I don't know why this film was re-titled "Halloween," because it should not be confused, nor should it, with the original 1978, John Carpenter masterpiece. At the very least, it should have been called "Halloween-2018!" Or even "Halloween--40 Years Later!"
My personal choice, though, would have been "Granny Get Your Gun!"
Not since Ethel Merman on stage, or Betty Hutton, on film, has there been one pistol packin' Mama, like Jamie Lee Curtis, as Laurie Strode. Now a grandmother, her adult daughter is played by Judy Greer, so good as Miss Desjardin, in the recent "Carrie" movie, and a surprisingly ancient looking Will Patton, as the sheriff. There is even a cameo vocal, by original cast member P.J. Soles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But don't mistake this film for art! It is a hoot!
The thing I wanted to learn from this film is--how did Laurie Strode, who was born Laurie Myers, come to be taken in by the Strodes??????? Parental abandonment? Protection--thinking that hiding her with another family would keep her from Michael?
Only I would question this. What everyone else, I am sure, wants to know, is whether or not Michael Myers is really dead!
My answer is--probably not! And that is judging not only by the film's grosses, but how my neighborhood theater jettisoned the screening of "A Star Is Born" I wanted to see, for this hoot of a film!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The best moments are Jamie and Michael going at each other. I am glad, in the beginning, (a wonderfully staged scene, on a checkerboard floor, reminiscent of a macabre Lewis Carroll!) there is a glimpse of Michael Myers real face, showing, like Laurie, that he has aged! Because, before I saw this, the trailer led me to ask--how come Laurie has aged, but not Michael? Which would explain his "bogeyman" status, though they keep calling him a human in the film. Personally, I think the doctor who wanted to study Michael, Dr. Sartain (Haluk Bilginer) is more deranged than Michael. Doc is wacko; Michael just wants to do his thing!
It is why Michael wants to do his thing that makes him dangerous. He is a sexual psychopath. He is neither straight, gay, nor bi! He has a pathological hatred of sex, which started, as far this post is concerned, back on Halloween, 1978, when these impulses first kicked in, and he killed his tramp of a sister, Judith! Sex disgusts him; in a sense, he is puritanical run rampant!!!!!!!!!! An equal opportunity moralizer, who just happens to murder! And that he murders the most hormonally charged among us--youth--proves my point. Oh, he murders others who get in his way; no denying. But his main reason for killing is out of a pathological hatred of sex!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
With Laurie living in isolation, a replicated dollhouse in the place, it s clear the writing staff was also watching "Sharp Objects," and wanted to give a nod to it. The conflagration at the end, which presumably kills Michael Myers, reminded me of the burning windmill at the close of Universal's 1931 "Frankenstein."
It should be recalled--the monster there did not stay dead. Much as I don't wish it, I don't think the screen has seen the last of Michael. But I think Jamie is done!
She is the reason to see the whole thing. To coin a phrase, made famous by Pauline Kael, "Kiss! Kiss! Bang! Bang!"
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