** MAJOR SPOILERS. THIS IS YOUR WARNING**
When I heard that a new Halloween movie was coming out, I was skeptical. The remakes done by Rob Zombie were "eh." I personally am not a fan of remakes of any horror movie, especially slashers ones. In Middle School, I was obsessed with slasher films, and my first fan convention was actually Monster Mania, where I met the original Freddy Krueger, Leatherface, and the man who played Michael Myers in Halloween 5 (all of which were sweet men and amazing to their fans.)
But, Halloween 2018 was not a "remake." Instead, it just picked up where they left off. The Halloween franchise did this before with H20, 20 years after the original Halloween.
So, being 40 years after the original movie, it's safe to call this one H40. What makes it cool is that some of it was filmed in Charleston, SC, and I'm still kicking myself for "running into" Jamie Lee Curtis while they were filming. But, in the mental hospital scene, it's obvious that it's the Citadel. Plus, at the gas station, there's a Sweetgrass rose on the desk, which makes me believe that it was also filmed around this area.
H40 had the perfect balance of horror and comedy. We can owe the comedic relief mostly to the character of Julian, played by Jibrail Nantambu. He not only stole the show with his witty one-liners and "oh shit!" when Michael made his appearance, but he was also one of the only characters with common sense when it came to surviving in a horror film.
He did give the boyfriend a warning to run before he was killed, but did he listen??
No! It's safe to assume that Julian survived that Halloween night, and thank God, too, or else I was going to riot.
I wasn't scared perse during the movie. There were a few jumps scares that got me and for good reason, too. But, what really made me cover my eyes were the scenes of the victims after Michael had killed them. That closeup of the sheriff after Michael crushed his head like it was a pumpkin was too much for me, and I had to keep my eyes closed until my friends told me it was safe again.
But, really, the best part of the movie was the three strong female roles: Laurie Strode, Karen, and Allyson.
Three generations of strong, bad-ass women! Laurie may seem paranoid at first to her family, but we all knew what was going to happen, and we know that Laurie was probably the smartest person in all of slasher film history. She was more than prepared and all of her traps and skills came in handy.
Even her unorthodox methods of raising Karen proved to be successful. Did anyone else lose their shit when that "Gotcha!" scene happened? I sure did! Almost gave that scene alone a standing ovation. And then Allyson comes in and stabs the hell out of Michael before he gets locked in the cage.
A lot of people think that there's going to be some sort of sequel and Allyson will become the next killer, but I beg to differ. I think it's time to put the Halloween franchise to rest and accept the fact that Michael Myers is dead, and we end on a strong note of three women being the feminist icons we all deserve.
