Director: David Gordon Green
Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, Virginia Gardner
Screenplay: Jeff Fradley, Danny McBride, David Gordon Green
106 mins. Rated R for horror violence and bloody images, language, brief drug use and nudity.

Well, we’ve reached the end of another October, the end of another year of 31 Days of Horror, and we close out, as we always do, with a Halloween film. I’ve been doing this so long that the film we’re talking about hadn’t even come out when I started this tradition. This is the third time we’re covering a movie just called Halloween, so let’s look at the latest retcon in one of the most convoluted horror timelines in history.

It’s been 40 years since that fateful Halloween where Michael Myers escaped from Smith’s Grove and slaughtered 5 people, including several teens. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once) survived that night, but she never quite recovered. Now, she’s a recluse, with distant relations to her daughter and granddaughter, preparing for the day when Michael Myers would escape once again, hoping to get her chance to kill him.

I was very critical of the decision made by David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express) to retcon away all the sequels of the Halloween franchise and make this film a direct sequel to the original. I recognize that, perhaps only after The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Halloween has the most confusing timeline of events in horror history, with minor retcons and adjustments made by filmmakers over the decades, including a flat-out remake with its own sequel. Even so, it always felt like a disservice and a cop-out to fans and viewers who have invested time, energy, and love in these characters. I would’ve preferred a completely new timeline with Michael Myers hunting babysitters on Halloween night or a new sequel that encompassed everything. Given my reservations, though, I was still very excited to see this new take, as it had been close to a decade since the last time I saw a new Halloween movie in theaters, and the other two titans, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees, had vanished from the big screen entirely.

Even though I don’t like the initial nugget of the retcon, I do have to admit that the finished film is damn entertaining and very well-crafted. The cinematography feels like a natural continuance and evolution of Carpenter’s classic, with more than a few gorgeously captured moments of terror, like Michael’s stroll through Haddonfield’s streets or the sequence where Laurie Strode is trying to see if Michael is hiding amongst several bullet-riddled mannequins in a dark room. I also liked the characterization of Laurie as a woman who has become a recluse in her own town and family, effectively becoming a legend of Haddonfield’s residents. The screenplay defines her nicely and also develops her extended family, most notably with granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak, Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List). Matichak plays Allyson excellently, having this love for a woman that defies all the baggage that comes with and yet always trying to challenge her back into the light.

I don’t think enough people talk about the town of Haddonfield in David Gordon Green’s trilogy, but I think it’s the best version of the town that’s ever been put to this franchise. Haddonfield feels like a lived-in town in these films, a town with a rich history both defined by that Halloween forty years back but also a place that doesn’t live in the shadow of those events…until Halloween. It becomes more apparent as the trilogy goes on, but Halloween 2018 sets up Haddonfield nicely with a bevy of characters and potential victims for Michael Myers to play with.

The Halloween franchise looms large over this movie, even without any of those sequels in the canon, and it’s hard for Halloween 2018 to escape that shadow. For a movie that removes every previous sequel, it’s strange how often the screenplay and storytelling choices cling to them for comfort. There are moments scattered throughout the film that seem to homage other Halloween films, but all it did was take me out of the current narrative to remind me a former narrative. I could tell that David Gordon Green and Danny McBride both really love the series, and their vision necessitates removing the familial bond between Laurie Strode and Michael Myers, but they are a little too precious about showing that love instead of pioneering their vision into a distinct and new direction.

I’m also not too keen on a narrative choice given to the “New Loomis,” Dr. Sartain. His inclusion seems like a narrative necessity given the loss of Donald Pleasance, but he’s far too similarly written, and his character arc didn’t feel natural to the writing. I see why he’s in the film, but I think there was a better way to connect several story points in the film.

Halloween 2018 is ruthless, with a meaner-than-ever Michael Myers and an inherited dread along with some incredible performances for the eleventh installment of a long-running franchise. While I still don’t agree with the extended retcon, this is still a wonderfully tense and occasionally funny sequel that is exciting all the way through. While his time with the franchise isn’t perfect, I think David Gordon Green does a terrific job reigniting the Halloween franchise here.

4/5
-Kyle A. Goethe

• For my review of John Carpenter’s Halloween, click here.
• For my review of David Gordon Green’s Halloween Ends, click here.
• For my review of David Gordon Green’s Pineapple Express, click here.
• For my review of David Gordon Green’s Your Highness, click here.