Forty years sure does fly by. Director David Gordon Green and co-writer Danny McBride shape Michael Myers back into the terrifying evil he once was in their rebooted Halloween. Shrug off all sequels as this one is a direct follow-up to the groundbreaking original. It’s going back to basics on what made us so scared of the mysterious Myers so long ago.
Green and McBride’s love for John Carpenter’s classic leads to a few memorable throwbacks to the 1978 film, yet there are a lot that makes this one more of the same instead of creatively different. Even so, one thing that’s absolutely changed is Laurie Strode. The original scream queen herself, Jamie Lee Curtis, is spectacular as Strode – the hunted has become the hunter.
Over the past four decades, Myers has been locked up, never saying a word. Taking over for his mentor Dr. Loomis, Dr. Sartain (Haluk Bilginer) needs to know why Myers kills. “What does he get out of it?” is the question that eats at him. To make this slasher feel hip, two foreign podcasters (Rhian Rees and Jefferson Hall) are thrown in the mix to bring the old killing spree in Haddonfield, IL back to the limelight. They have no idea who they are messing with.
As the one that got away, Laurie has been waiting and planning for when the Bogeyman comes back to finish the job. Curtis digs deep in to the character that made her famous before she turned 20 years old. A helpless babysitter no more. As a survivor, she lives in paranoia, loss and regret – the damage has been done. PTSD has made Laurie a reclusive mother/grandmother, and while she will never be a victim again – it’s cost her everything. Her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) want her to get a grip, but as long as they’re safe, Laurie can live with her decisions.
What Laurie always knew would happen finally does. During a transfer, a bus wrecks and Myers is heading to one place and one place only. Some things never change. He makes himself at home in the most violent way possible. This Halloween is brought back for Laurie and Myers to meet face-to-face, and we aren’t disappointed. The Strode family bringing down their predator is a feminist fable where #TimesUp for the pure evil that’s haunted them for as long as they can remember. Their trauma hopefully dies with the monster who caused it.
Fans of Halloween will undoubtedly enjoy what they see. It’s fueled by fear with Curtis commanding the screen, displaying what a victim looks like who’s left to learn how to live again. Green has taken Carpenter’s creation and given us an energized, if familiar, imitation. However, reeling back the moral message for gore and foolish choices water-downs a timely theme of women finding their voice and fighting back. Our need for nostalgia is fulfilled, but where it should be most effective – it only makes a scratch.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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