365 days later, it's finally here! HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I have been waiting for this all year and
it's finally here, and what better way to celebrate them with a review of the new-released
film
Halloween? So I have to say I'm not the biggest fan of the Halloween franchise. I didn't like
the first film. I did like the second film and it kind of just went on in a similar pattern.
Awfully I don't actually think I've seen the most recent one, apart from this one, but
this film is easily one of my favorites in the franchise because I love the way they've
tackled the
story. So it's directed by David Gordon Green, and Laurie is back with Jamie Lee Curtis to
take on Michael Myers. She has to face him again because these investigative journalists
come
together and say, "You know, we think you could talk to him. We might actually get him
to open up!" And this leads to some - certainly in the beginning - some very interesting treatment
of
Myers. There's something - this is spoiler free - but there is something quite early
on that happens with his mask and I was watching and thinking that's not fair. That's horrible,
you can't
do that! And feeling sorry for the antagonist really messes with the mind and I think they
play on that quite a lot very effectively. Something I loved about this basically from
the
beginning were the intro titles. The intro titles are there just going across the screen
and then we have this pumpkin that goes from being all smushed up and then it goes in reverse
to
being a full pumpkin that's carved and it's all pretty and menacing and wonderful and
I love the way they've done that, going from something destroyed to something reborn and
I just thought
that that is a fantastic little motif there and it gave me chills in all of the best ways.
So the characters obviously for me in the main focus with Laurie and Michael Myers there
were some
teenage characters in this, obviously connected to the family but I did think really we could
have done a lot without you. There were so many characters in this that I thought were
unnecessary and I really wanted to just focus on Laurie and Myers for the most part but
I guess you need to build a bit of story to go around it and have a bit of a B plot to
make it work
but for me Jamie Lee Curtis gave an absolutely incredible performance. Of course she did.
I think I preferred her performance in the remake mainly because you can really see the
revenge and
hatred and sometimes confusion in her eyes. She just completely took this character to
new levels and from a writing perspective I love the way they've developed the character
from what she
was all those Deco decades ago to now and how it's affected her over time and how it's
been sitting festering in her mind. I thought that was done exquisitel. As for Myers, as
I said I felt
sorry of him. Not all the time - there are times when I thought "I hate you. I hope the
worst comes to the worst for you," but as a rule I think the progression of this character
was great.
The treatment was horrific at times; sometimes I felt like he deserved it, sometimes I didn't
and just the way in this particular character really toys with the brain I thought they
nailed
it. They got everything about the characters here, those two characters at least, spot
on. The one thing I found different about this film is the fact that I didn't really
perceive it as a
horror but more of a thriller. I didn't think it was very scary; there was no point where
I kind of was taken aback. There were no real jump scares. I mean there were a couple of
moments
where I kind of thought, "Wow, that was unexpected!" but there was nothing in it that made me scream,
essentially, and so for me it was more of a thriller than a horror. So it was a very
different emotional journey - it was more action than it was fear and that was an interesting
way to approach this story. Of course there were a couple of scary moments but for me
I would
definitely personally categorize it more as a thriller than a horror. We get some glorious
atmospheric music and some gorgeous visual effects. The narrative developed well, those
two
characters were great. Apart from a few little niggles with some of the other characters
I really really thoroughly enjoyed this film and it may be my favorite in the franchise.
As always I
would love to know what you think of the films that I review and that is definitely the case
for Halloween. If you've seen it, let me know. If you're planning on seeing it, let me know.
And
most importantly I hope you have an absolutely fantastic Halloween!