The summer movie season may be over, but there's still plenty to look forward to in the fall, including the long-awaited Halloween revival. Horror fans have been highly anticipating this movie, which continues the story of Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie and ignores the majority of the other sequels. The trailers have teased a super scary and gory return to form for the series, and an audience of movie fans and critics got to witness it first-hand last night at the Toronto International Film Festival. CinemaBlend's own Sean O'Connell was on hand to deliver his first impression, noting:
The new Halloween is mean and nasty, and takes no prisoners with regards to its kills. David Gordon Green and co-writer Danny McBride surpass the body count of Carpenter's original before Michael even reaches Haddonfield, and the kills are disturbingly brutal, involving hammers, head butts, long kitchen knives, boots, and much more.
Written by David Gordon Green and Danny McBride, and directed by Green, the newest Halloween takes place 40 years after Michael Myers terrifying murder spree that left only one survivor. That teenage girl, Laurie, is now all grown up with a family of her own and she's been preparing for Myers inevitable return, and it is brutal, according to Sean O'Connell. The new movie ramps up the body count and those looking for some grizzly murders have come to the right place.
The kills are one significant aspect of Halloween, and while Michael Myers is all warmed up and ready to show what he's got, so is Jamie Lee Curtis. The actress comes full circle here, going from frightened babysitter to a shotgun-wielding grandma who's more than ready to settle the score with her old rival. According to Variety's Peter DeBruge, Laurie is badass and capable of taking a beating.
Yes, just shy of 60, Curtis plays one of the toughest, most combat-ready grandmas ever to grace the screen, a lady who can get tossed over a balcony, fall off the roof, and still pick herself up, if it comes down to it.
There aren't very many good Halloween franchise movies, so does this one manage to escape the curse? For the most part, yes, and it manages to be faithful to the original film. Fans of the franchise will be able to spot plenty of winks and homages to that 1978 classic, but Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt wonders if it might be too faithful at times.
The tropes are all here: teenager makeout sessions, frantic escapes through a dark wood, death by ax and steel-toe boot and bathroom stall. (Also the iconic score, the pumpkin-colored font of the credits, and a few original supporting characters.) In some ways, Green might even be too faithful; there's no new Deadpool-y twist of fourth-wall breaking or this-is-why-he-cries backstory.
Overall, the impression seems to be that those looking for a bloody horror movie that kicks ass will be satisfied by Halloween. It's being called the Star Wars: The Force Awakens of the Halloween franchise by more than one person on Twitter. It's full of the things people love about the first movie, plus introduces some new things while being surprisingly funny.
You'll be able to make your own judgment about Halloween when it arrives in theaters on October 19, 2018.
