Halloween (2018) - Review

Release Date: October 19, 2018​​​​​

Not Spooky or Scary

A sequel to a movie that came out in 1978 seems like Hollywood running out of ideas. But the horror legend needed to remind everyone of the thing they missed the most, the theme song. You can give a guy a white mask and knife, but it's the iconic song that filled the theater. Halloween (2018) had people ready for the holiday scares to return. A horror story back from the dead in its strongest incarnation yet. The trailers and promotion for the movie set the mood for the coming scarefest at a theater near you.

The ad campaign worked on me. I don't like horror movies and I was worried to go see this one. Reluctant to get my pants scared off, I held off on watching the movie, but now regret that decision. Halloween (2018) is probably one of the best examples of a rebooted franchise that introduces a new generation without sidelining what everyone came to see. Instead of Indian Jones's kid putting on the iconic hat at the end of the movie, the main characters ride away in the bed of a pickup truck together. The movie understands why you came to see it and tries its hardest to give it to you.

The one area where Halloween (2018) fails tremendously is in the horror department; it plays more like a limited action movie rather than a slasher film. This isn’t to say Michael Myers does not murder a lot of people in the movie, but the murders lack tension making each death feel like a popcorn moment. The movie makes a point to reference the first film where Michael kills five people; in the current movie, he kills at least double that amount to little fanfare. The majority of his victims are unimportant, random extras that elicit no reaction from the audience. When he finally threatens the main characters, I believed they were not in any real danger.

Other than the lack of tension and overall scariness, the movie is a mixed bag. There were plenty of well framed shots that made great use of lighting and some really great ideas in the movie that made it shine. However, those moments were weighed down by dialogue that felt dated and cliche relationships that Hollywood should have left behind.

Halloween (2018) wasn’t the scary movie I paid to see and it suffered for it. People wanted to be scared on a trip down nostalgia lane and good lighting won’t change their minds. If you really need to see a scary movie for Halloween, this might not scratch that itch. There is nothing that makes this movie a must see in theaters, though it’ll make a perfect rental down the road if you want to hear that theme song again.

6/10
That theme song though