Halloween
Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Nick Castle
Director: David Gordon Green
John Carpenter’s 1978 classic Halloween is probably the film most responsible in setting the benchmark for slasher movies. The absolute merciless thriller subsequently gave birth to a slew of sequels as well as inspired countless other films but none of them, honestly at any point, came close to the original.
40 years later, director David Gordon Green attempts to provide some kind of closure for fans of the popular film. There are definitely some discrepancies in the overall narrative of the new movie, but Green seemingly closes the chapter on the franchise in moderately satisfying way in comparison with the previous sequels that achieved no heights in terms of contributing to the sub-genre of horror.
After 40 years in a mental asylum, Halloween masked maniac Michael Myers (Nick Castle) returns to Haddonfield, the same town where he murdered his the-then 15-year-old sister Judith Myers with a large kitchen knife at the age of six.
This time, however, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) — the sole survivor of Myers’ 1978 killing spree on Halloween night-- is ready for her final face-off with him, even as she says, “I’ve prayed every night he would escape so that I could kill him.” She’s had enough living her life in fear for decades and now she is determined to get revenge.
Carpenter’s Halloween had many organic aspects to it that made it a cut above the rest. The plot was simple yet effective and, of course, spooky. In Green’s film, things are advanced, thanks to technology. We can see eyeballs popping 5-inches out of the skulls, knife slicing heads off and other gruesome scenes. I distinctly remember there was barely any bloodshed in Carpenter’s small-budgeted Halloween yet the murders looked more brutal and terrifying.
It's pretty easy to film ghastly scenes of violence on the celluloid, but it's hard to conceptualise them well, perhaps which is why Carpenter’s Halloween has remained untouched so far. Though Green tries his best to keep the setting of the film as original and real as possible, he fails to keep the tension and suspense of the narrative alive throughout.
But credit must be given to the background score and the film’s cast that has made some honest effort to really panic us. Jamie Lee Curtis’ terrorising performance accelerates the otherwise tedious horror-thriller. Unlike Carpenter, Green decides to let us get a complete look at Myers, of course in a mask, which unfortunately minimises the terror he had in the original. But his presence definitely haunts you.
Overall, Green’s film fails to capture the magic of the original but does give a subtle tribute to the efforts put in by Carpenter to popularise the genre decades ago.
Rating: 3/5
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