Michael Myers Finally Comes Home in ‘Halloween (2018)’

Directed by horror master John Carpenter, the original Halloween pits suburban teenager Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) against Michael Myers – an embodiment of pure evil who, as a young boy, killed his older sister on the night of Halloween for reasons unknown, before spending the next fifteen years in Smith’s Grove Sanitarium. With a big kitchen knife and a plain-white William Shatner mask, Myers hacked his way through Haddonfield, Illinois, and has done so for decades since.

1978’s Halloween carved the way for the common slasher movie, but much like all the other iconic slash-masters that followed (Freddy Kruger, Jason Voorhees, Chucky and the like), Myers has suffered sequels that have offered neither trick nor treat. With a total of six sequels (not including the non-related Halloween III: Season of the Witch), two reboots, and now the uber-retcon Halloween (2018), “The Shape” has certainly endured (more than Laurie Strode, some might say).

For Strode, Halloween would never be the same again

The original Halloween II (1981) was nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction to the success of the original, and it showed. The fourth, fifth and six entries were even less impressive, and introduced the “Cult of Thorn” plot which attempts to offer rationale behind Myers’ desire to kill as well as his immortality, thus eradicating the mystery behind the man and the madness. Regardless of this ill-conceived backstory, though, the films are of straight-to-video quality, while Myers himself looks plain weird.

The original didn’t get the sequel it truly deserved until 1998’s Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, which was consequently the perfect ending to Strode’s journey. Its 2002 follow-up Halloween: Resurrection, however, in which Strode is killed off, is so bad that it isn’t considered canon by many fans. But ultimately it doesn’t matter, because in 2007 the original underwent the reboot knife, as did its sequel two years later. And now, none of that matters, because David Gordon Green's Halloween (2018) wipes the blade clean.

Laurie Strode: Resurrection

Forget everything you know about the Halloween franchise (except of course for the original that is). Laurie Strode didn’t fight her brother for a second time on the same night he first appeared, she didn’t face-off with him twenty years later, and she certainly didn't die. In fact, Myers is no longer even her brother - which is even referenced in the new film in gag-form. In other words, Halloween (2018) presents to us a whole new timeline, and is a direct sequel to the original film, set forty years later.

This time, for the past forty years, the events of that fateful night in 1978 have left Strode with PTSD, which in turn has affected her relationship with her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak). But Strode isn’t a victim - she’s a survivor, and has been preparing herself for Myers’ inevitable escape from incarceration ever since. And when October 31 comes around once more, it turns out Strode was right all along, because so does Michael.

In the latest treatment, has Myers met his match?

From the outset, this is pure Halloween, with opening credits that look like they’ve jumped straight out of Carpenter’s original, but this time featuring the genius symbolic rebirth of a flat jack-o-‘lantern. Then there’s the score which Carpenter returns to helm, now with plenty of hair-raising variations that dial the film’s atmosphere up to eleven and echo the likes of 2014's It Follows. The cinematography, too, is nothing short of genius, and we even experience sequences that homage plenty from both the original and its first sequel.

Perhaps to no surprise, Jamie Lee Curtis is on top form and offers up her most badass role to date, proving once again that she is indeed the ultimate "scream queen". As for Myers, he may have been reduced back to his normal height since Rob Zombie’s somewhat gigantic version, but he’s no less strong and menacing. In fact, this time he means business, and his hunger to shed buckets of blood after being incarcerated for forty years is palpable.  

Rob Zombie's Michael Myers: Bigger isn't always better

Sure, this is the third film in the franchise to be titled Halloween despite not actually being a remake of the first film; it’s a reboot and a de-boot of the franchise; it’s a sequel and a re-quel; and in many ways it’s even a loose remake of both the original Halloween II and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later. But putting all that narrative mumbo jumbo aside, Halloween (2018) simplifies the formula once more and takes the legend of Michael Myers back to basics where it belongs. In other words, Michael has come home.

Verdict: Even with very few new tricks up its sleeve (besides cleverly retconning every single entry since the 1978 original), Halloween (2018) is still one of the biggest treats this franchise has offered in a long twenty years. While its box office success will likely result in a sequel (and let's pray that it does, else it will fall prey to that reboot knife again), perhaps there's a pattern forming here, and that the next worthy instalment won't arrive on our doorsteps until Halloween 2038.

Another 20 Years Later, after Halloween H20: 20 Years Later