Curtis puts in an authoritative, solid performance, this incarnation of Strode suffers from PTSD and has a single-minded goal: revenge. There is something incessantly satisfying about seeing Curtis as the competent gun-toting avenging angle however her performance is only periodically matched by the script which supports it. Judy Greer does a nice turn as Laurie's daughter Karen but there relationship is sped through, revealed clunkily in rapid exposition, and blown by in favor of numerous set-piece killings by the iconic villain. Laurie's granddaughter Allyson played by Andi Matichak also does well with what little she's given, but her subplot also is truncated, abridged to the point of having little to no weight. What we are here to see, and what the movie makes clear it is really only concerned about, is the Strode/Michael showdown. Which, once we get to it, is undeniably satisfying.
The score, composed by original director and composer John Carpenter, has the same eerie compulsive magnetism. There are some impressive steady elongated takes, enough visual style to be engaging, enough crowd-pleasing omages/echos of the original, but it is the theme that really disappoints. Horror as a genre, especially during its recent resurgence, flourishes on metaphor, contemporary relevance. And this incarnation of Halloween has a rich theme that it leaves mostly unexplored ie the Strode women, not only Laurie but her daughter and granddaughter, standing up to the phantom Michael Myers(standing in for, perhaps, the patriarchy). But that reading is a stretch and not fully flushed out or developed in the movie itself. It is a hopeful conclusion to draw but not an explicit one.
An entertaining holiday movie that lacks the richness or ingenuity to become a classic.
Rent It.
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