Back-Slash \ The Return of Michael Myers

A review of David Gordon Green’s Halloween by Pallavi Bollapragada, Isa Eugenio and Kimia Faroughi

40 years ago, the movie Halloween (1978) slashed into theaters and took the horror movie genre to a new level. Just recently, on October 19, Halloween (2018) was released by Blumhouse Pictures, becoming the eleventh installment in the Halloween movie series and a direct sequel to the 1978 movie. Considering that John Carpenter’s original Halloween is praised to be one of the greatest slasher films of all time, it is fitting that the movie series finally has a worthy successor.

The original Halloween is about a serial killer named Michael Myers who, having murdered his sister as a child, was committed to a sanitarium, only to break out fifteen years later and go around killing people on Halloween night. His primary targets were teenage babysitters including a young girl named Laurie Strode. By the end of the movie, it is implied that Myers did not actually die, allowing the film to expand into a series that detailed a path of corpses left by the famous serial killer. However, Halloween (2018), adopting the same title as the 1978 film, forgoes many of the developments included in the subsequent Halloween films of the franchise.

The new Halloween follows Laurie exactly 40 years after the fateful October 31 night on which Myers went after her; however, this time around, the lives of Laurie’s daughter, Karen, and granddaughter, Allyson, are now at stake. The film examines the trauma that Laurie feels from her experience in the 1978 film and how it has prepared her for her final confrontation with Myers in this film, along with how it has affected her relationship with her daughter and granddaughter.

While adopting many of the same elements of the original Halloween movie, as well as including many new components, the film culminates in Laurie finally defeating Michael Myers. At the end of the movie, there is the implication that Myers is still alive, leaving the film open-ended.

Jamie Lee Curtis and Nick Castle reprise their 1978 roles as Laurie and Myers. It also stars Judy Greer as Karen, and Andi Matichak as Allyson. The film is directed by David Gordon Green, who is known for dramas like Prince Avalanche (2013) and George Washington (2000). Green’s past work is evident in Halloween (2018), as the movie focuses on Laurie’s struggle to reconnect with her family.

Overall, this new iteration of Halloween functioned extremely well as a horror movie, in that it left the audience feeling scared; in fact, it is far more suspenseful and terrifying than the original. However, the technology and advancements in movie making are far different than what existed in 1978, so it is difficult to compare the two in this way. This is why when people call the 1978 Halloween one of the scariest horror movies of all time, it may not necessarily live up to this title today.

The 2018 film contains many references to its predecessor. One such reference is Myers’s means of escape, as in both movies Myers gains freedom because his transport tips over and an unsuspecting passerby–in the 1978 film, a nurse traveling with Myers’s doctor, Samuel Loomis, and in the 2018 film, a young boy out hunting with his father–leave their car to investigate.

Myers’s murders are also similar between the films, as he recreates pinning Bob, Laurie’s friend’s boyfriend, against the wall with a knife; he does the same to Dave, the boyfriend of the 2018 film’s babysitter, Vicky. In fact, babysitters are also a common thread between both Halloweens.

One of the last, and perhaps more iconic, Easter eggs of the 2018 film is during the fight between Laurie and Myers. At the end of the original film, Laurie manages to shove Myers out of a second-story window. In one scene, Myers is lying on the ground. And when the camera cuts away then returns to the yard outside the house, Myers is gone. The sequel reverses this–as it does with many other scenes from the original film–and makes Laurie the one to disappear mysteriously.

While there are many similarities and references to the 1978 version, Halloween (2018)also steers away from the original, especially by focusing on the impact that Michael Myers had on Laurie and her family. Throughout the movie, there are moments where Laurie and Karen describe how the trauma of the events 40 years ago broke apart their family. For example, Karen talks about how she was never able to recover from the paranoia that her mother instilled in her by discussing Michael Myers and even teaching her how to shoot a gun at a young age.

Laurie’s trauma is readily apparent after all these years as she continues shooting practice and installs traps in her house. Curtis has referred to the #MeToo movement, drawing similarities between her character and the strong women who came out and discussed the trauma they experienced. Curtis also commented on how the new Halloween shows the relief from trauma Laurie feels is similar to those experienced by the #MeToo women. In fact, he suffering that Laurie undergoes sets up the storyline in which she wants to get revenge on Myers, which adds another dimension to the plot and her character–one that is not as apparent in the first movie.

The differences between Halloween and the original certainly added more to Michael Myers’s character arc, and the thrill and relevance of the movie make it a good sequel to a classic horror movie. Through eleven installments, the Halloween franchise has finally re-captured the essence of the first film.