John Carpenter's original 1978 movie Halloween is still one of the best and most iconic horror films of all time; single-handedly kick-starting the slasher movie genre and inspiring countless imitators of varying quality afterwards (Friday the 13th: I'm looking at you). Watching it now, some viewers might find it slightly tame, and be put off by the lack of gore and violence. But Halloween was never a movie about blood and guts - it was about its atmosphere and slow dread.
It was about the feeling of being watched, the bleached-white mask staring through a babysitter's window, a shape at the end of a suburban street disappearing behind a hedgerow, and a mute killer turning his head in curiosity to examine the hanging body of his latest victim. But now, 40 years after the original scared viewers still in the theatre, Michael Myers is returning to Haddonfield, Illinois, and Laurie Strode is the only woman alive who can stop him.
Halloween 2018 appears to be having the same effect on audiences that the original did, and on social media people are openly talking about how the movie was so scary that it made them incontinent with terror. Directed by David Gordon Green and written by Green, Jeff Fradley and Danny McBride, and starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Nick Castle as Laurie and Michael respectively, (with John Carpenter himself doing the music) the new Halloween has been hailed as a marvellous return to form - not least because this one is a direct sequel to the first one.
You don't need to have seen any of the sequels to enjoy this one, or get bogged down in old continuity references. Best of all, the naff twist from the second movie (and most classic Halloween fans will know exactly what I'm talking about) hs been discarded, returning the Final Girl and The Shape to their intended dynamic.
The movie's synopsis states: "It's been 40 years since Laurie Strode survived a vicious attack from crazed killer Michael Myers on Halloween night. Locked up in an institution, Myers manages to escape when his bus transfer goes horribly wrong. Laurie now faces a terrifying showdown when the masked madman returns to Haddonfield, Ill. -- but this time, she's ready for him."
Commenting on her return to the franchise, scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis stated: "As soon as I read what David Green and Danny McBride had come up with … and the way that they connected the dots of the story, it made so much sense to me that it felt totally appropriate for me to return to Haddonfield for another 40th-anniversary retelling. It's the original story in many, many, many ways. Just retold 40 years later with my granddaughter."
Personally, as a massive fan of the original, I can't wait to check this out in theatres. If nothing else, I'm sure it'll be better than the terrible Rob Zombie remake.
