Halloween (2018) – Film Review

As for someone who has never seen any of the Halloween film’s in the franchise this was an interesting experience in this modern age of horror. With the past 10 years horror has evolved to be more sophisticated and less gore and silly jump-scares. In this entry which erases all but the first film it does a lot to stay in the modern tone but does more than I thought it would. This film ha a bit more gore than I expected. This one also feels very small in scale and personal which I appreciated.

I liked how it the script was written to make Michael a generational problem than just Laurie Stroder’s. The trauma that Michael caused Laurie shows in her character with all the actions she took to not only prepare her daughter — but scare away her whole family to point they think she is crazy. I would say this is definitely a film that uses it’s time period of the “#MeToo” era by showcasing how women and people who have been victimized to take the power back and have ownership of their own pain.

Happy Halloween, Michael.

The problems I had with the film mainly revolved around the level of gruesomeness that the film goes in order to make a kill on screen. I felt if they had dialed back a couple of the kills on screen I wouldn’t have such an issue with it. I just hope this doesn’t rub off the wrong idea to make horror a gore-fest again. It is all in the atmosphere and tension between the two characters. I do think that horror should have a level of blood spatter and kills, but there comes to a point where it looks unrealistic and exacerbated.

The film is a definite recommend and a good one to cycle through in the Halloween movie options. I feel that Laurie’s story has been told but her granddaughter it is just beginning. She had a great performance and I liked how she evolved into being very much like Jamie Lee, the original scream queen.

7.5/10