Tony the Terror’s review published on Letterboxd:
Hallo-win amiright??
I had a really good time! Part of that may have been because it’s the first movie I’ve been able to catch in a theater in a while, but I was also really impressed with this. It’s got great fall vibes that feature prominently throughout and I loved that, especially watching it on a cold fall afternoon. I mean sure, the trees seem to have more leaves in some scenes than others but whatever, it’s not like this movie is flawless because it does have problems bigger than foliage, but here’s the thing: when that 3rd act kicks into gear, it fucking kicks into gear and I immediately forgave those flaws that came before it. In fact, I’m not even going to get into them because I just want to focus on the things I loved.
I loved all of the nods to the previous sequels. I get that they wanted to ignore them because they do get messy by the time you get to Resurrection although after actually seeing this, I still think they could have kept the original part 2 in the mix because I adore that movie as much as the first and I don’t think it would have made this movie any different. I get that it’s supposed to be more disturbing that Laurie means nothing to him, but still...Halloween II is a pretty perfect slasher. Anywho, my point is that I love how they paid respect to those sequels even if they didn’t acknowledge them.
I love every scene with JLC. I love Judy Greer as her daughter and think that was some brilliant casting right there mostly because I just love Judy Greer but still. That kid Julian, right? Can we get a whole movie with him talking to his babysitter? Speaking of the babysitters, aside from Allyson’s girlfriend, I didn’t love the teens in this movie. At all. Maybe that’s just the budding “get off my lawn” old man in me? Was it? Or were they really just as obnoxious as I thought. And speaking of angry old men, Michael is brutal here huh? Damn buddy get you a snickers.
I also loved how this leans toward 80’s aesthetics without going into nostalgia overload. This is set in 2018, but the style and look of the film has a subtle 80’s style. There’s none of the flashy editing or overly slick camerawork of many current mainstream horror offerings, but there also isn’t a desperate attempt to recreate the feel of an 80’s film and I think that’s as much as we could and should expect from a modern slasher movie. I love a good throwback, but even more I love a really good modern slasher and that’s exactly what this is. It’s a movie for a new generation that knows exactly where it came from.
Y’all, we are never going to get another 80’s horror movie because it will never be the 80’s again. I’m just thrilled to have a truly good slasher and to be able to see Michael on the screen again in his best incarnation since the original. I love Rob’s revisionising, but I think this is even better and it’s the best Halloween movie we’ve gotten since 1981 because Halloween II will always be the greatest slasher sequel ever made.
Also, as for that twist that’s so divisive, for whatever it’s worth, I feel like I need to rewatch it to decide how I feel about it, but I will say that I saw it as exactly the type of bananas thing we came to expect from an 80’s slasher sequel, so ya know, why not now? I guess what I’m saying is...
Bananameter: 🍌 twist 🍌