I've loved John Carpenter's "Halloween" my whole life. It feels like home to me, trick-or-treating, eating candy, telling ghost stories with friends, and being afraid of what lurks in the shadows. That movie is the essence of Halloween to me. I like most of the sequels, I even like the remake, and when I heard about this new, revamped version, I was excited to watch it, too. I'm hoping it captures at least some of the magic of the original movie. Michael Myers is and will always be the boogeyman, after all.
In this movie, it's been 40 years since Laurie Strode survived the vicious Massacre on Halloween night, where Michael Myers killed all her friends and almost killed her too. Laurie Strode still has scars from that attack long ago, both physical and emotional. She's had a rough life, a few divorces, lost custody of her daughter, has a rocky relationship with her granddaughter. Her life is kind of a mess, but at least she's alive. Unfortunately, Michael Myers, who has been in a catatonic state in an institution since the murders, but when a patient transfer goes haywire, Michael escapes, and he's on his way to finish Laurie once and for all. Little does he know, she's expecting him and she has her own plans to send him to hell once and for all.
I'm going to sound like the hugest nerd in the world, but I loved the opening credits of this movie. That haunting theme music, the smashed jack-o-lantern slowly regenerating itself, seeing the actors I was excited to watch in the movie ahead (Jamie Lee Curtis of course, and Judy Greer too! I love her! She plays Laurie'sdaughter Karen) That definitely put me in the mood to watch the movie. This movie pretends none of the sequels happened, and it's just picking up after the events of the first movie, so the confusing, twisty timeline is simplified. I like how one teenager asks another if Laurie Strode was Michael Myers ' sister and she sarcastically replies "no, someone made that up." HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Good one.
I kinda feel bad for Laurie Strode in this movie. I'm sure that she's annoying with her constant fear of the boogeyman, and Judy Greer plays her long-suffering daughter who's sick of her mom's alcoholism and general fear of the world, and I empathize, but I still feel bad for Laurie. If you think about it and someone killed all your friends when you were a teenager and you saw him get stabbed, shot, and fall out of a second story window, you'd be messed up too. I would be terrified of a killer who seemingly can't be killed. Yeah, living your life in fear is a bad idea, but still, I can empathize.
There are some great scenes in this movie. There's a stalk and slash sequence in a bathroom that rocks, there's a great part where Laurie's granddaughters friend is babysitting and Michael has other bloody plans. I love everything about this scene. The babysitter's fun banter with the kid she's babysitting reminds me of Laurie and Tommy's in the original movie, and it made me connect with the character, which was nice (though I'm kinda pissed...if a kid says there's a man in his room and you promise to look but you don't even bother to look in the closet, you're a dumbass).
It's cool to see the role reversals in this movie. In the original, Laurie was the shy, quiet girl who loved babysitting, but in this movie, her granddaughter is the one out partying while her friend stays in and babysits. Karen may have hated her mom's fear and paranoia growing up, but when her own daughter Allison is missing, she's the one losing her mind and screaming at cops while her mom has to calm her down. And no one can replace Donald Pleasance, but Haluk Biligner, who plays Michael's psychiatrist in this movie, comes pretty close. His voice sounds so much like Donald Pleasance that I had to do a double take more than once. Plus his character is great in this movie too. I love that twisted obsession he has with Michael Myers (very reminiscent of Dr. Loomis). The scenes of Michael stalking the streets of a small town are great, the final home invasion showdown is cool (I love that nod to the original where Michael falls off the roof then you look back and he's gone...apparently he's not the only one with that ability) and overall I just really enjoyed this movie. Happy Halloween!
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