4) Halloween (2018)
With Halloween H20: 20 Years Later sort of faded from filmgoers’ memories, 2018 seemed a good moment to pick up 40 years later with a freshly retconned continuity. Here, only the 1978 film has happened, thus freeing Laurie Strode (Curtis) from being Michael’s sister this go-round. Director David Gordon Green justifies the re-use of the original’s title by sprinkling an abundance of references and hat-tips throughout the story, which imagines Laurie has never left Haddonfield and has spent her life preparing for Michael—who’s been locked up since 1978—to come a-knocking.
Laurie’s commitment to being a paranoid survivalist makes sense for anyone who’s seen Michael in action, but most everyone else in the movie, including her adult daughter Karen (Judy Greer), thinks she’s nuts. (Curtis’ battle-scarred performance is the movie’s clear high point.) That’s 100 percent in keeping with the Halloween series’ ongoing theme of nobody taking the threat of Michael Myers seriously until it’s too late, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying here. Another weak spot in the film is the Dr. Loomis protégé (Haluk Bilginer as Dr. Sartain), whose bizarre plan to set Michael free goes against everything Loomis stood for and just feels unnecessary, especially since Michael has proven over and again how excellent he is at escaping without needing anyone to help him.
