Halloween (2018)

Laurie Strode confronts her long-time foe Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago.

REVIEW: As a huge fan of the Halloween franchise since I first started getting into horror in the late 90s, I was looking forward to this revival movie. Sure, I may find the Nightmare on Elm Street movies and Friday the 13th movies more 'fun', but Halloween was always my personal favorite horror franchise as a teen. I knew I wasn't going to be overly disappointed because, quite simply, even with a worst-case scenario there was no way it could be as bad as some of the worst entries in the series previously (Halloween: Resurrection and Rob Zombie's Halloween II), and even those ones I managed to find some redeeming qualities.

Luckily I loved the hell out of this. No, it's not perfect. I do have a handful of issues with it, although only one is a major issue (and it's a spoiler), the rest are just minor nitpicks (all the random coincidences that just so happen to come together in unbelievable ways, a couple things dealing with the very ending, and the fact that when it comes to the Laurie/Michael reunion it seems like all the recognition is solely from Laurie's side - Michael doesn't even seem to know who the hell she is other than just some other random annoying potential victim).

But it does so so much right. The performances, the music, the death scenes, Michael himself and his iconic mask (which some of the sequels can't seem to get right). In addition the pace of the movie is perfect, it never slows down into a boring lull nor does it move by too fast that you can't register what's happening. This is also, IMO, Jamie Lee Curtis' best performance in anything to date (the diner scene, sitting outside the institution, the final showdown - all goosebumps-inducing performances from her.

I do wish it had not retconned all the sequels though, or at the very least included the second movie. I think by removing the brother/sister aspect between Laurie and Michael it also removed a bit of the 'oomf' from the whole affair and especially the eventual confrontation between them, but like I said, that's only a minor nitpick.

As far as Halloween sequels go, this new one is damn near the top of the list.

8/10 rooms in the Psych Ward