Halloween Movie Review: Green, not Hallowed

U/A: Horror, Thriller
Director: David Green
Cast: Jamie Curtis, Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak
Ratings:

This film starring actress Jamie Lee Curtis is a sequel of the 1978 film, Halloween(in which she, as Laurie Strode, was the sole survivor) and is directed David Gordon Green. It's a highly anticipated one because it's considered more legit than the numerous remakes and sequels that came in the interim 40 year period - given that the great John Carpenter himself has taken on the roles of Executive producer and creative consultant for this one.

The narrative opens with a pair of podcasters going to meet Michael and Laurie for a story they're doing - about their lives in the interim. Michael (James Jude Courtney, and a cameo by the originating actor, Nick Castle) continues to give us the silent treatment while Laurie is so obsessed that she has been living in limbo, preparing for the day she can wreak her vengeance on the killer. Dr Loomis, the psychiatrist from the first film gets a shoo-in, and his protege Dr Sartain (Haluk Bilginer) provides some unpredictability. While Michael was incarcerated, Laurie was in a prison of her own making, preparing for a doomsday that would logically, never have happened- but not for B movie contrivances. Predictably, Mike later escapes, beats the two podcasters to death and then makes his way back to Haddonfield (conveniently) on Halloween.

The interesting aspect here is director Green's attempt to show us the view from the killer's sights. The narrative thereafter falls into a sinkhole of a dozen or so victims without making any attempt to build-up atmosphere or sound reasoning. Green references Carpenter's original but there's no high in seeing a repeat. There's no tension, suspense or real true blue scares here. Green's attempt at homage falls flat because it's a copy version rather than a creative one.

The camerawork is interesting but the audience will not take kindly to being a mere voyeur of a series of killings. The audience needs to feel the burn but it never happens here. There's a huge difference between Carpenter's original Halloween and Green's current effort. Carpenter's original was starkly horrific - the created atmospherics making it compellingly fearsome. Green's is just about playing it by numbers.

He tries for contemplation but it plays out as slackened tempo. Plotting is stupid and silly. The attempt to give a feminist slant to the theme also comes across as entirely contrived and hopeless. But the most unconvincing part of Green's Halloween is the attempt to lend fantasy undead kind of impregnability to Mike Myers. At way past 60 after 40 years in a prison sanatorium with constant doses of anti-deps and another high potency debilitating medication he can still walk away unscathed and renewed after several stab wounds and a deliberate car hit? Green I say, stays true to his name!

Take a look at the trailer, here:

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