Five-Legged Iguana

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2019

Candidate #6

HALLOWEEN

(September 2018)

“... It's Michael Myers. Babysitter Murders. 1978. 40 years to this day.”

“Michael Myers loose, with a bunch of nutbags in Haddonfield on Halloween night? We’re gonna have a f*ckin’ circus on our hands.

“But hey, what are we gonna do? Cancel Halloween?”

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this is probably the biggest case of “Manage Your Expectations, Space Monkey” that I’ve had to deal with in quite a while.

This is, after all, the four decades-after follow-up to John Carpenter’s original Halloween.*

And I’m glad to announce that it delivers the goods.

Thank you, David Gordon Green and Danny McBride.

“There’s a reason we’re supposed to be afraid of this night.”

While it isn’t as “pure” a horror film as Carpenter’s original, given that once-victim Laurie (a focused, yet clearly traumatized Jamie Lee Curtis) is now a pro-active force intent on finishing what The Shape started all those decades ago, it manages to explore the aftermath of the so-called “Babysitter Murders,” examining its impact on not just Laurie, but on the two generations that succeed her.

It acknowledges that though the Final Girl may have survived the massacre, the scars she will need to carry past the end credits roll will be deep and ugly.

But maybe… just maybe… she’ll get a chance to prove that she’s more than just her scars…

“He waited for this night. He’s waited for me. I’ve waited for him.”

* Maybe I’m used to it because of comics, but I really don’t mind that all the Halloween films after Carpenter’s original are now retconned out of existence.

As is my attitude when it comes to comics pulling the same stunt, it’s not like the stories themselves have been erased, they just aren’t considered “canon” anymore.

Which is still fine, since the movies (or comics) are still there to be enjoyed if ever there’s a hankering.

(‘Cause the Michael Myers-less Halloween III: Season of the Witch is still a wild and wooly ride, with one of the all-time great ‘80’s horror film endings…)

Parting Shot: A review of the now-no-longer-canon Halloween II can he found here, while a review of Rob Zombie’s Halloween redux can be found here.

Spoilers ahoy!

Parting Shot 2: Now the grandmother Laurie here… now there’s a Laurie I can believe is a crack shot.

So… maybe the Halloween II Laurie, just for a second, cracked the alt-reality dimensional barriers and channeled her 40 years-later self?

Maybe…?

(Halloween OS’ courtesy of cbr.com.)