Halloween

A typically painful sequel or the expected flush down the toilet. The new Halloween may be good in terms of craftsmanship, but by the most part is a characterless homage to the original that coldly copies Carpenter’s style, and every attempt at a signature of its own and to subjectivise the titular evil in potentially climactic scenes is paradoxically buried by Michael Myers’s legendary ghostly aura. The intro is a modern spasm that has nothing to do with the darkness of the first one, there’s one key twist that suddenly develops dementia and there are moments when it feels like a Wes Craven flick (the wisecracking black kid). At least the rest is an above-average, lively and at times inventive slasher, the kind we get in cinemas every now and again, but as a direct sequel to a horror legend, unfortunately, it’s not worth much. 55% (18/10/2018)

I only saw the first Halloween, and now this sequel. It’s a great sequel. The creators (very surprising to me) have preserved Carpenter's uncompromising vibe without me feeling like they're just copying it, and everything is in its place, everything has (within the genre of course) logic, justification, reason... call it what you want. And Jamie Lee Curtis is admirable. She managed what Linda Hamilton failed to do in the last Terminator, namely to bring back an iconic female character to the game and not simply rely on her being an iconic female character. Having given a full rating to the original film, I don't see a single reason not to give it this time as well. (23/11/2020)

The sequel that the original Halloween deserved. If we assume that making a sequel four decades later is a good idea, I can’t imagine how it could have been done better. On the other hand, I also have no idea what would have to happen for a thoroughbred slasher to truly excite me in 2018. In an era when prime horror films are not only scary and superbly crafted, but also try to go a bit further, the simple slasher movie is inevitably a step lower. Proof that Halloween, and the sub-genre as a whole, is a relic from the past can be seen when the creators, in a surprising twist, attempt to deviate a little and address the unhealthy obsession of the public with horror icons, which in a slasher movie is a bit too much. Though it does make sense conceptually and fits into the logic of the plot, I cringed at the screen because I was watching something that had no business doing in a slasher flick. Other than that, it’s really brilliant. A masked killing machine immune to psychological analysis, American suburbia and scared teenagers. The moment when Alysson sees her friend skewered on the fence and runs hysterically down the street is the closest to the sheer terror of the original film. (20/10/2018)

Meta Halloween 1978 meets #MeToo2018, and it's bloody good and surprisingly old-fashioned. If it wasn't for the noticeable loss of pace during the overlong finale, and the reprehensible underutilization of the potential of the "new Laurie" with an equally sounding screamer, it's on par with the first one. (16/10/2018)

Michael Myers doesn’t like to be forced into a conversation. The new Halloween is a conventional (it couldn’t have been otherwise), yet beautifully filmed sequel which, above all, compliments the original – it faithfully copies the environment and selected scenes from the initial picture, playfully adjusting or expanding some of them. Besides, there’s a noteworthy work on nostalgia (when Michael put on his iconic mask, the packed cinema exploded with euphoria). I would divide the film into two imaginary parts. The first one depicts a generous dose of murderous rampage across Haddonfield City, where Michael destroys a whole bunch of more or less shallow characters that the viewer won’t emotionally cling to. Therefore, that part will delight the fans of gory slashers, with throttling, stabbing and neck breaking galore. Then, about halfway through, the behaviour of one character takes a very debatable U-turn – a crutch to push ahead with the story. Finally, for the second half, we’re moving into a house where the chase after the main heroines begins and the viewer starts to feel concerned about them. From there, the flick intensifies into a proper heart-wrenching horror full of tension. David Gordon Green made a brilliant contribution to the horror series. And it’s worth noticing that quality Halloween films only come every twenty years (1978, 1998, 2018). [Sitges 2018] (13/10/2018)