Garrett Wareing as Stebbins, Roman Griffin Davis as Curley, Charlie Plummer as Barkovitch, Cooper Hoffman as Garraty, David Jonsson as McVries, Ben Wang as Olson, Joshua Odjick as Parker, Jordan Gonzalez as Harkness, and Tut Nyuot as Baker in The Long Walk. Photo Credit: Murray Close/Lionsgate
In the upcoming and highly anticipated film THE LONG WALK, the RULES OF THE WALK are:
Total participants: 50
Required pace to maintain: 3 MPH
If participants fall below the required pace, they will get a warning. If they are unable to reach the speed within 10 seconds, they will get an additional warning.
Total warnings: 3
Note: Participants are eliminated before a 4th warning is called.
On Saturday, Lionsgate held a special screening where for 1 hour and 48 minutes invited guests had to walk a treadmill, called the “treadmill elimination event,” in order to see THE LONG WALK, but with a few diabolical conditions…
via The Wrap: “if you don’t keep up a pace that’s faster than 3 mph, then you’ll have to leave the theater — even if the movie isn’t over.
“If they stop, they will be pulled from the screening and escorted out of the theater,” a press release for the activation reportedly reads. The screening will take place at the Culver Theater on Saturday, Aug. 30, where a theater house has replaced all of the seating with treadmills.“
News of this screening has been reported all over the place and the genius marketing for the event has made even non-horror fans want to check out the film.
There was also a ‘Biometrics Screening’ where the audience had their vital signs monitored while watching the movie. Heart rates went thru the roof!
From the highly anticipated adaptation of master storyteller Stephen King’s first-written novel (https://amzn.to/4mqMJ1z), and Francis Lawrence, the visionary director of The Hunger Games franchise films (Catching Fire, Mocking Jay – Pts. 1&2, and The Ballad of the Songbirds & Snakes), comes THE LONG WALK, an intense, chilling, and emotional thriller that challenges audiences to confront a haunting question: how far could you go?
Starring Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Roman Griffin Davis, Jordan Gonzalez, Joshua Odjick, Josh Hamilton, with Judy Greer, and Mark Hamill.
“We’re walking, we’re actually walking,” said Nyuot, who plays the competitor Arthur. “It’s something that I don’t think has ever been done, just constantly on the move. So mentally, just getting into that headspace and just staying locked in and treating every scene as if it’s new, ’cause we’re doing it so many times. We filmed one scene a day.”
Contributed by Michelle McCue and Melissa Thompson
Payman Maadi as time-travel inventor Jabir in the sci-fi drama APORIA. Courtesy of WellGoUSA
Time-travel tales always raise logical questions about inconsistencies and effects. One of the tropes is that everything will go kablooey if your time-traveling self meets the prior one. Another is the warning to minimize interactions with those of yore to avoid collateral influences that will change their future and your present, as in the “Butterfly Effect.” Generally, films using this premise minimize our mental gymnastics by filling the screen with so much action that we don’t have time to think about the science what-ifs. The TERMINATOR franchise exemplifies the distraction factor. The title’s definition is of internal contradictions or a logical impasse.
APORIA tries a different approach to avoid the first problem in this drama. A guy named Jabir (Payman Maadi) builds a time machine that’s not strong enough to send a person back but could send something small – like a bullet. Judy Greer plays Sophie, a widow devastated by the loss of her husband, Mal (Edi Gathegi), to a drunk driver a year earlier – not only for her own sorrow, but its having turned their bright, energetic daughter (Faithe Herman) into a sullen a-hole. Mal had been the inventor’s best friend and partner in the early stages of crafting the device, so Jabir is grieving as well.
After a lot of musing on whether they should try to off the guy who killed Mal “before” that fateful moment could occur, they give it a literal and figurative shot. It works. Their present changes to one with a restored loving husband and happy child who have no knowledge of the year Sophie and Jamir had lived. They, in turn, have no memories of the year the rest of this new reality experienced. That’s based on the quantum physics principle that the presence of an observer alters the outcome of what we consider to be objective reality. So whoever is aware of the maneuver will have lived and retained a different past than the rest of the “new” world, which in turn, has no idea their lives had been manipulated. (I hope any physicists reading the previous sentence will forgive whatever shortcomings they find in my untrained attempt to describe this concept.)
The first problem arises when Sophie learns that the wife and child of the drunk dude suffered greatly and unjustly from his loss after her temporal futzing. She tries to atone for that, leading to other forays into yesteryear, each of which brings unintended consequences. Not usually in good ways.
That’s the problem for the cast to deal with. The problem for audiences is that Jared Moshe wrote and directed what may be the slowest, talkiest time-travel flick in the reality “I’ve” experienced. The principals moralize and agonize endlessly over the justification for each step, and all the possibilities of any action they could take. This gives viewers too much time to ponder options and directions the script might provide to reach a desirable ending, and to do their own mental gymnastics about the logic of the underlying concept. There’s more melodrama here than in most time-travel features. There’s also the unsubtle movie reference of naming Greer’s character Sophie and giving her such drastic life-altering choices.
Most sci-fi buffs will likely find this rather tedious. Those seeking family character dramas should be more satisfied. I can’t begin to speculate on what actual scientists will think. I ducked too many of those classes in the reality I believe we’re experiencing as I type this.
APORIA debuts on Digital, DVD and Blu-ray on Tuesday, Sept. 12.
Evil dies tonight. Jamie Lee Curtis(“Scream Queens”, Knives Out), Judy Greer(The Village, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Andi Matichak (Blue Bloods, Orange is the New Black)and the entire town of Haddonfield band together to take down the infamous killer Michael Myers in the never-before-seen Extended Cut of HALLOWEEN KILLS, arriving on Digital December 14, 2021, as well as on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD January 11, 2022. Hailed as “A bloodthirsty sequel” (Bloody Disgusting),HALLOWEENKILLS features the original theatrical release, the Extended Cut with Alternate Ending and exclusive bonus content which includes extended and deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes look at creating the film, special gag reel and more!
Now you can win the Win the Blu-ray of HALLOWEEN KILLS. We Are Movie Geeks has one to give away. Just leave a comment below telling us what your favorite movie in the HALLOWEEN franchise is (I’d say HALLOWEEN 3. It’s so easy!)
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The Halloween night when Michael Myers returned isn’t over yet. Michael manages to free himself from Laurie Strode’s (Jamie Lee Curtis) trap to resume his ritual bloodbath. As Laurie fights for her life from injuries from her last encounter with Michael, she inspires her daughter Karen (Judy Greer), granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak), and all of Haddonfield to rise up against their unstoppable monster. The vigilante mob then sets out to hunt Michael down, once and for all.
Master of horror John Carpenter (Halloween 1978, Halloween 2018) once again joins forces with director David Gordon Green (Halloween, Pineapple Express) and producers Jason Blum (Blumhouse), Malek Akkad (Trancas International Films) and Bill Block (Miramax) for this continuation of the Halloween franchise. HALLOWEEN KILLS also includes a stellar cast, including Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton (The Forever Purge, The Postman), Thomas Mann (Kong: Skull Island, Amityville: The Awakening) and Anthony Michael Hall (“The Dead Zone”, The Dark Knight). “As immortal as Michael Myers himself” (The Wrap), HALLOWEEN KILLS offers a tricky treat for audiences both old and new.
HADDONFIELD’S OPEN WOUNDS – Those who die at the hands of Michael Myers are not his only victims. We look at some of the returning characters, and why their past traumatic encounters with The Shape made them natural candidates to try and defend Haddonfield against him.
THE KILL TEAM – It takes a big team to create a film the scale of HALLOWEEN KILLS, especially when part of the task is raising the bar for Michael’s gruesome kills. We hear the people behind the mayhem discuss how they continue to push the franchise to new heights.
STRODE FAMILY VALUES – Filmmakers and cast discuss the three generations of Strode women that have been terrorized by The Shape, and the roles Laurie, Karen and Allyson play in trying to vanquish his evil.
1978 TRANSFORMATIONS – Shooting new footage that matches the feel of the iconic 1978 footage is no easy task, and even takes a little bit of luck. We reveal some of the secrets of how filmmakers achieved these stunning sequences.
THE POWER OF FEAR – The impact of Michael Myers’ pure evil extends far beyond his victims. We examine how fear of The Shape changed the psychology of the people of Haddonfield.
KILL COUNT
FEATURE COMMENTARY – Director/co-writer David Gordon Green and stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Judy Greer
Watch the final trailer for HALLOWEEN KILLS, In Theaters And Streaming Only On Peacock October 15th
In 2018, David Gordon Green’s Halloween, starring icon Jamie Lee Curtis, killed at the box office, earning more than $250 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing chapter in the four-decade franchise and setting a new record for the biggest opening weekend in history for a horror film starring a woman.
And the Halloween night when Michael Myers returned isn’t over yet.
Minutes after Laurie Strode (Curtis), her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) left masked monster Michael Myers caged and burning in Laurie’s basement, Laurie is rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, believing she finally killed her lifelong tormentor.
But when Michael manages to free himself from Laurie’s trap, his ritual bloodbath resumes. As Laurie fights her pain and prepares to defend herself against him, she inspires all of Haddonfield to rise up against their unstoppable monster.
The Strode women join a group of other survivors of Michael’s first rampage who decide to take matters into their own hands, forming a vigilante mob that sets out to hunt Michael down, once and for all.
Evil dies tonight.
Michael Myers (aka The Shape) in Halloween Kills, directed by David Gordon Green
Universal Pictures, Miramax, Blumhouse Productions and Trancas International Films present Halloween Kills, co-starring Will Patton as Officer Frank Hawkins, Thomas Mann (Kong: Skull Island) and Anthony Michael Hall (The Dark Knight).
From the returning filmmaking team responsible for the 2018 global phenomenon, Halloween Kills is written by Scott Teems (SundanceTV’s Rectify) and Danny McBride and David Gordon Green based on characters created by John Carpenter and Debra Hill. The film is directed by David Gordon Green and produced by Malek Akkad, Jason Blum and Bill Block. The executive producers are John Carpenter, Jamie Lee Curtis, Danny McBride, David Gordon Green and Ryan Freimann.
In 1973, teenaged Beth Bledsoe (Sophia Lillis) leaves her rural Southern hometown to study at New York University where her beloved Uncle Frank (Paul Bettany) is a revered literature professor. She soon discovers that Frank is gay, and living with his longtime partner Walid “Wally” Nadeem (Peter Macdissi) — an arrangement that he has kept secret for years. After the sudden death of Frank’s father — Beth’s grandfather — Frank is forced to reluctantly return home for the funeral with Beth in tow, and to finally face a long-buried trauma that he has spent his entire adult life running away from.
Writer-director Alan Ball’s heartfelt and hilarious road movie travels from the bohemian scene of post-Stonewall New York City to rural South Carolina, following Frank’s painful journey from hitting rock bottom to acceptance and forgiveness and, finally, reintegration into his family and into life itself. Bettany reveals Frank’s fragile core by peeling away the layers of Frank’s sophisticated but guarded persona. Sophia Lillis plays Beth as a naive but observant young woman whose eyes are opened to a world she could never have imagined. Peter Macdissi also has a standout performance as Wally, a man whose capacity for compassion runs deeper than he even knows. Ball (known for his ensemble TV work on Six Feet Under and True Blood) also elicits strong turns from his superb supporting cast, including Stephen Root, Margo Martindale, Steve Zahn, Judy Greer and Lois Smith.
Amazon Studios will release UNCLE FRANK on Prime Video November 25th, 2020.
Need to drop off the kids at the multiplex while you take care of some pre-Thanksgiving “prep”? Or Christmas shopping (sheez, you perfect planners make us all feel like lazy slackers). Well, it’s still a few weeks until FROZEN 2, that Addams clan is going the way of the bags of “fun-size” candies and cardboard witches, and those ARTIC DOGS are racing across the tundra toward home video (seems to be setting records….all the “worst-ever’ ones). How about a nice PG-rated “family-friendly” slapstick comedy? Most kids love those firefighters and their big trucks (in grade school we’d rush to window upon the siren’s wail), and those big larger than life wrestlers. Mix ’em all up with a lovable sloppy dog and three rowdy, mischievous kids and you’ve got the “kiddie matinee fodder’ entitled PLAYING WITH FIRE. But with that name, is there still a big chance that you’ll get burned?
At the start of the story, we’re dropped right into a wildfire blaze alongside a jammed roadway. Luckily, the “smoke jumpers” of the nearby Redding, CA are there. led by heroic, stoic, chiseled, buff Jake ‘Supe’ Carson (John Cena). As the haze begins to clear, he and his men are whisked away via helicopter. Back at HQ, they watch a news report interview with San Diego Fire Commander Richards (Dennis Haysbert) who says that they need more “jumpers” at his bigger, busier main San Diego branch. Jake is stunned to see that most of his guys do indeed jump at the prospect, rushing out the door leaving a trio of loyal firefighters: pilot/cook Rodrigo (John Leguizamo), silent towering “mountain man” Axe (Tyler Mane), and Jake’s good “right hand”, the excitable Mark (Keegan Michael Key), along with a slobbering Mastiff named Masher (no Dalmations). As Jake ponders applying for the soon-retiring Richards’ position, a call comes in on a cabin on fire. Since there’s a major thunderstorm approaching, the quartet heads out, eventually saving a trio of youngsters: adorable three-year-old Zoey (Finley Rose Slater), adventurous impulsive 12-year-old Will (Christian Convery), and their “in charge” teenage sister Bree (Brianna Hildebrand). Returning to the station, she tells Jake that their folks have gone out on a “date”. And since the big storm has hit (blocking cell phone signals, so no word from the parents), they’ll have to “bunk” with the jumpers (lots of newly empty cots there now). They’ll be picked up in the morning, so how much trouble can they get into? And really, it’s just for one night, right?
The cast struggles to bring some depth to the cartoonish “one-note” characters. Cena, so funny in TRAINWRECK and SISTERS, is basically a humorless, stick up his you-know-what, straight man to be the butt of the hi-jinks of his co-workers and the kids. In the opening sequence, he does a nice bit of spoofing his action leading man looks (and he doffs several too-tight but now soiled T-shirts), but mainly he’s there to get things back in order. Key brings his usual high energy to Mark, but he’s doing a variation of his “hyper-focused’ manic sketch roles, a lackluster follow-up to his superb recent work in DOLEMITE IS MY NAME (stream it now). Leguizamo brings a bit of his motor-mouthed street hustler bravado to Rodrigo, but he can’t make the “call back” bits (nobody wants his Spam-infused recipes) work. Mane is intimidating as Axe, but it’s obvious his surly demeanor will melt away to reveal the ole’ ‘softy’ inside. As for the kids, Slater is an onslaught of adorableness, whose twinking eyes cast a spell on all (human and animal) caught in her gaze. Convery gives us a modern riff on the kid “trying to help” disasters of Dennis the Menace and the Little Rascals. And Hildebrand is a convincing “ring leader’, a protecting mini-matriarch who tries to juggle the responsibilities thrust upon her. It’s great to hear Haysbert’s booming authoritative voice, but he’s given little to do in an extended cameo. Always great, but criminally under-utilized is the gifted comic actress Judy Greer brought in as a brainy love-interest for Jake. She has to engage in some silly slapstick (dunked in a pond and drenched in a rainstorm…within minutes), until the kids play “matchmaker” to the bickering (so they must actually like each other) duo, when, as researcher Dr. Amy, she’s not fretting over her rare frogs. The talented Ms. Greer deserves a better showcase for her skills.
Director Andy Fickman can’t keep the pace light and consistent, making the flick lose any zany pep long before the usual “one hour in comedy lull”. Of course, the lackluster predictable script from Dan Ewen and Matt Lieberman (it really took two) should shoulder most of the blame. Even the standard “fireman” gags just fall flat making us recall how they were done with more style and hilarity more than eighty years ago in the classic 3 Stooges short “False Alarms” (they can’t wring laughs from a “snake-like” firehose). Some make give this a pass saying “well it’s PG, so the kids’ll eat it up” (talk about cinema indigestion). With some many witty, creative films aimed at the family market (the recent ADDAMS FAMILY and the returning toys of last Summer), that casual excuse for sloppiness just can’t cut it, especially when the end product came from three (!) studios: Paramount Players, Nickelodeon, and Walden Media. The only winner of this whole debacle may be actor Joe Manganiello who’s at the top of the “special thanks” list in the final end credits. Way to dodge a bullet, dude (perhaps he was to play Jake or Axe)! Unfortunately, audiences risk a nasty retinal scorching (pass the first aid kit) after watching the dreadful PLAYING WITH FIRE.
There are a few good reasons to see Nick Hamm’s Driven, (releasing August 16th on Digital and VOD) and four of them can be discerned rather quickly: Jason Sudekis, Lee Pace, Judy Greer and Corey Stoll. In the pantheon of good casting this year, Driven is the one to beat. A few hard-working, excellent, character actors can elevate even the most cliche material and Driven is one such case.
Driven follows the true story of Jim Hoffman (Jason Sudekis) who through a series of unfortunate events ended up as an informant for the F.B.I, a close confidant of John Delorean (Lee Pace) as the Delorean brand flamed out, and a major witness in the case against Delorean. There’s parties, sex, drugs, marital problems, male angst, bromance and lots of 80’s fashion.
If this sounds like your regular cut and dry “true story” crime film, you’d be right. Driven doesn’t aspire to be much more than a middle brow, well oiled machine of a movie. It does aspire to be the best middle brow, well oiled machine of a movie and it just about gets there.
The cast makes a big difference. As mentioned at the top, the people in this are some of the best working character actors today. Sudekis has always been an underappreciated player when it comes to drama, Pace is one of the most charismatic leading men that the business has, Greer plays the thankless wife role with at least a little bit of nuance and Corey Stoll…well Corey Stoll should be in every movie.
However, all of this work can’t quite outrun just how substandard much of the production aspects are. As much as the cast can pretend it’s the 80’s, the cliched visual signifiers that the lighting and the production design fall onto don’t do anything to make the film feel lived in. Everything looks a little too slick, beautiful, and colorful and while the pastiche is an excellent representation of what the 80’s have been sold to us as, the effect is middling at best.
The story of John Delorean’s cocaine days is one that has probably inspired many other crime films and it shows. Now that somebody has made a movie about it, the truth can’t help but feel like a cliche, even if the cast is good enough to elevate the material. With a little bit of creativity lent to visual design, Driven could have matched its players. Without this, it’s a halfway decent, if never exemplary flick.
The infamous killer Michael Myers strikes again in Halloween, arriving on Digital and via the digital movie app MOVIES ANYWHERE on December 28, 2018, as well as on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-rayTM, DVD and On Demand on January 15, 2019. Hailed by critics as “a near perfect blend of craft, character growth and nostalgia” (Perri Nemiroff, Collider), Halloween takes place four decades after Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis, Halloween Franchise, “Scream Queens”) narrowly escaped the masked Michael Myers’ brutal killing spree. Packed with bonus features including chilling deleted and extended scenes as well as special featurettes showing behind the scenes looks at creating the film, Halloween delivers spine-chilling, hair-raising intensity and thrills to both new and repeat viewers.
Forty years after the events of 1978’s Halloween, Laurie Strode (Curtis) now lives in a heavily guarded home on the edge of Haddonfield, where she’s spent decades preparing for Michael’s potential return. After being locked up in an institution, Myers manages to escape when a bus transfer goes terribly wrong, leading to chaos in the same town he preyed on decades earlier. Laurie now faces a terrifying showdown when the deranged killer returns for her and her family – but this time, she’s ready for him.
Master of horror John Carpenter (Halloween (1978), The Thing) joins forces with director David Gordon Green (Joe, Pineapple Express) and producers Jason Blum (Blumhouse), Malek Akkad (Trancas International Films) and Bill Block (Miramax) for this follow up to Carpenter’s 1978 classic horror film. Halloween also includes a stellar cast including Judy Greer (Ant-Man and The Wasp, Jurassic World), Andi Matichak (“Underground”), Will Patton (Armageddon, The Punisher), and Virginia Gardner (Project Almanac, “Runaways”). Proving “classics never die” (Mara Reinstein, US Weekly), Halloween offers a tricky treat for audiences both old and new. Halloween is the perfect slasher film, lauded as “hands down the best Halloween sequel ever” (Katie Walsh, Nerdist) and “immensely entertaining” (Eric Eisenberg, Cinemablend).
BONUS FEATURES on 4K ULTRA HD, BLU-RAYTM, DVD & DIGITAL:
Deleted/Extended Scenes
Extended Shooting Range
Shower Mask Visit
Jog to a Hanging Dog
Allyson and Friends at School
Cameron and Cops Don’t Mix
Deluxe Banh Mi Cops
Sartain and Hawkins Ride Along
Back in Haddonfield: Making Halloween
The Original Scream Queen
The Sound of Fear
Journey of the Mask
The Legacy of Halloween
The film will be available on 4K Ultra HD in a combo pack which includes 4K Ultra HD Blu-rayTM, Blu-rayTM and Digital. The 4K Ultra HD disc will include the same bonus features as the Blu-rayTM version, all in stunning 4K resolution.
Here’s a first look at Annapurna Pictures’ WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE.
The film stars Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Kristen Wiig, Emma Nelson, James Urbaniak, Judy Greer, Troian Bellisario, Zoe Chao and Laurence Fishburne.
WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE is based on the runaway bestseller about Bernadette Fox, a Seattle woman who had it all – a loving husband and a brilliant daughter. When she unexpectedly disappears, her family sets off on an exciting adventure to solve the mystery of where she might have gone.
Directed by Richard Linklater with a screenplay by Richard Linklater & Holly Gent & Vince Palmo, the film is based on the novel written by Maria Semple.
Linklater has directed such films as DAZED AND CONFUSED, A SCANNER DARKLY, BERNIE, the Oscar-nominated BOYHOOD and most recently LAST FLAG FLYING starring Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne, and Steve Carell.
WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE opens in theaters on March 22, 2019.
As Tommy says to Laurie in the original 1978 film, “You can’t kill the Boogeyman.” It was never a question if he would return to the big screen… just a matter of when. Unfortunately, HALLOWEEN and Michael Myers have always been misinterpreted since the John Carpenter classic. His story has gone in directions that never lived up to the “Boogeyman” status. He once existed as part man and part dark fantasy. What he’s capable of in the original film goes beyond the suspension of belief, but it’s always grounded by John Carpenter’s masterful handling of the story. While the new 2018 film is the one sequel that comes the closest to presenting this idea, it once again falls victim to the same missteps that the later films in the series and the slasher genre as a whole embraced with open arms. The original was never about the kills and gory imagery on screen, but rather how the power of suggestion can make you believe that both man and myth can form a monster.
I have to give him credit. David Gordon Green tries hard to make this as faithful to the original as possible, coaxing Carpenter to return as producer and composer, Jamie Lee Curtis to reprise the role of Laurie Strode, and Nick Castle, as the “the Shape” of Michael Myers. Even compositions, at times, like the silhouetted inmates walking in the moonlight following a bus crash remind the viewer of Dean Cundey’s original cinematography. And yet, for all the good intentions, the film still feels the need to abandon what worked so well in the original in lieu of more flashy content like a killing spree depicted in a long single-take shot between households.
One of the most glaring issues with the film is the casting. As an integral part of Laurie’s emotional arc, Judy Greer is completely miscast as her daughter Karen. Now a mother of a teenage daughter, the character serves as the “voice of reason” who has moved on from her mother’s painful past. Her backstory as a former survivalist-in-training under her mother’s wing is never truly felt, and her scenes with Jamie Lee Curtis where she looks on her mother with embarrassment, never feel balanced opposite Curtis’ gut-wrenching and genuine performance. “The new Loomis,” as described by Laurie in the film, also struggles to find his place in the film. In the hands of Haluk Bilginer, Dr. Sartain comes across as a mix of Udo Kier and a Donald Pleasance impersonator in a 70s Italian horror film. That’s not even acknowledging the unnecessary turns in his story.
John Carpenter gives new life to his classic score in faithful and suspenseful style which also adds an emotional texture to Laurie’s survivor story. The connection between Michael and Laurie – the hunter and hunted – and how they relate to each other is the most sincere and effective element of the film. Laurie’s trauma is portrayed with a steely intensity by Curtis. She has trained herself to become an unblinking and unwavering warrior, but the film isn’t afraid to show her break down as a result of her trauma. Curtis lives up to the physical and mental challenges of the role, especially in the final act. The original HALLOWEEN may have ushered in the “woman in peril” genre, but the new film shows how peril can create a somber and strong story of redemption. How the events of 40 years ago have shaped each of them is what becomes the jumping off point, but along the way, this idea takes a backseat and the script veers into post-modern winking and bloodshed.
David Gordon Green’s HALLOWEEN rather quickly becomes about the unstoppable nature of this man. And while the “Boogeyman” idea is often referenced, the film relies heavily on the malicious killing power of Michael Myers. The bulk of the film seems like a melee of carnage until the finale, when audiences are finally treated to an entertaining blend of nods to the original with a modern take on the home invasion model. HALLOWEEN (2018) is exactly what you would expect from a film made 40 years later: a continuation of a horror classic that can’t commit to the restraint that Carpenter showcased in his masterpiece.
In the opening moments of the film, a journalist pulls out the mask Michael wore 40 years ago and taunts him by saying, “You feel its power, don’t you?” The mask is a central theme to HALLOWEEN. The original opens with a young Michael Myers putting on a simple clown mask and murdering his sister. You don’t know his motives, and it’s not until the mask is pulled off that we see the face of a young boy emotionless and frozen with fear. He doesn’t even answer when his parents call his name. At this moment, Carpenter shows that anyone can become the “Boogeyman.” And yet the fantastical power of the mask isn’t felt with this new film. Watching Michael slip on the mask again doesn’t feel the same as it once did. It might look like and sound like HALLOWEEN at times, but it doesn’t necessarily feel like it. And for some die-hard fans of the series, that might be enough to welcome the long-awaited return of the “Boogeyman.”
Overall score: 3 out of 5
HALLOWEEN (2018) opens in theaters Friday, October 19th
