Michael Myers returns to form in 'Halloween'

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Michael Myers is back. Again.

This time, however, there aren't any cheap gimmicks. No annoying jump scares. Limited cheesy lines. No, the latest addition to the Halloween franchise is the best since the game-changing 1978 original (and it's not even close).

David Gordon Green's direct sequel to John Carpenter's masterpiece completely ignores all the movies that came before it, which is probably for the best. Here, we're presented with the lives of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode, 40 years after their first showdown in Haddonfield, Illinois.

Jamie Lee Curtis steps back into the role of Laurie, who's been preparing for Michael's inevitable return for her entire adult life. She's experienced two failed marriages, had her daughter taken away by CPS, and now lives in a fortress surrounded by wilderness. It seems like a sad way to spend the last 40 years of your life, but I guess when your friends were brutally murdered by a masked man who then attacked you, paranoia would be unavoidable.

There are a few parallels between this movie and the original. For instance, take Laurie's granddaughter, Allyson. Even though I never got the feeling, the goal was definitely to make Allyson the modern day Laurie. Dr. Loomis is replaced by Dr. Ranbir Sartain, who finds himself in almost the same situation that Loomis was in, having to chase down Michael before he strikes again. Once again, Michael kills a mechanic and takes his uniform before recovering his old mask, which might as well be his real face at this point.

The real difference between the 1978 Halloween and the 2018 sequel for me is this: it's more a story about Michael Myers than one about Laurie Strode. If you look back at the trailers, it really seemed like Laurie's struggle and preparation for Michael's return would be the main focus. While it was a big point in the storyline, I got the feeling that Michael's relentless pursuit of the one that got away is the focus.

There were a couple times where the camera put us into Michael's shoes. Take a look back at the first scene, when the podcasters are interviewing Michael at the mental hospital. We get a view of him from the side - I couldn't tell if the mask was making him agitated or anything. Mostly, we get Michael's head, showing that he's got some gray hair and is going bald. You could also check out the neighborhood scene again, when Michael is wreaking havoc on the entire street (he must've taken out five people, at least).

Michael's not a slow-moving fool. No, he gets creative with his kills this time around. How about recreating the blanket scene? Remember in the first one, when he kills the boyfriend and then heads back upstairs under the sheet? Well, Mike needs to get that move trademarked because here, he uses it to cover up the body of yet another babysitter who fell victim to his wrath.

Mikey also takes the brutality of his kills to another level. All you've got to do is look at the gas station scene. First, Michael strolls up to the station. Then, he takes out the mechanic and steals his look. After ripping the cashier's jaw off, Michael walks into the women's room and drops the cashier's teeth into the stall, which is occupied by one of the podcasters. Her partner bursts into the bathroom, takes a little too long to realize that Michael is standing in front of him, and then proceeds to get his head bashed about 78 times.

The head-bashing seems to be Michael's go-to move. It's like when LeBron gets frustrated and just plows through the lane - whenever Mike gets fed up, he goes for the head-bash (it rarely fails). I guess you could say that Mike is the LeBron of slasher movies; he has no rival.

One thing that has to be addressed: the raw strength of Michael Myers at age 61. I can think of a few reasons as to how Michael is an absolute tank in this movie.

1) Puberty hit Michael a little later in life.

In the original, Michael is 21. He's tall, but not necessarily muscular. Here, this man is a bull. He's holding people up while he chokes them out. He's ripping kitchen counters out of the ground. There's no way he could've done that in 1978.

2) There was one hell of a weight room in that mental hospital.

There's a scene where Mike just stomps on the doctor's head and it explodes with a melon-like sound. Big Mike must've been hitting the weights hard for those 40 years.

3) Michael got his hands on some HGH in prison.

He was looking pretty big here. I'm talking early 2000's Barry Bonds big.

The 2018 edition of Halloween did not disappoint. Jamie Lee Curtis returned and was great. Michael Myers came back and made his presence felt. There were a few problems I had (the Halloween dance, the long opening, the little kid whose babysitter got killed never showing up again), but this was a great addition to the franchise nonetheless.

At gunpoint, I'd say that we'll be seeing Michael Myers again real soon.

Image credits: Screen Rant, Daily Express

YouTube channel: Universal Pictures