Halloween (reboots)

HALLOWEEN (18)

D: Rob Zombie

MGM / The Weinstein Company / Dimension / Nightfall / Spectacle / Trancas (Malek Akkad, Andy Gould & Rob Zombie)

USA 🇺🇸 2007

110 mins

Horror

W: Rob Zombie [based on the 1978 screenplay by John Carpenter & Debra Hill]

DP: Phil Parmet

Ed: Glenn Garland

Mus: Tyler Bates (& John Carpenter)

Tyler Mane (Michael Myers), Malcolm McDowell (Dr. Sam Loomis), Sheri Moon Zombie (Deborah Myers), Daeg Faerch (Michael Myers - aged 10), Scout Taylor-Compton (Laurie Strode)

The 9th Halloween film of the series is a reboot/reimagining of the original 1978 film, something that really wasn't needed and just serves as an excessively violent remake. 

Rob Zombie was given free reins to present his own version of the milestone of horror, but it's all the same stuff, with the only originality coming with a prefacing series of scenes where Michael Myers is a ten year old boy from a trailer trash family when     he makes his first kill and is admitted to a mental asylum, everything that follows is in direct reference to the original movie.

The film is flawed mostly in two ways. One being that Laurie Strode's character isn't introduced until the halfway point, allowing the audience no time to connect or sympathise with her and the peril she faces, but the biggest flaw is that it tries to humanise the villain, where Carpenter's original just had him as an unknown force of evil in the shape of a man.

Personally, I think the original still holds up as a great horror movie and trumps this blatant cash-grab in every single respect. 

A sequel to this version of Halloween followed, before a 2018 film (also called Halloween) reverted back to continuing the John Carpenter vision.

4/10

HALLOWEEN (18)

D: David Gordon Green

Universal/Miramax/Blumhouse (Malek Akkad, Jason Blum & Bill Block)

US 2018

106 mins

Horror

W: Jeff Fradley, Danny McBride & David Gordon Green [based on characters created by John Carpenter & Debra Hill]

DP: Michael Simmonds

Ed: Tim Alverson

Mus: John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter & Daniel Davies

Jamie Lee Curtis (Laurie Strode), Judy Greer (Karen Nelson), Andi Matichak (Allyson Nelson), Will Patton (Frank Hawkins), Haluk Bilginer (Dr. Ranbir Sartain), James Jude Courtney (Michael Myers)

Although it shares the same title, 2018's Halloween is actually a sequel, rather than a remake, to 1978's Halloween and although it's the 11th film in the long-running horror series, its storyline retcons all previous sequels... including 1981's Halloween II (which wasn't actually too bad).

40 years on from the events in the first movie, Laurie Strode lives with the trauma from her ordeal as Michael Myers spends his days incarcerated in a high security prison for the mentally unsound.

Dr. Loomis is no longer alive, but Michael's case is studied by Loomis' 2018 counterpart, Ranbir Sartain, who introduces a pair of obnoxious journalists to the psychopath in the film's pre-credit sequence.

The meat of the story follows Laurie's granddaughter, a high school teenager who wants to party with her friends on Halloween, but the night takes a turn for the worst when Michael Myers escapes a prisoner transfer van and goes on a killing spree in his old neighbourhood (again) and Laurie comes out of hiding to protect her family and hunt down the killer responsible for causing her years of torment.

Though this film seems proud to retcon all previous sequels and claims it isn't a remake, it's the same old shit again and again. There's no originality here, and it even recycles elements from the 1978 classic, using mirrors in the scene set up as if to say "we've flipped it, aren't we clever". Unfortunately, it isn't clever. It's just jump scare after jump scare and a little atmosphere in-between, and though some scenes are reasonably well executed, it's a far cry from John Carpenter's seminal slasher classic.

The first film was genre-defining. This is just Hollywood cash-grab xeroxing at its most cynical. 

4/10

HALLOWEEN KILLS (18)

D: David Gordon Green

Universal / Miramax / Blumhouse / Trancas International / Rough House (Malek Akkad, Jason Blum & Bill Block)

US 🇺🇸 2021

105 mins

Horror

W: Scott Teems, Danny McBride & David Gordon Green [based on characters created by John Carpenter & Debra Hill]

DP: Michael Simmonds

Ed: Tim Alverson

Mus. John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter & Daniel Davies

Jamie Lee Curtis (Laurie Strode), Judy Greer (Karen Nelson), Andi Matichak (Allyson Nelson), Will Patton (Frank Hawkins), Anthony Michael Hall (Tommy Doyle)

This may not be the worst of all the Halloween films, but it’s probably the most disappointing one for me.

Psychopathic killer Michael Myers survives death from the previous film (2018’s Halloween reboot) because of course he does and continues his killing spree whilst Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode spends the entire film in a hospital bed.

Meanwhile, other survivors of Myers’ violences gather in a town bar and unite to take him on and defeat him for good, though it doesn’t go to plan and the finale laughably suggests that the antagonist gains super human powers with every kill that increases his immortality.

Perhaps this might be worst of all the Halloween films and aside from some impressive makeup effects and some clever camera trickery this one really is a dud.

3/10

HALLOWEEN ENDS (18)

D: David Gordon Green

Universal / Miramax / Blumhouse / Trancas International / Rough House (Malek Akkad, Jason Blum & Bill Block)

US 🇺🇸 2022

111 mins

Horror

W: Paul Brad Logan, Chris Bernier, Danny McBride & David Gordon Green [based on characters created by John Carpenter & Debra Hill]

DP: Michael Simmonds

Ed: Tim Alverson

Mus: John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter & Daniel Davies

Jamie Lee Curtis (Laurie Strode), Andi Matichak (Allyson Nelson), Rohan Campbell (Corey Cunningham), Will Patton (Dep. Frank Hawkins), Kyle Richards (Lindsey Wallace), James Jude Courtney (Michael Myers)

A truly underwhelming finale to the 2018 Halloween trilogy, and after thirteen films overall, it really is time for Halloween to end.

Unfortunately, logic goes out the window with this one and doesn’t even try to follow events from previous films, and Michael Myers is barely seen until the final act of the proceedings.  It isn’t really a surprise that there’s a disconnect from previous films, since all the Halloween movies are all over the place with its events and various timelines, but that doesn’t forgive such poor storytelling in the individual entries.

The main focus here is a new character, Corey Cunningham, a social outcast due to the accidental death of a child he babysat a few years prior.  Corey starts dating Laurie Strode’s granddaughter and effectively becomes “possessed” by Michael Myers… only for the real Michael to come out of hiding and get his arse finally handed to him.

I suppose one positive here is that the climax does make sure Michael Myers really is done for good, but I’m sure Hollywood dollars will revive him for another generation, with or without Jamie Lee Curtis.

3/10