{"id":104796,"date":"2018-09-10T10:25:31","date_gmt":"2018-09-10T09:25:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=104796"},"modified":"2018-09-18T14:25:38","modified_gmt":"2018-09-18T13:25:38","slug":"halloween-first-look-review-tiff-2018-michael-myers-is-back-with-a-bang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/reviews\/halloween-first-look-review-tiff-2018-michael-myers-is-back-with-a-bang\/","title":{"rendered":"Halloween film review TIFF 2018: Michael Myers is back with a bang"},"content":{"rendered":"

That director David Gordon Green, together with screenwriters Danny McBride and Jeff Fradley, opted not to try and outdo the original Halloween<\/i><\/strong> was probably a smart decision. Who would even dare do such a thing? An entirely original, completely new take on the story would have been a risky gamble, and bound to disappoint some, even if successful. Their direct sequel to John Carpenter\u2019s masterpiece instead works as an intelligent and often joyfully imaginative homage, clearly written by people versed in Halloween<\/i><\/strong> fandom.<\/p>\n

Set around Halloween 2018, exactly 40 years after Michael Myers\u2019 rampage through the peaceful Illinois town of Haddonfield, this sequel sees the mysterious murderer once again unleashed and roaming the streets. Like many follow-ups to groundbreaking horror films, this one opts for a comic approach; unlike most such films, however, it thankfully does not get bogged down in needless and confusing backstory. In fact, Green\u2019s film unceremoniously gets rid of the complicated and poor details and revelations about the characters\u2019 pasts that were introduced in the rest of the franchise. The only reference to the nine (!) rejected films is an amusing aside about the rumour that Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) would be the killer\u2019s sister.<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s comedy indeed largely relies on the viewer\u2019s own impeccable knowledge of the original film. The references are constant and overflowing, but rather than diminishing the genius of Carpenter\u2019s work, they show a complete reverence to it. This is a film made with unwavering love and admiration for every aspect of the original, and although it plays with the conventions of the slasher film in general and the specifics of this one, none of its excellent jokes are at the expense of its basic concept and characters. Green\u2019s film is very entertaining, but doesn\u2019t break a fan\u2019s heart with misplaced derision.<\/p>\n

On the contrary, the film\u2019s jokes take root in a profound understanding of the original\u2019s brilliant and revolutionary mechanisms. Looking at an otherwise banal shot in 1978\u2019s Halloween<\/i><\/strong>, it would often take a split second to realise that Michael Myers was standing right there, looking straight at us, hidden in plain sight \u2014 a brilliant trick that induced nervous laughter and total terror in equal measure. In one delightful moment, Green makes an easy but wonderful reference to it by recreating the shot where Laurie saw Myers through the school window; except this time, Laurie is in his place, and the schoolgirl is her granddaughter.<\/p>\n

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The film could have gotten away \u2014 at the box office at least \u2014 with simply copying this visual trick for knowing winks, but Green\u2019s Halloween<\/i><\/strong> isn\u2019t a derivative sequel. The new film also brilliantly and earnestly adopts the visual language of Carpenter\u2019s creation. A thrilling sequence has Myers taking advantage of motion sensor lights: he is just standing there, but every time the light comes on, he is closer.<\/p>\n

As such, although the jokes are flowing uninterruptedly, the film also feels like a return to the essentials of the Halloween<\/i><\/strong> recipe: characters escaping (or failing to escape) from a terrifying, indestructible killer. More precisely, it is Laurie he\u2019s after, and everyone in his way must perish. That our heroine has spent the last four decades preparing herself for the Boogeyman\u2019s return \u2014 turning her house into an armory, learning to fight and to shoot with all kinds of weapons \u2014 is a fun Sarah Connor moment for international role-model Jamie Lee Curtis. It is also an interesting update on her final girl status from the original film: her intelligence alone (and\/or her lack of interest in sexuality) wouldn\u2019t be enough to save her this time. Myers\u2019 victims are more kindly portrayed here than in Carpenter\u2019s film. Although they do cluelessly walk into trouble, they are not stupid, and the film pokes fun at the tropes of the genre rather than at the characters intelligence.<\/p>\n

This change however contributes to a greater sense of realism, which places the many extremely graphic murders we witness into a more modern and gory register than that of the original film. Myers\u2019 first murder is the most shockingly cruel of all, setting up the way in which breathtaking violence regularly breaks through the general laid back tone, catching us by surprise. Despite all this good-natured fun, staying alert is recommended.<\/p>\n

Though this entry into the franchise sometimes strays into less interesting narrative developments and could benefit from more delicately conceived plotting, it is a heartfelt and imaginative homage to an unparalleled classic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Gordon Green’s Halloween delivers an imaginative, gory and witty homage to John Carpenter’s classic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":104797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[2615,8],"tags":[165,797],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/halloween-david-gordon-green.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104796"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}