The Halloween series can be a confusing one. With four separate timelines to try and keep track of across now eleven movies. I can't blame the filmmakers of the latest installment for wanting to hit the reset button hard and take things back to basics. For Halloween 2018, it is just the original John Carpenter classic and this sequel, taking place 40 years later. As for how this one turned out, to put it simply it isn't just the best Halloween sequel, it just might be the best Halloween movie.
Laurie Strode (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) was left deeply traumatized by her experiences with Michael Myers on Halloween night 40 years ago that left three of her friends dead. Ever since then, she has dedicated her life to learning how to protect herself and her loved ones. This dedication, more obsession, has cost her two marriages and a healthy relationship with her daughter, Karen (played by Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (played by Andi Matichak). Meanwhile, two podcasters, Aaron Korey (played by Jefferson Hall) and Dana Haines (played by Rhian Rees) are investigating the Halloween murders that occurred in the first film and visit Michael Myers (played by Nick Castle) as he resides in Smith's Grove sanitarium. They present him with the mask he wore that night and try to get him to speak. Getting nothing, they depart and meet with Laurie Strode, who is less than cordial to them. That night, Michael is being transported to another mental hospital when the bus crashes and Michael escapes. Knowing that Michael is going to head back to Haddonfield, Laurie leaps into action with only one objective in mind, protect her family and put Michael Myers down once and for all.
The film is directed by David Gordon Green from a script he co-wrote with Danny McBride and Jeff Fradley. The three of them managed to craft a worthy follow-up to the original film. They take their time in setting up the characters and letting the audience get to know them and their relationships so that when things do descend into chaos in the second half, there are the emotional stakes there to make the payoff that much more meaningful, while also working in some surprises I didn't see coming. There is also an interesting duality between this film and the 1978 original, with specific moments from the original film recalled, but with Laurie in the place of Michael, symbolically suggesting Laurie has become just as much a predator in the last 40 years as Michael has, yet not going so far as to suggest she is a monster like him, more a worthy adversary. In the process, the decision was made to discard all of the sequels, even Halloween II, and all the baggage that came with them. Honestly, after seeing the film I have to agree that this was the best decision. The first sequel had a curious revelation that Michael and Laurie were brother and sister in a plot twist that never totally made sense. By discarding that, along with the ending to that movie where Michael basically gets burned alive and by all logic should be very, very dead, Michael is free to be the random serial killer he was originally envisioned as and that is when he was always the scariest. Green sets up one long tracking shot as Michael goes from one house to another, murdering the occupants of each house and it is deeply frightening. That said, the film contains little homages to each of the sequels, even Halloween III: Season of the Witch, as little Easter Eggs for fans such as myself. This film is clearly made with the love of three fans of the original film, as well as the series as a whole while crafting their own film full of it's own surprises at the same time. John Carpenter even makes his long awaited return to the series as both an executive producer and perhaps even more importantly crafts the score for the film, filled with both the same themes we know from the original film alongside some brand new ones.
Jamie Lee Curtis is nothing short of stunning in this movie, playing Laurie as a woman who is barely keeping it together mentally. She has struggled with alcohol and her hyper-vigilant nature has cost her nearly every relationship she has had in her life. It really shows the toll of her untreated deep psychological trauma from that night 40 years ago has had on her. It has cost her a meaningful relationship with her daughter, Karen, who Laurie raised to be the same as her, in the middle of nowhere outside Haddonfield, until Karen finally rejected it and was taken away from her by Social Services. Her granddaughter Allyson tries her best to mend the relationship, but even she can see the toll Laurie's lifestyle has had on her. All of this is brought to life by Curtis in a performance I actually found deeply emotional. Likewise, Judy Greer is equally great as Karen and her scenes with Jamie Lee Curtis are fantastic. Greer is an actress who I have quickly become a fan of and is equally adept at both drama and comedy but here is definitely stretching her dramatic acting muscles. I also really liked Andi Matichak as Allyson, whose character is stuck navigating the gulf between her mother and grandmother with their estrangement of sorts. She's a really great character and Matichak plays it wonderfully. I also have to call out Jibrail Nantambu as Julian, the little boy one of Allyson's friends is babysitting in the film. This little dude manages to steal every one of his scenes and adds some much needed humor to an otherwise tense and suspenseful flick.
Halloween 2018 is a worthy follow-up to the original made by people who understand what made the original film so great and then revisiting the characters from that film 40 years down the road and seeing where they are. A lot of care went into this film in it's plotting and it shows. I can honestly say, as a fan of the series as a whole (minus the Rob Zombie remakes though), that this is the best of the sequels. Is it better than the original? That's probably up for debate, but it is neck and neck. It's a movie I have been anxiously awaiting ever since it was announced and to summarize it all, it was worth the wait.
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