A New Sequel

The David Gordon Green sequel to the original Halloween film is excellent. What makes it excellent? A few things. Read on, but only if you have already viewed the film. **Spoilers ahead.

#1. The film nods at its original 1978 movie in terms of camerawork. The long slow paces of Michael walking, the close-ups of the character's faces, the car rides.

#2. Nick Castle, the actor who played "The Shape" in just the original film returns to take over his role once again. But unlike the first film, we never get a good look at his actual face.

#3. The music: John Carpenter's beautiful theme music creates the perfect tone, the sinister steps of Michael, the nearing danger, and so on.

#4. The many references to the original sequels. The painting in Laurie's 1978 bedroom is seen in her daughter's bedroom. A death scene mimics an old lady's scare from part 2. The bathroom scene nods to H2O's. Dr. Sartain killing a cop to see what it feels like to be Michael Myers. A ghost sheet draped over someone's body recalls part 1's Michael's ghost costume. A boy is tacked to the wall like Bob in part 1. Laurie fakes her death after she falls to the grass from being pushed out a second story window, but when Michael looks back down, her body is gone, the disappearing act Michael himself pulled in part 1. A mechanic's uniform is taken and he is killed, similar to a scene in part 5. One man's head is stomped on and his bloody brain comes out (goriest part of the film), similar to the ending of part 4. There might be more, but those are the ones that stand out.

Character Development/Writing Quality: What is different about this movie is its focus on what trauma and severe PTSD has on Laurie Strode. Not only does she almost entirely hole herself up in a Fort Knox type home for forty years, her actions have a large impact on her own daughter and granddaughter. We soon see that the three generations of women are in this nightmare together. There is also a large cast of characters that we get to hang out with for a while. A lot of humor is thrown in here, alleviating some of the tension and fear, including a tender moment between a babysitter and the child. This film diverts from the original series in the way it expands on trauma and what it can do to a person. Allyson's dad gets to say a lot of funny lines too.

Values: The grandmother/mom/daughter bond is stronger than they all realize. Thrown in a psychotic serial killer and it's amazing how quickly resourceful one can be.

Content (sex, language & violence): There are a few curse words uttered which are used at times in fear, which makes sense, but other times out of humor. There is no sex, though one crude reference to the act, and no nudity aside from one quick dim shot of a girls' chest (Judith's) from 1978 from her death scene. When Allyson's boyfriend lets another girl kiss him, she ends the relationship. The death scenes are brutal, so strong violence.

Scare Factor: Yes, it's there, but you see it coming. The best scenes are the ones with extra long sequences until you get there.

Twist: Dr. Sartain, who takes over the care of Myers after Loomis dies, becomes obsessed with what's behind the mask and decides to take someone's life to see what it feels like, even donning Myer's mask, while he's passed out, in an attempt to get inside his head. This resonates a bit with Dr. Wynn's shocking involvement with Samhain.

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