“The Shape” slashes his way back onto the big screen to take revenge on the one that got away 40 years ago.
This year marks the 40-year-anniversary of John Carpenter’s horror classic. The anniversary brings slasher icon Michael Myers back to the silver screen.
“Halloween” (2018) is the eleventh installment of the beloved franchise and works as a direct sequel to the original “Halloween” while retconning the previous sequels.
The original began the trend of “final girl” as Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, escapes death at the hands of psych ward escapee Michael Myers. Curtis reprises her role for “Halloween” (2018), but this time Laurie Strode faces her attacker in hopes of putting a stop to Myers once and for all.
“Halloween” (2018) is kicking horror tropes by having the female lead stand up to her attacker while re-establishing the slasher genre to an era used to seeing movies like “Saw” and “The Conjuring.” While movies are subjective, the slasher genre is the root of horror.
A stalker with intentions to kill watches teenagers from afar before picking them off one by one until a showdown occurs with the lone survivor. Sound familiar? “Psycho” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” may follow the same formula, but “Halloween” has defined the genre for 40 years.
Ranked behind “Psycho,” the original “Halloween” has a 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the second highest rated slasher movie. Personally, I would rank “Halloween” above “Psycho” due to one factor alone––Michael Myers, the famous killer.
Michael Myers, better known as “The Shape,” has terrorized television screens for decades by doing what no slasher movie killer had done before; Myers personally approached his victims. He invaded their privacy by going house to house stalking his prey before attacking during the night. He broke into the victim’s homes and killed them where they felt the safest. Myers is the American nightmare and the fear of common citizens. “A true embodiment of evil,” according to Donald Pleasence’s Dr. Loomis.
“I met him fifteen years ago. I was told there was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding; even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, good or evil, right or wrong,” Loomis said the original film. “I met this six-year-old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face and the blackest eyes… the ‘devil’s’ eyes.”
Michael Myers is a true horror icon and will make his mark in Hollywood once again this October. I think Myers is the ultimate slasher killer due to him being a man with a possible hint of a supernatural embodiment. He is not Freddy Kreuger who can manipulate dreams or Jason Voorhees who is basically a brooding murderous zombie that has returned from the dead a trillion times.
The Blumhouse produced and David Gordon Green directed “Halloween” (2018) brought on “Eastbound and Down” actor, Danny McBride, and Jeff Fradley to co-write the script and brought back familiar faces to capture the magic of the original.
Original “Halloween” director, John Carpenter, returns as a producer and composer for the 2018 sequel. The aforementioned Jamie Lee Curtis is back as Laurie Strode and Michael Myers, Nick Castle signed on to portray “The Shape” one more time.
“Halloween” (2018) has already made waves at the Toronto International Film Festival scoring an 83 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and garnering praise from fans.
“Grabbing the Scream Queen herself [Jamie Lee Curtis] shows what owning a franchise means. [David Gordon Green] pays homage to the 1978 original while still taking risks to reinvent the franchise for a new generation of admirers,” said Clayton Davis from AwardsCircuit.com.
“Halloween” (2018) is the perfect movie to see this October to celebrate All Hallows’ Eve. The combination of Jamie Lee Curtis playing the strong heroine facing her fears and the terrifying Michael Myers will set “Halloween” (2018) apart from other horror movies. Expect to see me in line on Oct. 19, 2018, for the “night he comes home.”