Hey all, after mulling it over it a bit, I’ve decided to resurrect a concept I had used on other sites in the past and that is to start doing occasional movie reviews. Quickie Movie Reviews, to be precise. And what better way to start than with the new Halloween movie. I managed to catch it over lunch today and was simply blown away. So here’s the review!
The Good
I could just say “everything, nuff said” and call it a day, but I suppose with this being the first review on this incarnation of Theme of Absence, I should get into a bit more detail. So first off, I loved the fact that this movie took the series back to its roots. And I don’t mean in storyline, but in the general feel of it. Gone is any trace of the Scream influence that we saw in H2O and Resurrection, and even better than that that, other than some of the gore, this movie had no sense of Rob Zombie influence, either.
In fact it felt like fresh mouthwash to eliminate the bad taste that Rob Zombie left in our mouths.
Jaime Lee Curtis was absolutely amazing in her reprise of Laurie Strode. Everything she did was just so damn perfect and real. The way they handled Laurie’s untreated PSTD resulting from the original movie was great as well. It led to her paranoia, her isolation, and the falling out of her family. Speaking of her family, it was a nice touch that they didn’t know how to deal with her mental illness. Their line of thinking (“Get over it”) is unfortunately the way most families would react to it.
The opening scene was so well done I don’t really want to say anything else about it for fear of spoiling it. But then after that scene, the opening credits and music come up and I nearly teared up in the theater.
The action was great. The kills were effective, but not over the top. The final fight scene at the end was everything I hoped it would be. Just getting chills thinking about it.
The Bad
No movie is perfect, right? Except maybe Ghostbusters. Either way, there were a few bad parts in this one. An unnecessary subplot about Laurie’s granddaughter and her boyfriend, for example. An unnecessary (and slightly Rob Zombie-ish) plot twist about a half-hour from the end was another. But those were minor things that didn’t really affect the viewing.
One thing that was difficult to get past, however, was the result of yet another altered timeline. Ignoring all of the sequels and making this movie a direct sequel to the original worked in the context of this movie, but as a viewer, it was difficult to just ignore everything. The biggest, of course, is that Laurie is no longer Michael’s sister, since that wasn’t revealed until part 2. Also the awesomeness of Dr. Loomis in parts 4 and 5 never happened. Again, what they did with this movie worked, but I think they could have kept part 2 as cannon. Loomis was supposed to die in that movie anyhow, and Laurie being Michael’s sister would make his obsession with her a little more believable here.
Closing
I just can’t get over how exciting this was to see on the big screen. Now that I think about it, this is the only Halloween movie I saw in a theater. But I don’t really have anything else to say, other than go see this! Great action, great scares, great nostalgia.
And screw you Rob Zombie.
(Final note: For my Quickie Review of all eight previous films, plus the Rob Zombie remakes, click on over to my blog and check ’em out: Write Good Books: A Quick Review of all 10 Halloween Movies)
Good review and nice addition to the website. Looking forward to more.
Thanks!