The Halloween season is in full swing this week.
After enjoying “A Paranormal Evening with Alice Cooper” in the New Pavilion at the Toyota Music Factory, which Was awesome in many ways ranging from some of Alice’s Classics to the guitar solos from Nita Strauss. You have to ask, How do I follow this?
The awnser was over at the Alamo Drafthouse on Thursday October 18th for the Opening Festivities…and Shenanigans of the New Halloween Film.
The event began with the 4:20 screening of the original 1978 classic.
Now those of you that are familiar with me know my love for this flick and know that my number of viewings of this flick ranks in the 30s the truth is that I never tire of it and I realized that this night and to be honest with you, the place to see it is on the big screen in a theater with the fans where it was always intended to be seen.
After the original film came the long awaited opening of the new film.
Produced by John Carpenter and Jason Blum and helmed by Texas’ own David Gordon Green, Halloween also sees the return of Jamie Lee Curtis in the role of Laurie Strode, The role that brought her to the dance of fame.
There has not been this much hype for a Halloween film in a decade. I feel the need to point out that many of us have to thank Jamie Lee Curtis for this. I definitely loved the moment at Comic Con this year wham Curtis met a fan who thanked her for the courage to face a trauma of his own. This is probably why I love the Halloween franchise the most.
I also feel the need to point out this is the first Halloween film in over 20 Years that the Weinstein's aren't involved and I am excited with the involvment of Blumhouse due to the quality of work that they have turned out in the past few years.
Unlike the 1998 predecessor H20, Halloween ignores the events of all sequels including part 2 and picks up 40 years later where Dr Loomis has passed away and Michael Myers after being apprehended after the events in 1978 has been in Smith’s Grove and with the facility’s’ impending closure Michael is being transferred to another Maximum Security institution.
Laurie Strode we find has had too much trouble with her life in the past 40 years and while divorced has a daughter that she is estranged and a granddaughter that she rarely sees, lives in a compound and prepares for the return of her nemesis from her youth.
All the while a pair of podcasters are making a documentary about the events of the Night He Came Home and have acquired the infamous Captain Kirk mask. Inadvertently setting off a series of events that lead to Myers’ Escape and the stalking of Laurie’s Granddaughter and the inevitable showdown 40 years in the making.
This flick I feel is the way the aforementioned H20 should have been.
The film maintains the suspense of it’s original and keeps up with the scares. The dark atmosphere of Haddonfield keeps our attention and the camerawork returns the series to its roots with many continuous takes following The Shape as he stalks his prey. Again Carpenter’s score with the aid of Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies add to the suspense and crosses lines that make us ask where are we being taken.
Like many of the sequels there are plot twists but in this flick they are quickly ended and the story continues with it’s basic story.
Again in contrast to the bloodless of the original and as is often the case with sequels “the body count is bigger and the death scenes are much more elaborate”…In the words of Jamie Kennedy in Scream 2.
While there are a few Easter eggs the film has moments of humor but they don’t take away from the story and there were many points where the audience were applauding.
All in all this was a great flick and if the franchise should continue, this is a tough act to follow.
16 Dead Bodies
0 Breasts
2 Beasts
Stabbings
Bashings
Head Crushing
Strangulations
Burnings
And
Shootings
Pumpkin Fu
Teeth Fu
Skull Fu
And
Babysitter Fu
4 Stars
Check it out!!!
