Halloween fans have been waiting for the moment.. John Carpenter retiring to assist in the re-creation, re-direction, re-imaging of the original 1978 classic 40 years later. Finally, it is being released in box offices nationwide. A few early releases occurred last night.
In estimates Friday morning, Universal/Miramax/Blumhouse’s Halloween is being projected by our industry sources at around $10M, which arguably is the second-best preview night for a horror pic after New Line’s It banked $13.5M from 3,500 theaters on Sept 7, 2017.
And being that I am not from an elite crowd of reporters or paid reviewers, I had to wait for the early showings Thursday evening.
….without further ado, spoilers included, my thoughts on HALLOWEEN 40.
Quite frankly.. they should have left it just be.
First the two main positive takeaways from the film: The soundtrack was amazing. John Carpenter’s modernized versions of the sounds of Halloween’s score was dynamic and at times an homage to the past coupled with breathtaking synthesized sounds of the modern era. It is not to be dismissed.. On a scale of ten, the soundtrack is a ten–the movie not so much.
The other part of the film that I absolutely positive adored and loved was the opening credit roll .. (NOT THE OPENING SCENE, we will get there in one minute) ..The opening credits featured the piano version of the Halloween theme blasting in stereo across the theater with a lifeless smashed pumpkin slowly coming back to shape — almost a metaphor that the “Shape” is rising again. Halloween fans will most assuredly love that they began the film the same way the original began, with the pumpkin and music. It created an immediate eerie feel in the theater.. people’s tension, watching the credits roll with that classic song in forcing itself into their heads like a freight train, was palpable.
This movie, it would seem, was going to be something.
And something it sure was.
I gave the soundtrack a ten out of ten earlier.
I will give the movie a 2 out of 10. It would have been a 1 if it wasn’t for Jamie Lee Curtis’ performance.
The movie’s premise opens with this: Podcasters somehow were able to snatch the original Shatner mask away from their “friends at the attorney general’s office” .. The unlikely leak only goes further as the newer doctor who takes over for Loomis allow the podcasters to enter the grounds of Smiths Grove to interview Michael Myers. He allows them to hold up the mask to him..he allows them to rile up the entire set of patients who are chained to the concrete ground. The scene was ridiculous … the plot line of podcasters snatching the mask was actually just stupid for me, for the lack of a better word.
We travel now to the world of Laure Strode. She suffers from the trauma of 1978. She has also built a fortress and collected guns in order to battle Myers when he comes back — she lived her life knowing he would apparently.
Her family is a wreck with mental strife.. the clear indications of PTSD are evident. Her performance in the film was formidable. She was good. She was the only piece of acting that saved the movie from a downright 0 out of 10 for me!
Cutting to the chase, a bus crashed. Myers escaped. The podcasters are killed. He gets his mask back. Myers kills yet another gas station attendant and gets his suit back. He stalks the neighborhood during trick or treating…
Here are where two problems start and never stop.
In the original Halloween, the magic was not seeing Myers’ face. It was knowing that the SHAPE stalked ..that the Shape watched.. that the Shape took measured time to plot out a strategy of fearful killing. In this film? He randomly goes house to house racking up a largely ridiculous high amount of bodies in his path. Murders for no reason.. murders just or the sake of pleasing the audience of blood thirsty gore fans that will likely litter this weekend’s movie theaters.
The other portion that, maybe someone will debate me on, is Myers’ first murder A child. Horror fans and critics have long debated how children and death should be treated in movies. This film utilizes that and immediately showcases Myers as a heartless demon who will even kill a child to get where he needs to go. If the movie was good, I could forgive that. The movie is abominable, so I can only further say that the kid-kill was a misstep in a series of them.
Flash forward to the movie sequence of events, which gets even more ridiculous: A set of comedy lines in the midst of tragedy did not seem to flow. Neither did the oddly choreographed high school dance scene that left viewers wondering why they couldn’t be in a high school that looked like that. A doctor who decides he wants to put on Michael Myers’ mask and kill..and an ending scene that seemed so rushed and so not inclusive of the nostalgia of the original.
And what do you have?
In my humble opinion you have a train wreck of rubbish.
Suffering garbage that stunk the theater to high heaven.
But an amazing soundtrack. A 10 out of 10. The new theme songs for modern Halloween! But sadly not the movie to go with it.
This season, if you want a good scare, check out Netflix’ HAUNTED HILLS HOUSE. I will review that further once my bingeing on it completes.
🙂
