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Movie 9- Halloween (2018)

With Halloween Ends coming out on the 14th, I'm rewatching the first two parts of the new trilogy leading up to it.This is a movie I really enjoyed upon release but haven't seen since then, and with mixed feelings about Kills I was wondering how much I would find it holds up.

Thankfully, for the most part, it does.In all honesty, I believe this is probably the best slasher made in the last ten years or so. It's a well shot movie that doesn't look like the dearth of boring static gray-and-blue horror movies that have taken the genre by storm as of late.The pacing is perfect; it takes a bit of time to let you get resettled in the modern setting before loosing Michael on people. Once he's at it, it's the most thrilling and grim version of MIchael since the original movie. The kills are neither the goofy Friday the 13th excess that the dull 90s sequels eventually descended to, nor are they simple and easy; they're this neat in between where he's doing genuinely henious stuff that still stays somewhat within the realm of believability (for the most part). It's got callbacks in it, but never enough to make you role your eyes and groan, and it even does some creative stuff with them here and there that I really enjoy.

The big flaw of the movie is the characters, though I have seen some people absolutely shit on this thing for them and I question as to whether they've ever actually seen a slasher before. They are not amazing, I will agree with that much. Jamie Lee Curtis is the high point of the movie from beginning to end. The high school plot doesn't really go much of anywhere and its characters feel kind of superfluous, but it provides increased bodycount and tension here and there. Judy Greer spends much of the movie being aggravating, but that's nothing super out of left field for a slasher character and I'll be damned if I didn't have a big grin on her face for what she does near the end.

The worst part of the characters for me is probably the Doctor Loomis replacement guy, who more than anything is there to kind of be a fakeout. He feels like he could have been an interesting character if he lasted longer but his plot begins and ends so fast that it feels entirely pointless even if he does get an awesome death. Even then, though, none of these annoyances are enough to sour me on the movie as a whole. Slasher movie characters are not meant to be lovable and wonderful for the most part; it makes seeing them sliced to ribbons less upsetting.

This was a fun movie that I have a hard time finding fault with. I could nitpick and whine about random bits and bobs of the plot that don't make sense, sure. It's not a perfect movie, sure. But it is definitely the best movie to feature Michael Meyers in it since 1978 and the best slasher since... God, who knows? I weep for the genre in modern times. Either way, it was nice to see that the fondness I had wasn't misplaced. 8/10

Movie 10- Nightbreed

This weird little movie was not well received on release and I kind of understand why because it isn't a conventional horror movie by any stretch of the imagination. It's a weird marriage of a slasher, a monster movie, and an almost whimsical fantasy tale.

Essentially the core of the story is that a man is framed for murder and killed by said murderer, but is brought back as a monster. He and a group of good guy monsters have to prevent the killer from doing any more harm. Phrased that way, it sounds almost like this could be a kids movie of some kind from the 80s. At times, it actually feels a lot like that; it reminded me of episodes of stuff like Amazing Stories. Then, a scene or two later you'll see a ton of blood and guts, or a monster who actually looks particularly fucked up instead of silly as the majority of them do. There's a huge mood whiplash problem with this film that it never quite manages to surmount.

I don't actually have a huge amount to say about this one. It's not terrible, but it's very weird and not charming enough to carry the weirdness in my opinion. The ending also left me feeling pretty cold because it's sequel bait and it's never getting a sequel. There's some cool visual stuff in this (same special effects company as Hellraiser), and the central conceit is kind of cool, but it just didn't hold my attention very well and I was certainly ready for it to be over by the time it was. 5/10