halloween
DIRECTOR: David Gordon Green (pineapple express, our brand is crisis)
STARRING: jamie lee curtis, judi greer, andi matichak, and will paton
REVIEWER: lyall carter
★★★
It's been 40 years since Laurie Strode survived a vicious attack from crazed killer Michael Myers on Halloween night. Locked up in an institution, Myers manages to escape when his bus transfer goes horribly wrong. Laurie now faces a terrifying showdown when the masked madman returns to Haddonfield, Ill. - but this time, she's ready for him.
I hate horrors. Not necessarily because of the content but because they make me jump and being a big 6 foot 2 dude if I jump in a cinema I get noticed.
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While we're in the old confession mode I haven't seen the original 1978 Halloween film although I did recognise the piano theme tune that filtered through the film intermittently and know the Michael Myers bogeyman mask as well. Halloween is a decent enough horror with a few scares and nostalgia thrown in for good measure.
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Its been 40 years since Michael Myers went on his murderous rampage, killing people at the height of halloween. Due to a serious of unfortunate events Michael escapes his incarnation and begins to kill everything in his path. But his escape is leading him smack bang into the path of Laurie Strode who survived his vicious attacks forty years earlier. But this time, she's had forty years to prepare.
Now Halloween is not Get Out or A Quiet Place; it was never going to re-imagine the horror genre or really bring anything new. What it does bring is some really good jump scares (some you see coming and jump anyway), heart racing suspense, and people doing really stupid things. I realise you're drunk but the scary dude in a mask clearly has a REAL knife. Why are you stopping to talk to him???!!!
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Jamie Lee Curtis is a wide eyed, recluse and plays the part of traumatised victim brilliantly. To see her extract her forty year planned vengeance is a thing of beauty.
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Halloween is a decent enough horror with a few scares and nostalgia thrown in for good measure.
★★★
Halloween is available on DVD, Blu-ray, 4KHUD, and digital from all good disc and digital retailers.
BLU-RAY EXTRAS
★★★
Halloween has five extra documentaries and a bunch of deleted/extended scenes. Unlike the extras on DVD's of years gone by, these documentaries are under 10 minutes long which unfortunately leaves you wanting more.
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The best of the bunch is The Sound of Fear where John Carpenter shows how he composed the simple, terrifying, and iconic theme of the original Halloween. We're also shown how the film makers used the original theme as a base upon which to create the new score.
