People’s greatest fears are often superficial. If you ask someone what their most significant concern is, it might be something obvious like spiders, snakes, heights, etc. But that often isn’t really what scares them.
“Halloween” takes that idea and runs with it. While films like “The Nun,” “The Conjuring” and other favorite horror flicks focus on the fear relating to visual aspects like jump scares, “Halloween” takes a long, rusty knife and stabs it directly through the pit of your stomach. Twisting it around through the entire movie, blood constantly spews from the open wound.
And relief doesn’t come until the sight of the white credits with the black background. Only until then, does 2018’s rendition of “Halloween” release its grasp on the mind.
Laurie Strode, the main character who dealt with Michael Myers in the past, returns as broken down as you would expect. She has traumatic PTSD from when the masked man killed her family, and she has spent every waking moment hoping, waiting, for the chance to murder Myers in cold blood.
While some people’s life goals are to become a doctor, write a novel or start a family, Strode’s goal is vastly darker. Instead of the memory of walking a stage or receiving a diploma for years of hard work, she wants to hold a cold and lifeless body with red blood splattered.
That being said, David Gordon Green, Danny McBride and Jeff Fradley did an immaculate job at character development. Flaws are apparent and relatable, as well as offering a glimpse into ourselves and our fears. A reason why “Halloween” is as scary as it is the personification of the characters makes it seem mightily realistic. “IT,” a movie where the fear was shared amongst a hundred strangers feeling the same mesmerizing emotions, capitalized on this as well.
Good horror movies start and end with strong characters. Strode is almost an anti-hero concerning her flaws, but the pity and anxiety of dealing with the same mental problems in a viewer’s own life are bone-chilling. Not to mention Jamie Lee Curtis is excellent in her depressed and anxious rendition of the newly incorporated character. Finally, making the main character strong, willing to fight and a survivor is another reason why audiences should fall in love with Strode and fear every corner.
“Halloween” is a direct sequel from the original, taking place years later. You can forget the other disgustingly bad sequels in the series that do the holiday horror classic no justice. The other movies are laughable at best, offer no Twilight Zone-esque chills and fears.
It may not be on the level of some great films to come out this year like “A Star is Born,” or “Sorry to Bother You,” but it is immersive nonetheless.
With the anticipation of a masked murderer slowly stalking around the corner with a blood spoiled knife in hand, the suspense lays around the movie like sand in the desert. It is well written; there are minimal amounts of plot holes that plague the story. The storyline could’ve been better, and there are moments in the movie that lost me. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it does not in the least bit take away from the scariness of the film.
“Halloween” is a sequel that the open-ended movie deserved. The other renditions were all corny attempts to recapture the original, but the latest does a much better job. It by no means is the perfect movie, with irregularities scattered around, but it still shakes viewers to the core.
The sound of the original score sends shivers down the spine and hairs on the backs of necks tingle. The slow-walking suspense kept people on the edges of seats and returned the adolescent fear of shadows into the subconscious minds of all that watched.
“Halloween” isn’t quite up to the standards of last year’s hit, “IT,” but it is just as terrifying and equally as sinister. It is a must watch for the fan of the fearful.
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