Did Halloween 2018 Live Up to its High Expectations?

Sophia Albert         October 23, 2018

On October 27, 1978, Halloween, a mystery/slasher/horror/thriller, was released. The movie was scored with a 7.8 rating and nine sequels followed. Until October 19, 2018, the mystery of what happened to Michael Myers has been a mystery. In the updated movie, Laurie Strode faces Michael in an epic showdown.CONTAINS SPOILERS!!

The classic horror movie everybody knows and loves started a worldwide phenomenon, which has come back recently. The original introduced Michael Myers, a mass murderer whose signature weapon is a kitchen knife, he walks steadily but quietly wearing a creepy mask. As Michael is shown on camera, his eerie theme song plays. Halloween 1978 began showing six year old Michael Myers stabbing his teenage sister, Judith Myers to death on Halloween night. Fifteen years later, Michael escapes a mental hospital and returns to his hometown, Haddonfield, Illinois, once again on Halloween night in 1963. He intentionally goes after babysitter, Laurie Strode after killing all of her friends, for a reason nobody knows until the second movie. Michael ends up being Laurie’s biological brother, but that plays no effect in the new movie since it takes place four decades after just the first movie, ignoring all the sequels and serving as the direct sequel after the 1978 movie.

It’s been forty years since seventeen year old Laurie Strode just barely survived the vicious attack by Michael Myers on Halloween night. Now around seventy years old, Laurie suffers from PTSD and has lived in fear for the rest of her life. She trained her daughter to fight and be prepared for the worst, but lost custody when Karen was twelve. Laurie doesn’t have a close relationship with Karen and her grandaughter, Allyson. The house Laurie has lived in for years, has been ready for Michael to make his next attack, prepared with door cages and a secret basement loaded with guns and ammo. After decades of living locked up in a mental institution, two journalists visit him, provoking him by showing Michael his beloved mask. Michael’s bus transfer goes completely wrong and he escapes, killing several people. He then continues to go after Laurie, as well as Allyson and her parents. Multiple of Allyson’s friends were killed by Michael, but Allyson escapes to Laurie’s house in temporary safety with her mom and grandmother, her dad was killed by Myers. Laurie sacrifices her life in order to do what she’s wanted to do for her whole life, kill Michael Myers. In an epic showdown, Laurie, Karen, and Allyson escape Michael, not knowing if he is dead or alive after Laurie sets her house on fire with Michael trapped in the basement, the movie ends on a cliffhanger.

There were two major returning characters from 1978 to 2018’s version of Halloween. Jamie Lee Curtis returned as Laurie Strode and her enemy, Michael Myers was played by Nick Castle once again. The majority of the music was produced by John Carpenter in the new movie just like he did in the original, as well as directing the classic movie. Halloween crushed the box office, racking in $77.5 million over three days. It was the biggest opening for an R rated horror movie, second to ‘It’ which came out last year, but it beat out ‘The Nun’ from last month. The movie was produced by Blumhouse and Universal Pictures.

Compared to the 1978 Halloween, the sequel shows more action and it was made well. The movie has been predicted to have high expectations to be really good since it is the eleventh installment of the Halloween franchise. Laurie Strode finally came to her final confrontation with the masked figure, Michael Myers that has haunted her for four decades after nearly escaping his killing spree on Halloween night. Did Laurie actually kill Michael? Will there be another Halloween movie? Viewers are left with many unanswered questions and hoping for another sequel. About 92% of viewers liked the movie, Halloween 2018 has lived up to its high expectations.