There was also some oddly placed humor. There is a scene with two cops discussing what they got for lunch and it felt like something you would find in a Marvel movie and it works for a Marvel movie but in this movie it’s just oddly placed.

Now for the positives! The opening credits are brilliant, I can’t say more about that though cause minor spoilers. Although that would lead me to the score which is again composed by the legendary John Carpenter. I love how he updated the iconic themes. It’s new, modern and most importantly original. You would think it’s the same soundtrack or most of it, but instead it’s a new original score with pieces of the original here and there. This score is more in tune with the holiday Halloween aspect, it’s creepy and shocking. The original was more disturbing and creepy. I also love how they copied shots from the original and swapped the roles.

This trailers for this movie are a bit misleading. They promise to show you a lot of Laurie and Michael going head to head but the truth is that it literally happens during the last twenty minutes. The teenage granddaughter steals a lot of attention from Laurie. It’s the usual teenage cliches, love triangle, weed, a dance, that type of stuff. The original’s main characters were all teenagers but there weren’t these cliches. I didn’t like how Laurie was put to the side for a lot of the movie.

As far as performances go, most were great. I liked Curtis and Greer a lot, I also liked Matichak, it’s a shame she wasn’t given anything better to work with, although no spoilers but from when she leaves the dance till the end she is great. There is also a specific track from the score which plays over the scene which is amazing. I did not like the father one bit, just a useless, awkward character who is literally there simply for being there. There is a penis joke at the beginning which is bad and he goes with it way too long and it’s just bad. I liked Vicky who babysat the funny kid, she was likeable. Speaking of that kid, he was hilarious and it’s a shame he wasn’t in it for more scenes.

Overall Halloween (2018) is an entertaining and satisfying sequel to it’s predecessor. It’s a fun, fast-paced which provides all the gore and thrills a Halloween fan would expect. It has a satisfying payoff and it most importantly treats the characters of Michael and Laurie right and does them justice. Even though it borrows a lot from the original, it maintains a unique presence by adding the aspect of hereditary trauma.

RATING: B-