By Megan Ruge & Nick Cardillo, Managing Editor of Content & Contributing Writer
With Oct. 31 quickly upcoming, it’s the last week to get in the spooky mood of the season. One way to do this is to binge-watch different movies, or even a whole franchise.
The “Halloween” film franchise is a spooky season classic watch, telling the story of a mass serial killer and other haunts that take place on Halloween night.
The first film, “Halloween,” was released in 1978. It takes place 10 years after Michael Myers kills his sister on Halloween night. The film follows Michael’s return to his hometown of Haddonfield after his escape from the mental hospital.
The story continues in “Halloween II,” picking up immediately after the conclusion of the first film. The sequel takes place in the hospital after the arrival of an injuried Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis.
Michael makes a pursuit against Laurie and her cohorts in the hospital, leaving some dead and others injured. The film concludes with Laurie being rushed to safety, believing that Michael is dead.
“Halloween III: Season of the Witch” is the only installment of the series that does not feature Michael as the movies main antagonist. Instead, the film follows a doctor who identifies a problem with witchcraft and seeks a solution.
The next film in the series is “Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.” This film features Michael again as the main antagonist. This time, Michael returns to Haddonfield to pursue his niece, who is the daughter of Laurie.
“Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers” takes place exactly a year after the previous film. He returns to Haddonfield after spending a year in a coma to again attempt to kill his niece.
“Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers” shows Michael driven to stalk a young woman living in his childhood home. In this film Michael, also again pursues his niece who has just had a baby.
The next film in the series is “Halloween H20: 20 Years Later.” This film reintroduces Laurie. The viewer learns that Laurie has faked her own death to start a new life where Michael cannot find her. The movie follows Michael’s discovery of Laurie and what happens next is frightening.
“Halloween: Resurrection” was released shortly after “H20” to continue the storyline where it left off. This film seems to be the end of this timeline of films since Rob Zombie then chose to reboot the first Halloween and its sequel, but this is not case.
Now, in 2018, the original franchise has returned to the silver screen.
The incandescence of the original “Halloween” has burned brightly for 40 years. Through every sequel, reboot, remake and countless films which have borrowed (or shamelessly stolen from it), the brilliance of John Carpenter’s original masterpiece has not been eclipsed.
Director David Gordon Green’s new sequel – his first foray into the horror genre – does not seek to extinguish that flame but preserve it and let it burn.
On Halloween night 1978, Michael Meyers – the unstoppable form of evil incarnate – murdered three teenagers after escaping a mental institution for the criminally insane. Babysitter Laurie was the only one to survive the carnage.
Four decades later, Meyers has escaped again. And Laurie has been waiting for him.
Jettisoning every franchise convolution of the past 40 years, Green and co-writers Danny McBride and Jeff Fradley restore their film to the eerily effective, simplistic nature of the original.
In tone, the 2018 “Halloween” is the closest that any have come to utilizing suspense and tension to manipulate the audience since the first.
There are plenty of scenes in the film where Michael Meyers lurks just out of focus in the corner of the screen while we wait for him to strike again. It is an intense and visceral kind of horror which has become a rarity in the genre today.
However, “Halloween” knows that its monster is only as good as those fighting it and to combat evil once more is Jamie Lee Curtis reprising her role as Laurie.
Curtis is the highlight of the film and she delivers a nuanced, carefully-crafted performance, and through her delicate portrayal the audience – like never before – gets to witness the consequences of the terror which horror movie protagonists must endure.
As a result, Curtis’s modern-day Laurie feels very real; she is a survivor of a traumatic assault and her struggle resonates in a society still deeply affected by the #MeToo Movement.
Though “Halloween” does mimic the original, it increases the body count and relies more on blood and gore. Regardless, this is hardly a major blight to the film. It does seem jarring, however, especially when juxtaposed with the nearly bloodless original.
Additionally, as all the film’s action is underscored by music composed by a returning John Carpenter, even if the squeamish must avert their eyes, the film will still be a treat for the ears.
Carpenter’s music (composed with his son Cody and musician Daniel Davies) is brilliant, at once calling back to the iconic themes of the 1978 film but also putting a thoroughly modern twist on them.
The 2018 “Halloween” is at once an affectionate homage to its illustrious predecessor and a film which stands on its own. Today in a market which is (happily) flooded with horror, Halloween is unique: a slasher film which feels just as rooted in today as it does in an age which is long
