Random Movie Series Review - Halloween (2018 Timeline)

So October is nearly at its end once again, but there is time for me to look at one more slasher horror franchise and this time, we're looking at one of the original ones. Original being the ones that begun the sub-genre and it is appropriately titled Halloween. Now as you may have guessed from the title, I am not reviewing all the films. This is because there are too many timelines of films, no official boxset in the UK that contains all or most of the films and accessing all of them via streaming is not easy. Not to mention that it would cost a fortune just to have them all on DVD, Blu-Ray and/or digital. So I am going to look at what is arguably the most universally accepted and best timeline of films which is the one where the sequel to the first film came out only a couple of years ago. The sequel in question cancels out all the films except for the very original and both films have been very well-received. It's this franchise that the Friday the 13th franchise wanted to cash in on and it's also the franchise that helped make the slasher horror genre become very popular in later years. So before you all bitch and moan that I'm not looking at the others, it really is because they are just not that easy to watch, find and pay for. But if there ever comes a time that I do watch them all, then of course I will review them. But unil then, this is my review of the 2018 timeline so far:

Halloween

The film (and I guess the overall franchise too) tells the story of a mental patient called Michael Myers (played by various actors across the franchise, but most notably Nick Castle) (also no relation to the comedian which yes I know has been said many times before). As a six-year-old child, he inexplicably kills his older sister and is then sentenced to a sanatorium. Fifteen years later, he escapes while being brought to court and returns to his home town Haddonfield, Illinois where he kills a mechanic and uses his overalls and a white mask to cover his identity and takes rope and knives from a nearby hardware store. For the rest of the film, he stalks a babysitter called Laurie Strode (played by the original Scream Queen, Jamie Lee Curtis) and begins a murder spree to kill her and her friends. This is one of two films that helped make the slasher horror genre or sub-genre a thing and it's aged pretty well. It's a good film that has been compared favourably to some of Alfred Hitchcock's works and despite not doing well originally, it's spawned a franchise that despite having too many timelines is still quite an influential film to this day. Without it and a certain other film set in Texas, the slasher horrors would have never been a thing. Also, I cannot fault the performances of Castle and Lee Curtis because they perform really well here. Should there have been a boxset or an easy way to watch all the films, I would have done so. But this is a good start. 9/10

 

2018 Film

So like I said, I am not looking at all the films today due to time, cost and no easy means to watch them all in one place as well as a lack of a boxset containing all the films compared to the other slashers I have been reviewing this month. So in the timeline that has been the most loved and accepted by critics and fans, there are currently two films with a third and fourth in the works. The second film in this timeline is set forty years later and completely retcons all sequels, reboots and remakes that came before and has the return of John Carpenter and Blumhouse Productions along with superfans Danny McBride and David Gordon Green (the latter of which directed the film and wrote it alongside McBride with approval from Carpenter and Blumhouse). Michael Myers has been inside Smith's Grove Psychiatric Hospital for forty years following his killing spree and is currently being prepped to transfer into a maximum security prison. Once again, he manages to escape and returns to Haddonfield, Illinois where he recovers his things and begins a new murder spree. Meanwhile, Laurie has been living in fear of Michael and as a result, her daughter Karen Nelson (played by Judy Greer) has been taken from her by the State. But still ready as ever to stop Michael yet again. While I haven't yet seen the other films, I can say that bringing things back to basics was probably the right move for the franchise. As the most recent film, its good. If you are watching this like me while not bothering with any of the other films, I would still say its good even though it almost feels like the same film as before. Nevertheless, it is scary, fun and there more for fan service than anything else. But at least we can all be happy in knowing that this is how the films will be going moving forward. Who knows when the next film will come out, but it will be worth the wait I'm sure. 9/10

For a timeline that hasn't had many films, it's good. Nothing truly there to fault other than the familiarity of the two films within, but still a good duo of films and maybe one day I will look at the others when I can. Until then, this is the best it can be and its only bound to get better from here on out. 9/10