215.
Halloween
7/10
It's the time of year that I love and that time is Halloween. This means we get some shite and some good but no matter what, they are horror movies and I'll go and see them. This time it's going to be from one of the most famous franchises. Michael Myers, not the guy who plays Shrek, but a serial killer is back on the big screen, 40 years after the original came out. We've has some remakes that we've been asked to forget about and even some sequels that again, we've been asked to pretend aren't around. Instead, we are bringing back Jamie-Lee Curtis as Laurie Stroud and even Will Patton as the cop, who I hear was in the earlier movies, which I have to be honest about, haven't seen.
The movie follows a simple concept, as many serial killer movies do. We have to investigators loving the story surrounding it all, trying to trace down Michael to ask some questions and moving onto Laurie to ask them the same. We catch our first few glimpses of Michael without his famous mask, which was a big talking point before the movie but ended up being a whole lot of nothing. The movie progresses as Laurie is seen by her daughter, son-in-law and the public as a bit of a crazy cow but the granddaughter actually has a degree of sympathy for her. Laurie kicks off after finding out that they are going to be movie Michael by bus, which of course, crashes and he escapes. As a car pulls over to help, he claims his first victims and heads to get some petrol and clothing.
Coming across the investigators from earlier, he makes easy work of them, collecting some teeth and adding to his death tally. Laurie has a sixth sense about this and instantly tries to protect her own family. She's been living away from years, in a cottage in the sticks. Surrounded by fences and some target practice, she's been waiting for this day.
Now apart from the usual rivalry between the killer and his target, we need some side story and this comes in the form of the granddaughter. Not only was she the only person to believe Laurie from the start, but we follow her closely. With Michael, he's found his way to a petrol station and low and behold, it's the same one as the investigator's from earlier. He makes easy work of them before finding his old mask in their trunk. The granddaughter is at a school dance as Michael finds his way into town, going door to door he picks off people with ease, adding to his tally. They two come to their first meeting in a garden than the Granddaughter cuts through with her friend. He makes light work of the friend and sets his sights on her, realising her resemblance to a young Laurie. Now, this is the part that always winds me up. The girl can run as fast as she can but the serial killer with a slow walk always catches up. The girl is picked up by the cop, who is giving the shrink a ride and when they come across Michael, the cop plows him down. The shrink isn't best pleased about this, showing his fascination with Michael and when they inspect the body, the cop gets stabbed in the neck by the shrink, who drags Michael into the car to sit next to the girl. Crazy bastard.
Laurie is off making sure the rest of her family are safe. She grabbed her daughter and son-in-law and taken them to her house in the woods. The Shrink is on the way too, just before Michael wakes, kills him and goes after the girl, but she escapes and legs it into the woods. Now Michael has a new plan.
He heads to the house in the cop car and plants it outside so that the only gent after he's massacred the cops, comes to have a look. He's easily dealt with and the only people left to stop Michael are the three generations of ladies. The two eldest are hiding the basement and the youngest is in the woods somewhere. Laurie has a plan though, she has been waiting for this for years and has laid trap after trap around her house. Even the granddaughter makes is back in time so that they are all in the basement, tempting Michael to come down until he is shot, locked down there and caged like the animal he is. All of a sudden the faces on the two eldest change to stubborn bitches and they know they have won. The room fills with gas, as does the rest of the house and with one match, Michael is lit on fire, standing, unbothered, as he burns to death without a sound. The females walk away from the house, just as it explodes and the movie draws to a close.
I'm going to look at this movie as a standalone to an extent, mainly because I haven't seen the others but because it was also told quite cleverly. Although we have a story 40 years on, there are enough references from the earlier movies to fill in the gaps for the first time viewers to this tale and I find that very well done. This isn't the type of horror that would have too many jump-scares, maybe a leap out the closest and such but it holds it's esteem by being such a creepy thriller, not one that the cops will end the case but a vigilante. This movie shows that there could be a monster in anyone, without actually showing a true monster. Instead, we get an iconic mask that is a symbol of this franchise. The music score does will to add to this suspense at the right moments, more meaningfully as Michael regains his mask. Putting in a little bit about the bad points, as one has already been spoken about and that's the love of the slow walking killer who never gets outrun somehow. This alongside some continuity errors. The door to the basement was hidden under a countertop in the kitchen, one that as the movie carried on, got slower and slower at closing, obviously giving some more suspense but Jesus wept, you could clearly see this was slowing down on purpose. The main feature of this movie that I enjoyed, was the most unexpected parts. This would stem by how quick the investigator's deaths came about, how the shrink turned on the good and how the women banded together in such a fashion towards the end. This was definitely a movie that could once again do the franchise justice, whilst forgetting the terrible ones that apparently came in the middle.
Coming across the investigators from earlier, he makes easy work of them, collecting some teeth and adding to his death tally. Laurie has a sixth sense about this and instantly tries to protect her own family. She's been living away from years, in a cottage in the sticks. Surrounded by fences and some target practice, she's been waiting for this day.
Now apart from the usual rivalry between the killer and his target, we need some side story and this comes in the form of the granddaughter. Not only was she the only person to believe Laurie from the start, but we follow her closely. With Michael, he's found his way to a petrol station and low and behold, it's the same one as the investigator's from earlier. He makes easy work of them before finding his old mask in their trunk. The granddaughter is at a school dance as Michael finds his way into town, going door to door he picks off people with ease, adding to his tally. They two come to their first meeting in a garden than the Granddaughter cuts through with her friend. He makes light work of the friend and sets his sights on her, realising her resemblance to a young Laurie. Now, this is the part that always winds me up. The girl can run as fast as she can but the serial killer with a slow walk always catches up. The girl is picked up by the cop, who is giving the shrink a ride and when they come across Michael, the cop plows him down. The shrink isn't best pleased about this, showing his fascination with Michael and when they inspect the body, the cop gets stabbed in the neck by the shrink, who drags Michael into the car to sit next to the girl. Crazy bastard.
Laurie is off making sure the rest of her family are safe. She grabbed her daughter and son-in-law and taken them to her house in the woods. The Shrink is on the way too, just before Michael wakes, kills him and goes after the girl, but she escapes and legs it into the woods. Now Michael has a new plan.
He heads to the house in the cop car and plants it outside so that the only gent after he's massacred the cops, comes to have a look. He's easily dealt with and the only people left to stop Michael are the three generations of ladies. The two eldest are hiding the basement and the youngest is in the woods somewhere. Laurie has a plan though, she has been waiting for this for years and has laid trap after trap around her house. Even the granddaughter makes is back in time so that they are all in the basement, tempting Michael to come down until he is shot, locked down there and caged like the animal he is. All of a sudden the faces on the two eldest change to stubborn bitches and they know they have won. The room fills with gas, as does the rest of the house and with one match, Michael is lit on fire, standing, unbothered, as he burns to death without a sound. The females walk away from the house, just as it explodes and the movie draws to a close.
I'm going to look at this movie as a standalone to an extent, mainly because I haven't seen the others but because it was also told quite cleverly. Although we have a story 40 years on, there are enough references from the earlier movies to fill in the gaps for the first time viewers to this tale and I find that very well done. This isn't the type of horror that would have too many jump-scares, maybe a leap out the closest and such but it holds it's esteem by being such a creepy thriller, not one that the cops will end the case but a vigilante. This movie shows that there could be a monster in anyone, without actually showing a true monster. Instead, we get an iconic mask that is a symbol of this franchise. The music score does will to add to this suspense at the right moments, more meaningfully as Michael regains his mask. Putting in a little bit about the bad points, as one has already been spoken about and that's the love of the slow walking killer who never gets outrun somehow. This alongside some continuity errors. The door to the basement was hidden under a countertop in the kitchen, one that as the movie carried on, got slower and slower at closing, obviously giving some more suspense but Jesus wept, you could clearly see this was slowing down on purpose. The main feature of this movie that I enjoyed, was the most unexpected parts. This would stem by how quick the investigator's deaths came about, how the shrink turned on the good and how the women banded together in such a fashion towards the end. This was definitely a movie that could once again do the franchise justice, whilst forgetting the terrible ones that apparently came in the middle.
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