Well, ladies and gentlemen, Halloween is almost here.  Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve covered different topics including the supernatural, dark action movies and British horror films.  While the supernatural definitely plays a huge part in this holiday, Halloween is also about dressing up as monsters.  Ghouls and goblins are definitely par for the course for Halloween, but the two of the most popular monsters associated with Halloween are vampires and werewolves.  While I initially intended to do separate posts for each one, I feel that these two are so intrinsically tied with each other and the holiday, that I think it’s a better idea to combine the two into one post.  Vampire movies have been around since nearly the beginning of the medium.  One of the earliest examples is Nosferatu, starring Max Schreck.  One of the earliest werewolf movies released was 1941’s The Wolf Man starring Lon Chaney, Jr.  While vampires have become more popular over the years, werewolves are just as terrifying.  I think everybody knows what these two monsters are, so I will refrain from explaining them.  This post will delve into my favorite vampire and werewolf movies.  Let’s sink our teeth into these ones.

Dracula(1931)

What can I say about this film that hasn’t already been said?  It’s a classic in every sense of the word.  Based on the Bram Stoker novel of the same name, the film follows a mysterious Transylvanian count as he makes his way to England.  As it turns out, this mysterious figure is Count Dracula, and he’s searching England for a bride.  The other thing is, is that he’s a vampire, needing to drink human blood to survive.  This is definitely Bela Lugosi’s film, through and through.  Not only is he charming and charismatic, he’s also scary as hell when he needs to be.  The actor’s natural Hungarian accent helps make the character one of the most iconic on-screen villains of all time.  Of all the classic monster movies, Dracula stands tall above every single one of them.  87 years later, the film still has an impact on audiences around the world.  That’s how good this movie is.

The Wolfman(2010)

2010’s remake of the classic The Wolf Man is one that I completely forgot about.  I know people have often ragged on the 2010 film, but I found it to be a very entertaining film.  Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, and Hugo Weaving really help bring this story to life.  It’s about a man who has to return home when he finds out that his brother has been killed by a mysterious beast.  As it turns out, this beast is a werewolf that only appears during the full moon.  While out hunting for the beast, Ben Talbot is bitten and left for dead.  Some time after, he begins to change into something monstrous.  While I can’t say that the 2010 film is better than the Lon Chaney film, I actually found this one to be more entertaining.  It has some interesting twists and turns woven into it that make it a little more interesting.  It’s not a perfect film, but I really dig the setting and the atmosphere here.  The gore and creature designs don’t hurt, either.

Underworld

While Underworld isn’t the first film to bring the two legendary monsters together, it’s definitely the most stylish.  The film follows a group of vampires led by the beautiful, yet, deadly Selene as they hunt down their enemies, the lycans, or werewolves.  The two species have been locked into a never-ending war for the last 1,000 years.  After the success of The Matrix, a lot of movie studios that it would be cool to have their heroes dressed in black and wearing a trench coat.  In the case of Underworld, it kind of works.  It’s not by any means a great movie, but it has a lot of good things going for it.  The creature designs are really cool, as the werewolves are generally done with men in suits, making them seem real.  The fight sequences are pretty good, if a bit generic.  What really sells this film is the cast.  You have Kate Beckinsale as Selene and she is fantastic.  It also doesn’t hurt that she’s a stunning woman and she looks even better clad in black.  Bill Nighy is simply fantastic as Victor, a vampire Elder.  Michael Sheen also does a good job as Lucien, the leader of the werewolves.  The film does blur the line between who are the “good guys” and who are the “bad guys.”  Say what you will about the sequels to Underworld, but the first movie is one of my favorites.

30 Days of Night

I actually reviewed this one a little while back, so if you want to check out my review of 30 Days of Night, you can hit the reviews tab at the top of the page.  Based on the graphic novel of the same name, 30 Days of Night is set in Barrow, Alaska.  During winter at one point, the sun goes down for 30 days, leaving the town in perpetual night.  During this particular event, the town is beset by a group of ravenous and vicious vampires that lay waste to what’s left of the population.  To say that this is a brutal vampire movie is an understatement.  As I stated in my review, these vampires are a far more vicious kind of beast than you see in other movies.  They behave more like animals and that makes them even more terrifying.  The leader, Marlow, is one of the scariest vampires I’ve ever seen in a movie, and Danny Huston just brings the savagery to the character.  It’s bloody, violent and dark.

Dog Soldiers

While I mentioned Dog Soldiers in my post about the best British horror movies, the film still belongs on this list.  Director Neil Marshall’s first feature-length film is a horror movie knock-out.  Not many directors can say that their first movie will go down as one of the best horror movies of the early 21st century.  The film follows a group of British S.A.S soldiers as they are being stalked by a group of gigantic werewolves.  The effects of the film are outstanding, as they are all practical.  It’s a gory movie for sure as one guy is disemboweled and still lives.  It’s bizarre, but it works.  The werewolves themselves are like something of a goddamn nightmare.  They’re like 10-11 feet tall and they are massive.  But they can also move.  The cast includes Sean Pertwee of Event Horizon and Liam Cunningham of Game of Thrones.  It’s an incredibly wild film that no horror fan should miss.

From Dusk Till Dawn

If, for some reason, you knew absolutely nothing about this movie going in, without seeing trailers or any kind of marketing, you might be forgiven for thinking that this film starts out as a crime thriller.  Yeah…..no.  It starts off that way, but it turns into something even more crazy about 30 minutes in.  From Dusk Till Dawn follows two hardened criminals as they kidnap a family and make their way towards Mexico, only stopping at a bar called the Titty Twister.  Stopping here turns out to be a mistake as the owner’s and employees turn out to be demonic vampires and basically slaughter all the customers.  This movie stands out for a number of reasons.  First of all, the cast is incredible: George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis, Cheech Marin, Salma Hayek, and the legendary Fred Williamson all have outstanding parts in the film.  It is absolutely one of the most bonkers vampire movies I have ever seen in my life and we have Robert Rodriguez to thank for it.

Those are some of my favorite vampire and werewolf movies.  Halloween is literally two days from now, as of this writing, so I will be wrapping up this series tomorrow.  I will also have something special for you folks on Halloween day, so be sure to stick around for that.  This has absolutely been one of my most satisfying projects that I’ve done for this site, and I hope you all feel the same way.  So…stay tuned as I wrap up this special series of The Best.

With Halloween less than a week away, I think it’s about time we talk about the supernatural aspects of Halloween, or All Hallow’s Eve, as it was once called way back in the day.  One of the stories about Halloween is that the reason why people dress up at this time of year, is because the line between this world and the next is thinner and basically allows spirits from the next world to come into ours.  Dressing up as ghouls and goblins was supposed to protect people from evil spirits while also allowing people to remember those that have passed.  While most people would associate Halloween with Trick or Treating and parties, the actual meaning of the holiday was far more spiritual, especially for the Celts in ancient Ireland.  It is very much a religious holiday for certain groups.  That being said, the element of the supernatural has permeated many things including literature and film.  For this post, I’m going to be going over my favorite supernatural movies.  These tend to include all aspects of the supernatural including magic, Hell, demons, angels, possession and all other sorts of good stuff involving the supernatural.  So…let’s conjure up some fantastic movies.

Warlock

My first true introduction into the horror genre actually belongs to Warlock’s sequel, The Armageddon, but this is the better film.  While it’s not a absolute classic by any stretch of the imagination, Warlock definitely has its fans, with me among them.  In Warlock, a 17th century warlock is transported to the 20th century to find the Grand Grimoire, the bible of black magic.  On his trail is a witch hunter named Redferne, also from the 17th century, who is trying to find and kill the warlock before he destroys the world.  The setup for the film is pretty unique, and it really toes the line between fantasy and horror.  The two standouts of the film are Julian Sands as the warlock and Richard E. Grant as Redferne.  Julian Sands makes for an incredible villain and Richard Grant actually plays a good guy this time around, and he’s very convincing.  The film definitely has a sense of humor, because of the whole “fish-out-of-water” thing, but it’s done in a way that feels real and not winking at the audience.  The visual effects, while not overly grand, are still pretty good even nearly 30 years later.  It’s a pretty solid film, if flawed, that fans of the genre should check out.

Wishmaster

It’s not very often that you get a film about an evil genie.  Wishmaster is about a Djinn, an ancient demonic entity, who can grant wishes in a very twisted way, but only granting three to the one who woke him.  On the granting of the third, the gates to the Djinn’s world will open and the apocalypse will begin.  Wishmaster differentiates itself from other slasher films in a number of ways.  The Djinn has unlimited power, but he can’t use it unless someone wishes for something.  He grants it, but in a very gruesome way, and takes your soul as a result.  Andrew Divoff just nails it as this evil genie.  The film also has cameos from other big-name horror icons like Tony Todd, Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, and Ted Raimi.  The effects are mostly good, with some really questionable CGI every once in a while.  The opening scene of the film is absolutely bonkers.  This is a franchise that really could have taken off if it had gotten more attention.  As it stands, the original Wishmaster and the sequel are pretty good, and come highly recommended.

End of Days

Now, some people might wonder why I’m putting an Arnold Schwarzenegger film in a post about supernatural movies.  Shouldn’t Schwarzenegger movies belong in the action genre?  Yes, and no.  This one definitely belongs in this list because Arnold Schwarzenegger is going up against the most powerful villain, Satan.  The film is about Satan being released from Hell every 1,000 years to hunt for a woman that will give birth to the Anti-Christ.  Doing so would unlock the gates of Hell, destroying the world.  Have you noticed a particular theme about the supernatural and the end of the world?  While I wouldn’t say that End of Days is a classic Schwarzenegger film by any stretch, it’s still a pretty different film for him, given the complex themes that are involved with the story.  He actually plays a relatively normal person in the film.  However, it’s Gabriel Byrne that steals the show as this film’s interpretation of the Devil.  He delivers that swagger and charm that you would expect from the Devil taking human form, while being extremely threatening at the same time.  While this is definitely an action film, there’s more than enough dark religious imagery that sets this apart.  Some critics who like the film have tried to compare the film to The Exorcist.  It’s not even close.  Speaking of which….

The Exorcist

I don’t what it was about the 1970’s, but the horror movies released during that decade were insane.  The Last House on the Left, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Alien were absolutely incredibly terrifying horror movies.  The one that stands above them all in my opinion is The Exorcist.  Released in 1973, this shocker followed a woman whose daughter’s behavior was getting stranger and stranger as time goes on, to the point where she thinks the girl is possessed.  As a result, she requests an exorcist to help.  What makes this film so unique and special is in its approach to exorcism.  Any Catholic priest, when confronted with the idea of a possessed person, would tell the family of that person to seek a psychiatrist first.  The first half of the film builds tension to the point of it becoming unbearable, and then the film really goes bat-shit crazy.  It’s all handled in a way that’s done realistic.  The make-up effects are incredible and Linda Blair’s performance is extraordinary.  The reaction to the film was as shocking as the film itself with a lot of people really loving the movie and others fainting or vomiting because of it.  Others took to threatening Linda Blair and her family.  When things settled down after, a lot of people would agree that The Exorcist is one of the greatest horror films ever made.  It has made such an impact that nobody has dared to remake this film.  Somebody made a TV series a couple of years ago, but it’s not the same.

The Omen

While I wouldn’t put The Omen on the same level as The Exorcist, it’s still a pretty solid thriller in its own right.  While the events in the film seem to indicate a supernatural presence, the film actually goes out of its way to answer those questions directly, instead relying the audience to come to its own conclusion about what’s going on.  Are the murders the result of some demonic presence trying to protect Damien, or are they just a series of random coincidences?  This is definitely more of a psychological thriller, but it does leave you questioning how much of the supernatural is involved.  While the film does point to the supernatural at certain points, you’re never 100 percent sure.  It’s that level of uncertainty that really ups the tension in the film.  How they managed to get Gregory Peck involved in the film is beyond me, but it works.  It’s a pretty dark ride.  Definitely recommended.

The Witch

The best horror films don’t rely on jump-scares to scare the hell out of people.  It’s often the slow-burn, tension-building, and atmospheric detail that gets under people’s skin.  Unlike End of Days, I would actually compare The Witch to The Thing in certain respects, especially about the unknown.  Is it better?  No, but in some ways it’s on the same level of power.  The film is about a Puritan family so extreme that the other Puritans have exiled them to the country side, leaving them to fend for themselves.  While out in the wilderness, the family begins to notice strange things happening, and when the baby goes missing, all fingers are pointing to one of their daughters, event though an actual witch may be involved.   The isolation, paranoia and the danger of religious fundamentalism all play a part in the film’s events.  I’ve only seen the film once, but it definitely left an impression.  It’s an incredible thriller, but you have to have patience.  It’s slow-going, but it is outstanding.  I would actually argue that The Witch is the best film of its kind since The Exorcist.

While there are other movies out there that deal with the supernatural, these are the ones that I think are the absolute best.  Four days, folks.  Four days until the big day itself: Halloween.  I have to admit, I’ve had a lot of fun with these October posts.  I’ve actually had more fun making these ones than some of the posts I made earlier in the year.  I’ve got one, maybe two more Best of October posts in me before I wrap all this up.  For Halloween, I’m planning a special review.  I don’t know what it is yet, but it’s going to be good, so stay tuned.

With Halloween literally one week away from today, I will be wrapping up this series hopefully by Monday.  For the day before and the day of Halloween, I’ve got something special planned, so stay tuned, I think you might enjoy them.  For this post, though, I’m going to go over the action movies that I believe that straddle the line between action and horror enough to qualify them as horror movies.  As a huge fan of action movies, I absolutely enjoy the fistfights, the gunfights, explosions, car chases, and the inevitable showdown between the hero and the villain.  Some of these movies most people may not classify them as horror films, but I believe that there enough elements within each film to at least qualify the film as combination of action and horror.  Be aware that some of these movies aren’t necessarily going to be good movies, but these are the ones that enjoy the most.  With that in mind, let’s dig up some of the darkest action movies that could be considered horror.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Ah, Indiana Jones.  One of the greatest action heroes of all time.  Raiders of the Lost Ark is considered by many to be one of the greatest adventure films ever made, and it’s not hard to see why.  You’ve got memorable characters, incredible action, whiz-bang special effects, and a music score that even to this day is incredibly iconic.  Harrison Ford IS Indiana Jones.  So, when the follow-up film, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was came out, the excitement for the film was sky-high.  Unfortunately, the reaction to the film was mixed to negative, with some people loving it, and others completely hating it because it was a totally different kind of film than what people were expecting.   Critics really aren’t wrong here, Temple of Doom is, at its core, a horror film of sorts.  It takes Indiana Jones on a train-ride to hell, almost literally.  This film goes to some very, very dark places.  Some of the themes include child slavery and human sacrifice.  Even from a visual standpoint, it got pretty gruesome with hearts being ripped out and people lowered into lava pits.  It was a very violent movie, and that turned away a lot of people.  Not me, though.  As a kid, this was my favorite of the then-Indiana Jones Trilogy.  Looking back, I can definitely see why people didn’t like it.  Even Steven Spielberg himself has said that Temple of Doom is his least favorite of the Indy films.  It was the film that led Spielberg and the MPAA to adopt a PG-13 rating, a rating between PG and R.  I still think it’s a very good movie.  Flawed, for sure, but damn if it ain’t fun at times.  It’s also got some of the most iconic action sequences of all time, including the cart chase and the bridge sequences.  Take that for what you will.  Also, Mola Ram is scary as hell.

Batman Returns

Tim Burton’s Batman from 1989 is one of the most successful comic book movies ever made in terms of critical and financial success.  It combined elements of action and some Gothic horror that made the film stand out among it peers and is probably my second-favorite live-action Batman film.  My actual favorite live-action film is the sequel, Batman Returns.  After the success of the first film, Tim Burton was given the go ahead to do what he really wanted to do with Batman, and the result is one of the darkest comic book movies ever made, even to the point where people were disappointed.  Like Temple of Doom, Batman Returns is a very violent movie.  If this movie was released today, it probably would be rated R.  It doesn’t shy away from dark ideas and dark themes.  The origin of Catwoman and the character of Penguin are bizarre to say the least.  Penguin himself is a very different interpretation of the gangster that you see from the comics.  Here, he’s an actual mutant/monster, played to perfection by Danny DeVito.  I think it’s a much better film than most people give it credit for.  I mean, it even has Christopher Walken as a sleazy corporate scumbag.  Isn’t that worth the price of admission alone?

Ninja III: The Domination

Boy, here’s a guilty pleasure if there ever was one.  Ninja III is one of the most bizarre ninja films to ever exist.  It combines elements of a martial arts movie, Flashdance, and The Exorcist all in one.  Does it actually succeed?  Not really, but not for a lack of trying.  It’s just so damned weird that I can’t help but love it.  It’s cheesy with some really terrible writing and some incredibly horrendous acting.  But it’s not boring.  The movie is about a ninja who manages to survive being shot with hundreds of bullets to possess a young woman so he can force her to take revenge on the people that killed him.  Is the film as bizarre as the plot?  Even more so.  It’s a movie that really has no idea what it wants to be, and yet it still very satisfying to watch.  The action sequences and stunt-work are top-notch, but the horror elements, while mostly lame, actually make the film stand out in different ways.  Again, is it a good movie?  Not remotely, but it’s entertaining as hell.  There are times when it does come across as a horror movie, and thus its inclusion on this list.

The Terminator

Remember in my last Best of October post where I said that horror is one of the most versatile genres in the industry?  Well, The Terminator is as much a horror movie as it is an action and science fiction film.  I’ll tell you why: The Terminator.  This is a cyborg set back in time to kill Sarah Connor, the future mother of John Connor, who would lead humanity in its war against the machines.  The reason why this film is definitely a horror movie is because we’re dealing with an unstoppable killing machine that is basically targeting anyone and everyone whose name is Sarah Connor.  The results are pretty horrific.  The best example of this being a horror movie is the shootout in the police station.  The machine slaughters every cop in the building without slowing down, and he’s constantly on the hunt for Sarah.  In some ways, it could be considered a slasher film.  It’s a damned good movie that only ended up with only one really good sequel.  It’s an absolute classic.

Upgrade

Honestly, I would have put Venom on here if it was actually a good movie.  While I did enjoy Venom, it was held back by the rating and some pretty lousy writing.  Don’t get me wrong, Tom Hardy was awesome, but that was it.  The best Venom movie is actually called Upgrade.  Following a guy named Grey Trace after his wife has been killed and himself being paralyzed from the neck down, he is offered a chance to get his life back by having a chip implanted in his back that would allow him to walk again.  The chip is controlled by an advanced artificial intelligence and basically gives Grey super-strength.  You know what qualifies this as horror?  It pulls no punches with its violence, unlike Venom.  This movie gets pretty gory, but the action is solid and the acting is really good.  Logan-Marshall Green is fantastic.  While Upgrade isn’t perfect, it’s a hell of a lot better than Venom in nearly every way.  If you want to watch Venom, watch Upgrade instead.  It’s basically the same movie, only better.

The Raid

The Raid is simply one of the best action movies to come out in the last 15 years.  Easily.  The film was featured heavily on multiple horror websites and its easy to see why.  This is a brutally violent movie that starts off quickly enough, but doesn’t stop until the end.  The film is about a group of policemen who are sent into a building to track down and capture a ruthless drug lord, only to be trapped by said drug lord.  With gangs coming at them from below and from above, it’s a non-stop battle for survival.  The concept of a film like this is actually pretty terrifying, especially if everybody’s out to kill you.  While I wouldn’t call The Raid a straight-up horror film, it does enough to warrant an inclusion on this list.  They really don’t skimp on the violence.  It’s a major thrill-ride from beginning to end.  I don’t think I could recommend it enough.

Well, those were some my favorite movies that definitely straddled the line between action and horror.  Like science fiction and horror, action and horror isn’t the easiest combination to pull off very well.  When it’s done right, it’s incredible.  When it’s not, it’s kind of laughable.  I would absolutely say check these out, especially if you can stomach a bit of ultra-violence.  I’ve got a couple more ideas for The Best of October before I wrap this up, but it’s been a hell of a ride.  I’ve enjoyed every moment that I’ve spent making these posts, and I honestly hope that you’ve enjoyed reading them.  I hope that you’ve found some of these films to be as entertaining as I did, and if you discovered a new that you may not have heard of before, then that would mean a lot to me.  As always, The Best of October continues.  Stay tuned.

Released: October 2018

Director: David Gordon Green

Rated R

Run Time: 106 Minutes

Distributor: Universal Pictures

Genre: Horror/Thriller

Cast:
Jamie Lee Curtis: Laurie Strode
Judy Greer: Karen
Andi Matichak: Allyson
James Jude Courtney/Nick Castle: The Shape/Michael Myers
Haluk Bilginer: Dr. Sartain
Will Patton: Officer Hawkins

When it comes to the origins of the slasher film, most film historians would actually point the finger at Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho as the granddaddy of the slasher.  To a certain extent, they are correct.  It introduced certain ideas that would serve as a basis for all slasher movies to come.  However, I would actually point to John Carpenter’s Halloween as the film that lit the fire for the genre.  It was a very unexpected movie and it featured one of the most terrifying villains in cinema history: Michael Myers.  After that, we got a lot of slasher villains just popping up out of the woodwork, specifically Freddy and Jason.  They would take the formula that Halloween had mastered and took the genre in wildly different directions, for better or for worse.  But everything that made the slasher genre what it is today can be traced back to John Carpenter’s film.  The film was so successful that it ended up getting not just one, but several sequels as well as a re-make.  The problem is, is that those sequels were, shall I say, less than adequate.  Rob Zombie’s re-make of Halloween was actually not that bad.  I appreciated that Zombie wanted to try and explain why Michael was so…..evil.  It’s a pretty solid film, but Zombie missed the part in film school where certain things just didn’t need to be explained.  The less said about Rob Zombie’s second Halloween film, the better.  Overall, the franchise really wasn’t that good.  In 2018, we have a new direct sequel to the original Halloween called……Halloween.

40 years have passed since The Shape terrified Haddonfield, Illinois.  40 years since Michael Myers murdered 5 people and traumatized Laurie Strode.  Laurie has spent 40 years preparing for Michael to return.  Since then, she’s had a daughter, Karen, who hates her for trying to train her for Michael to show up again.  Karen, in turn, has her own daughter, Allyson who wants to connect with her grandmother, but wants Laurie to give up her obsession with Michael Myers.  Unfortunately, Laurie’s fears are confirmed as the bus carrying Michael has an accident and Michael escapes.  That’s as simple a set-up as you can get in a slasher film.  Initially, I was not necessarily a big fan of John Carpenter’s original film because it was too simple, but now I realize that simplicity is what really made the original film so amazing.  The one thing that you should understand about this Halloween is that it is a direct sequel to the original film, which means that all the other films in the franchise are no longer canon or part of the story.  It is just John Carpenter’s film and this one.  That is a very good thing, in my opinion.  The previous films ranged from mediocre to god-awful.  This time, we get to see Laurie Strode pull a Sarah Connor.  Instead of being a victim, she becomes a bad-ass warrior woman that’s willing to kill to protect her family.  That’s a far cry from the frightened girl we saw in the original film.  It actually feels like a natural progression for the character.  After dealing with decades of trauma, she’s decided it’s time to fight back.

Acting-wise, the film is really solid across the board.  Believe it or not, the teenagers are not completely annoying in this film.  Bizarre, right?  In most movies like this, you would actually want some of these kids to get offed in some pretty horrific fashion.  While some of the teens do get brutally murdered, you don’t actually want to see them get killed.  Not all of them anyway.  There’s one or two that deserve it.  Andi Matichak plays Allyson, the granddaughter of Laurie Strode, and she’s actually pretty good here.  I’ve never seen her in a movie before, but she quite likable.  Her mother, on the other hand, I’m kind of torn, because at times she’s a pretentious bitch, but I guess that’s just how the character was written.    There were two people that played The Shape in this film: Nick Castle, who played the character in the original film, and James Jude Courtney, but you wouldn’t recognize them, because Myer’s face was hidden by camera shots and his mask.  That’s what makes the character so scary.  You can’t see his face, so you can’t identify with him.  He doesn’t speak a word, either.  He’s quite literally the Boogeyman from stories.  Dr. Loomis from the original film called Michael “pure evil.”  He’s right.  The film also doesn’t go out of its way to try and humanize the character.  He’s a monster and the film treats him as such.  The real star of the show, however, is Jamie Lee Curtis.  Once considered to be the “ultimate scream queen,” Curtis has quickly become one of my favorite actresses of all time.  She is amazing here.  Not only does she handle herself well physically, but she also brings a level of pain and emotional depth to the character that makes her truly sympathetic.  You get behind her almost every step of the way, even when no one else does.  That’s the strength of Curtis’s acting ability.  She’s always been the star of the Halloween films, but this film is where she really gets to shine.

This being a slasher movie, you would expect a body count, right?  Well, you do get one.  However, these kills are not as over-the-top or as gory as something like say A Nightmare on Elm Street.  No, like the original film, the kills here are far more restrained in terms of the violence.  In fact, a number of kills actually happen off-screen while he hear some of what’s going on, while others just show the aftermath.  Don’t get me wrong:  I’m as much of a gore-hound as the next guy, but I really do appreciate the level of restraint here.  The goriest moment comes when Michael crushes a guy’s skull.  Other-wise, it’s just straight stab-and-slash….exactly what a slasher movie should be.  That’s what I think makes Halloween so interesting.  It doesn’t waste time with extraneous back-stories, humanizing a villain, or being anything more than what it is.  That level of simplicity is one of those things that made the original film such a classic.  Will this new film go down as a classic itself?  I don’t think so.

In spite of the good things that I’ve said about this film, there are a few things that really bring it down.  For one, the focus on the teenagers and their dance was completely unnecessary.  This is Laurie Strode’s and Michael’s story, so it should have stayed focused on them.  When it doesn’t, the film slows down a little too much.  Secondly, the level of humor in the film was a little too much.  Halloween is supposed to be a dark thrill ride.  I understand having some humor in order to deflate the tension a little bit, but the amount of humor we have in this film made the film’s tone go all over the place.  There’s a scene in which two cops are describing what they brought for dinner.  Seriously?!  A homicidal maniac is on the loose, and you’re wasting your time describing the food you brought to eat?  Most of the time, I didn’t laugh at all.  I didn’t think the humor and the jokes were that funny.  Then there’s the doctor, who I guess was supposed to be the next Dr. Loomis.  Instead he comes across as a cheap knock-off.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by how good this movie was.  Is it going to be in the same league as the original?  Hard to say.  I’ll have to give it some time.  What I can tell you, is that aside from the original film and this, you don’t need to see any other Halloween films.  Also there’s just one other gripe.  Would it have killed them to give this film some kind of subtitle, instead of just calling it Halloween?  Now, we’ve got three movies with the exact same name:  Halloween(1978), Halloween(2007), and Halloween(2018).  Most days, people refer to the 2007 movie as Rob Zombie’s Halloween, so at least they can be differentiated that way, but the new movie really needed a subtitle, otherwise people new to the franchise are going to be confused.  Overall, I would have to say that the 2018 film is a pretty good watch.

My Final Recommendation: Boogeymen aren’t real.  Boogeymen aren’t real.  8.5/10.