Michael Myers killing spree brings the ‘Halloween’ spirit

The whole time through Halloween, characters ask Michael Myers if he could talk and explain why he kills. Why doesn’t anybody just hand him a cup of coffee and ask how his day is going? I can speak with full certainty that he’ll befriend you and open up.

Directed by David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express, Stronger), Halloween stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, Virginia Gardner, Haluk Bilginer, Nick Castle, James Jude Courtney and Tony Moran.

While being transferred to a maximum security prison from Smith’s Grove Sanitarium, where he was treated for 40 years, Michael Myers breaks out of the bus and goes on a killing spree to find and slay his little sister Laurie Strode, reprised by Curtis. Fortunately, Laurie has been preparing for this confrontation with guns and traps ablaze.

It’s interesting to think that humor and scares come from strong emotions. They give an audience a feeling. Comedy and horror writers and directors strive to transmit that feeling to others. And that’s why they can exist hand in hand, something that 2018’s Halloween shows.

David Gordon Green recreates the 1978 classic Halloween in this modern horror by sticking the audience back in Haddonfield, Ill., the fictional yet familiar suburban town.

Green, with experience directing comedies, has dabbled into dramatic films with last year’s Stronger being a tour de force in the feels department. He knows how to manipulate film and form it to make a viewer feel chills or gut-busting laughter. Halloween is just another reason to believe that he can dive into any kind of film and build any kind of emotion.

With a funny man behind the camera, there are some funny writers that arrange the way the Michael Myers killing spree plays out. Danny McBride, Jeff Fradley and Green have written a competent screenplay that not only rewrites Myers’ history for the better, but it also brings the scares.

However, like any joke, the scares don’t always hit every time. Don’t get me wrong, I think McBride and Green are funny as hell — I have to admit that I’m not too familiar with Fradley’s Vice Principals — but cheap jump scares are not fair to the heart of true horror.

A dimwitted high-schooler walks out to take out the trash and hears something… Boo! It’s her boyfriend in a cowboy costume.

Not really as scary as you might think.

Still, the cheap jump scares never take away from Michael Myers’ disturbing hunt, where he kills person to person to get to the matriarchy of the family.

The Halloween franchise has been a woman-centric, based solely on Laurie Strode’s tenacity and presence. The 2018 comeback elevates this idea and bumps up the number of smart and fierce women adding Strode’s daughter, Karen, and her grand-daughter, Allyson.

Curtis, Greer and Matichak all are formidable opponents to Myers. Likable and fleshed out, the three characters make powerful additions to follow if this franchise will keep moving forward.

On the other side of the spectrum, the men are another story. They basically feel like crash test dummies, their heads filled with viscous fruit punch absent a working brain.

Without any spoilers, it’s safe to say that most of the men aren’t the smartest and are, fittingly, treats for big ol’ Mikey.

Green’s Halloween has made its way out of the dumb lore that the Halloween series has created for Myers into a new timeline that has potential to be special. A risky move brings back the worn and torn William Shatner mask that has stabbed and collected the hearts of people from different decades.

Though not the most original or profound horror movie of the year, Halloween is a fun and timely, especially since we get to see a paranoid and gun-packing Laurie Strode back on the big screen.