HALLOWEEN IS A FUN RIDE BACK TO THE ROOTS OF WHAT MADE THE ORIGINAL SO GREAT.

Halloween is just one of those movies that originally and now in this latest iteration knew exactly what it wanted to be, and it’s one of the highest compliments I can pay it. I've recently been discussing with my friends this age where so many people want to do so many things and try to be so many things to so many different people and subsequently how that affects various arts. When you have people making tentpole movies, almost all year round (especially of this sort ) aiming marketing towards trying to be a little something to a great deal of various crowds it creates quite a few films where you can feel the hodgepdge of ideas running into and coagulating into a bloody mess. What I feel like I’m applauding when I'm applauding films like this year’s “Mandy” and Halloween is a kind of laser focus on the crowd that you know you want. On the audience most likely to appreciate your art on its face.   You may end up getting a larger base to come around and appreciate it too, as is the case with Halloween, or you may only reach that exact niche as was the case with Mandy , but either way you find success. 

Halloween has always been one of those movies that can please  multiple audiences.  It's both a cult movie and a movie with a clear mainstream audience.  But I would venture to say one extends from the other. Fully acknowledging that this isn't a new argument at all - I still think great art comes from a place that ultimately seeks to please oneself first and by extension of the self…Others. I think we've made the mistake of dichotomizing the issue of art for arts sake or for entertainment when the answer is both.  Artist like John Carpenter understood themselves firstly and then instinctively understood that others who may see the world in similar ways to them would probably like to share in the delight of seeing this vision come to life. But as expressed by Carpenter in interviews he had no way of knowing it would become as popular as this. And when this sentiment is genuine (as I believe it is in this case) it belies the fact that the artist was most likely not considering a massive audience and what they might like to see, but rather a small circle of friends and imagined like minded folk. As Long as you don't get caught up in the awe of your own imagination. You'll always want the mission to be to use what it is you have, your gift as a tool to connect with others .   But first you have to find your unique voice. That's the way to legacy.  The way to legend, the way to becoming a classic, to becoming something unforgettable. 

John Carpenter interviewed by Mark Kermode for Halloween's 21st Anniversary. 1999. Part 1 of 3.

Carpenter's films, but especially have always been simple, but effective. And I mean to say that there's a precision, and concise power to the kind of horror that galvanizes or acts as the engine behind Halloween and ultimately, Michael Myers. A forcefulness that is big enough, deep enough to create a space for the kind of commentary that you might get around something that has a lot more existential or philosophical questions surrounding it, like this years earlier horror entry Hereditary.  This latest entry - as conceived of by the duo of Danny Mcbride and David Gordon Green - Understands that, and it also understands the power in exploring the dynamic in the relationship between Michael and Laurie Strode. Much like my other beloved horror entry this year - Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House - this Halloween explored the trauma of the kind of event bound to have a ripple effect on the life of someone like Laurie Strode. And that we see again also represented in hereditary, lingering memories of suffering, pain, and stress that finds itself seeping into the lives of our spouses and our offspring.  The focus is not quite as tight, It's not quite as broad or as in depth, but it is there. And when combined with the core understanding that the power of Michael Myers is not in who he is, or the sight of him, or what might or might not be behind the mask, but instead his anonymity. The idea of him as this almost spectral construct of sheer will and pure evil incarnate, that makes him so scary... That THAT is the driving force behind this series, then you have what makes this movie work so well. Once again it caters to both of its audiences, whereas previous installments like h2o cast too wide a net, and others like Rob Zombies Halloween were far too niche (and in truth lost sight of the actual core tenets for even its core audience) this Halloween delivers to both the crowd that will always be there for it, even when it’s bad, and that more fair weather audience.

This is a well done, sharply executed horror film with a strong central performance (as I think any horror film movie has to have) by Jamie Lee Curtis. Just from a physical aesthetic standpoint Curtis comes prepared. In so may ways Laurie hasn’t changed, her hair, her body in general resembles some semblance of itself. It is only her hair color, the glasses, the wear of years of hurt, a map of her trauma all along the lines of her face - that betray how much has changed. This stagnation, this staticness is represented not only by her mental state, but by the forlorn fortress that she's turned her home into. The decrepit nature of anything in or around it that doesn't have to do with home security. It's represented in her inability to seemingly function at even a dinner party. To allow herself the space to be happy for even just a moment and it's all Curtis - working in conjunction with what ultimately is a great script - that really provides us with the clues as to just how ripped apart, how beaten and weathered Laurie Strode has become, but in the same sentence how she's also turned that energy into a crystallized will of her own.  Laurie strode has become the perfect mirror image for Michael Myers in that she too has now steeled herself to become a force of nature, fashioned herself into a creature made up of anger and rage, who will not be stopped, who will not be beaten, who will not go down. And as such has set herself up for Mano y Mano battle of good and evil. 

Halloween also features some strong supporting performances from the likes of Judy Greer. And will Patton, but ultimately, this is Jamie Lee Curtis's movie and of course Michael Myers. It’s gruesome (apropos to the genre and franchise) its scary, and I found the tension built well over the running time of the movie, which really you do not feel at all. The pacing is extremely well done, and your kind of in there and out of there before you know it. Something akin to a great rollercoaster ride. Much like the Panos Cosmotos indie project “Mandy” I just really enjoyed myself in this film. I settled right in to it and was immediately reconnected with the characters, with the tone, with the town, (which is something that I sort of took issue with In the latest remake of “IT” where I felt like in the town of Derry, I didn't feel how these events had really settled in or affected the town),  but in Halloween I did. Haddonfield and the people who live there some 40 years later still feels like a town that has the residue of these grisly murders on its structural, and cultural conscious, it's on the kids lips, and it's in the police department, it's in the homes and sort of in the air, you just feel it, and I think the filmmakers did a great job of creating that. Ultimately I highly recommend Halloween, I think it's a great movie for the season, I think it's one of the better horror films to come out this year, and ultimately in some weird kind of way as horrifying and terrifying as it is, it's a feel good movie. I came out of there like “Yeah, I got to escape for a little bit”. And thats very valuable as something I think we could use more of right now.