Halloween Reboot a Shapeless Disappointment

There are few movies that I anticipated more eagerly than David Gordon Green's direct sequel to the 1978 horror classic, Halloween. The early reviews were promising, the trailers were enticing, and Green's track record encouraged a focus on setting and character development that the franchise has mostly lacked. Most importantly, Jamie Lee Curtis was returning to her star-making role as Laurie Strode, the sole survivor of the babysitter murders on Halloween 1978.

I am happy and unsurprised to say that Curtis is excellent. Her portrayal of Laurie as a PTSD-stricken survivalist who has spent the last 40 years training for the return of her tormenter is all the more admirable considering the story in which she's operating.

It kills me -- pun intended -- to say that the film as a whole is a lazy, tonal mess. Screenwriter Danny McBride, a fine comic performer and writer, proves here to be overmatched by the source material. It's perfectly acceptable to feature humor in a horror movie, but when it plays simultaneously with moments that should be frightening, the horror gets diluted.

The most egregious crime committed by McBride and Gordon Green is their commitment to rehashing scenes and plot points from every previous Halloween film. It baffles me that the filmmakers, who were adamant that this installment of the franchise would be a reboot that ignored all of the sequels, would devote so much time to copying scenes from them. The second half of the movie plays like Halloween's Greatest Hits instead of going down a wholly original path.

The first 45 minutes of the film are promising, as we meet a true crime podcast duo recording an episode on Michael Myers and the babysitter murders. In a tense scene, they approach Myers with the permission of Myers' psychiatrist, Dr. Sartain, in the prison courtyard. The podcasters stand behind Myers and hold out his mask (how they obtained it is left unanswered) in the hopes of eliciting a response from him, but he remains stoic and doesn't engage them. The podcasters come across him one more time, and needless to say, the encounter doesn't have a happy ending. But it does return the horror icon's mask to its "rightful" owner.

From here, the movie jumps straight into Halloween night and sets Myers loose on his inevitable killing spree. There's a wonderful tracking shot that follows him into multiple houses, letting us witness him spell the doom of unfortunate Haddonfield residents. It's here that we are reminded of what makes Michael Myers terrifying: the patient walk, the pale, weathered, emotionless mask, and his indiscriminate choice in victims. He's the embodiment of an enigma, but when he again turns his focus to Laurie and those close to her, we're left to decipher that she represents something to him even though the filmmakers make it a point to clarify that the two are not brother and sister.

I mentioned the Dr. Sartain character, which is meant to fill the role played memorably by wonderful British actor Donald Pleasance. Sartain nearly single-handedly derails the movie with his conspicuous motives serving as an unnecessary distraction to the proceedings. Sartain's purpose is so unimaginative that you wish the filmmakers had made the obvious decision to eliminate the character altogether.

It's inevitable that Myers and Laurie must clash, but the plot machinations that bring them together are forced and inorganic. The film could have redeemed itself with a strong finale, but it falls short here, too. There are a few suspenseful moments as the two foes play a game of cat-and-mouse in Laurie's house (Judy Greer as Laurie's daughter has a particularly crowd-pleasing moment), but the ending is strangely rushed and perplexing. I liked the idea of Laurie, her daughter, and granddaughter (aptly played by newcomer Andi Matichak) teaming up to take down a monster in a nod to the Me Too movement, but it's an indictment of the writer and the director that you leave the theater not feeling galvanized and invigorated, but rather, confused and frustrated.

Look, it was still exciting to see Michael Myers and Laurie Strode back on the big screen. These are two iconic characters that will always be worth visiting when the weather cools and the leaves start falling. I believe in the potential for an inventive sequel that will better service Michael and Laurie. Unfortunately, this isn't it.