If you’re a horror fan, then chances are that Jamie Lee Curtis has been your ruling Scream Queen for decades now. Standing right behind her, knife in hand with his workman’s jumper and reworked Spock mask has been the reigning Slasher King, Michael Myers. Beginning with John Carpenter’s Halloween of 1978, Michael’s specter has stalked fans through seven sequels (not including the Michael-less disappointment that is Halloween III: Season of the Witch) and one Rob Zombie reboot with its own sequel.
The new Halloween takes off where the first ended. That is, it completely disregards every sequel and presents us with a story where Michael has been locked up for 40 years and Laurie has been waiting (praying) for the night he comes home again. The new version of Michael’s homecoming relies heavily on nods and parallels to the original, which are sure to set every fan’s heart aflutter. Yet, though it very much caters to its fanbase, Halloween (2018) proves itself a solid film with a new face tailored to the modern era.
With a horror figure as iconic as Michael Myers (the boy with the devil in his
In defying our prevalent need to understand the monster that stalks that dark (and boy does anyone who tries suffer) Halloween presents a story that—while it remains delightfully familiar with hordes of nods and nostalgia—goes somewhere we’ve never seen before. This Halloween it’s not about the slasher; it’s about the queen. Laurie Strode, our eternal survivor, does what we never imagined could happen before: she steals the show.
Laura Strode of 2018 is much like Laurie Strode of H20 in that the trauma of her youth defines her. Where Laurie 2018 and Laurie 2000 differ is in how their trauma manifests. The Laurie of H20 never stopped hiding. She changed her name, moved west, developed a drinking habit to help cope with fear and nightmares that border on the unmanageable. This Laurie never moved past the plight of the final girl. She never stopped running. Laurie of 2018 took a different path. Halloween night 1978 may have been the night Laurie Strode ascended to the Scream Queen throne, but on that very same night the Scream Queen died and Warrior Queen was born.
The new film presents a Laurie Strode reminiscent of Sarah Connor in the Terminator films and Ripley in the Alien franchise. She never left Haddonfield and she never forgot the horrors of the night her friends all died, but when she stopped running, she decided to fight. Laurie has spent the last 40 years in survivalist mode. She shoots guns, she sets traps, and much like Sarah Connor she allows her obsession with survival to precede all social bonds. Three failed marriages and an estranged daughter are the price of her obsession, but it all pays off when Michael finally does escape and she gets one last crack at the Boogeyman.
This concludes Of Joy That Kills’ Horrorween; so, next time we’ll be back with less horrific content. If you’re following the calendar, then you know that the original Halloween is the final film of our horror marathon. Clearly, I’m a major Michael fan and I’ll be spending the evening with him on my screen tonight, but tell me who is your favorite horror icon and what will you be watching when the ghouls come out tonight?
