A terrific slasher film deserves a terrific sequel, and while Halloween II was a perfectly good movie in its own right, John Carpenter, the saint that he is, took it upon himself to give us another movie in the Halloween franchise that would tell a better story for our beloved and horrifying characters. In 2018, 40 years after the original film of the same name, Carpenter gave us Halloween, a movie that serves as an alternate sequel to the events of the first movie.
I love the idea of creators returning to old projects and giving them a new direction, and that is exactly what Halloween 2018 does. Think of the Halloween franchise as having two timelines: one begins with the 1981 sequel Halloween II and all consequent sequels, and the other consisting of the 2018 follow-up. In this, Laurie Strode (a role reprised by the god-queen of horror, Jamie Lee Curtis) has devoted her life to protecting herself and her family from the return of Michael Myers after escaping his rampage in 1978. Michael, on the other hand, has seemingly been chilling in a psychiatric prison without uttering a single word or dishing out a single kill. On the 40th anniversary of that night, however, everything changes, and Laurie must gather her estranged family for one last stand against the monster who hunts her.
Halloween 2018 does a terrific job paying homage to the horror of the past while establishing itself as a new breed of slasher. Michael is as badass as ever, dealing out terrific kills and racking up a death count that far exceeds his first rampage. We also get the chance to see how the trauma from a slasher hunt can affect people long-term as we watch Laurie deal with the paranoia, anxiety, and obsession that comes from surviving a monster. The movie does some great role reversal throughout the story, and it is brimming with beautiful John Carpenter cinematography that any classic horror fan will love. While there will always be a place in my heart for the original Halloween sequels, especially 4 and 5, I must admit that Halloween 2018 offers a more immersive and innovative new chapter to the one of the OG slasher films that started it all.
Join me tonight for a relatively new slasher with a unique twist. We’re watching Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon for the next entry of Slasher Week!
