Halloween review – Masked Myers’ big return

A haggard-looking Jamie Lee Curtis returns to the slasher flick genre with a vengeance in this fresh Halloween version that’s a cut above the rest. Ignore all the other awful sequels.

Curtis recreates her role of Laurie Strode, haunted for 40 years by the unholy spectre of Michael Myers on the rampage. She has never been the same since her confrontation with this beast in Haddonfield and her lucky escape and this production prepares viewers for the ultimate test.

David Gordon Green’s production is a direct sequel to John Carpenter’s classic 1978 movie. It looks at the fate of serial killer Michael Myers, who has now been imprisoned for his
murderous rampage in 1978. Myers cuts a lonely figure in the mental asylum in which he has been incarcerated. He is chained up and we never get to see his face. This monster has not spoken all this time and is being watched every minute of his life.

However, when the government decides to move Myers and a group of other deranged inmates to a new location, the bus carrying them crashes (how convenient) and Myers escapes to unleash another reign of terror. Once again, the audience watch the lonely path of this tragic figure, a demented murderer whose face remains obscured by a terrifying mask and who kills his victims with the slash of a sharp kitchen knife. He has returned to Haddonfield and Laurie Strode is waiting for him.

The focus, of course, is on this bad-ass granny, whose house has become a fortress as she awaits the day she can finally confront her nemesis. Curtis shines in this role. Various new characters are introduced to the story; there is Laurie’s daughter Karen, a passive Judy Greer, her plucky granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichek) and Halak Bilginer as Dr Sartain, Myers’ doctor who believes his patient should be kept alive so that one day they can study his brain.

Ageing Will Patton plays Office Hawkins whose futile pursuit of  Myers becomes a logistical nightmare. This kind of homage to the original is entertaining in its own bizarre way. It’s tense, madly atmospheric and brutally violent. Cliches are inevitable, but the director manages to convince in his style and approach and a new generation can now succumb to the kind of spell Carpenter managed to weave 40 years ago.

Score: ★★★☆☆

Info

• Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Halak Bilginer, Will Patton.
• Director: David Gordon Green.
• Classification: 18 HLV.

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