Ryan McNeil
You don’t believe in the Boogeyman?In the heyday of slasher movies, a new entry in a series always had to be bigger. The kills had to be bloodier, the scares more terrifying, the screams louder. These movies came during a time of excess, and when it came to scaring audiences, no excess was too excessive.
But times have changed – the world has changed. Boogeymen exist, they don’t wear masks, and they have ways of affecting so many lives.
So how to mark these strange days and reflect it in a scary piece of cinema? Who should be sacrificed, and who should we turn to as an example?
HALLOWEEN takes us back to Haddonfield, IL forty years after five people were slain one October night.
As the film opens, the original story’s monster – Michael Myers – is in a maximum security prison, awaiting transfer to a facility that will lock him in a deeper, darker hole and throw away the key. Michael hasn’t said a word to anyone about anything over the course of his capture, but that doesn’t stop his psychiatrist, Dr. Sartain (Haluk Bilginer) from remaining hopeful that he might one day learn something from the psychopath.
During the course of his transfer, the bus carrying Michael and several other prisoners crashes, and Michael Myers escapes…setting his sights on a return to Haddonfield.
Not fare away, behind a very tall fence and armed with some very heavy firepower is Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). Laurie escaped Michael’s wrath before, and has the emotional scars to show for it.
She is estranged from her daughter, Karen (Judy Greer) and has a distant relationship with her granddaughter Alyson (Andi Matichak). Try as she may to get back into Karen’s good books, she is continually seen as imbalanced and emotional…even as Michael begins to stalk the town on Halloween night.
The bodies begin to pile up, and the town begins to lock its doors, as the killer moves about the shadows. Will all of Laurie’s preparations arm her properly for a showdown with darkness, and might any of those preparations give her what she needs to repair those broken family bonds?
What’s interesting about HALLOWEEN is how it sets up some of its victims for judgement. For instance, take Allyson’s boyfriend Cameron.
Cameron isn’t the typical boyfriend for a horror movie final girl. He’s not any sort of jock, not especially built, not “alpha” in any way that suggests Allyson might be safe with him standing in front of her. His features are softer, his voice more mild-mannered. He seems like a kid more in-touch with what a modern man should be – to the point that he confidently goes to a Halloween party as Bonnie to Allyson’s Clyde! However, it’s all a front. Cameron’s feminism is easily dropped when the liquor starts flowing and another girls enters his orbit.
His reaction is what’s most telling. Not only does he manage to successfully isolate and alienate Allyson, but he tries to gaslight her when she confronts him. He is only a “good guy” as long as he is her good graces, and cannot hold fast to his principles one moment longer. He is not who he claims to be – not when it matters.
HALLOWEEN lets the lad live, but still tasks us to judge Cameron harshly….which we do, and rightfully so.
Then there’s Oscar.
Oscar is supposed to be Allyson’s confidant. He’s supposed to be the male friend that will be a sounding board and a shoulder to lean on. He is supposed to be a counterpoint to Cameron who already seemed like he was a counterpoint to “typical men”. Oscar is the one who gets Allyson away from Cameron and begins ushering her to safety – supposedly stepping in as “one of the good ones”. Unfortunately, when the two find themselves alone on a darkened yard, Oscar shows his true colours as an opportunist.
He sees vulnerability as an invitation and takes advantage. He is only a “good guy” long enough to make a move, and cannot hold fast to his principles one moment longer. HALLOWEEN judges Oscar harshly, and rightfully so.
This isn’t just the world HALLOWEEN builds – it is our world. It’s a world where monsters don’t only stalk and slay women, but lie to them and try to take advantage. Some out there might say that it’s “a scary time for men”…and they are right. Not because men can be accused or convicted without trial, but because men are having to take harder and harder looks at themselves. With every passing hour, western men should be coming to clearer and clearer understanding of how they have fucked up in life, and what sort of judgement awaits us. The judgement will be harsh, and rightfully so.
However, in the darkness that is toxic masculinity, there is a beacon and her name is Laurie Strode.
She owes the world nothing; not an inch, not an ounce, not a penny. She has watched her family splinter, and endured whispers and gossip. She has been told she is an unfit parent, and forced into seclusion. And yet, when the time comes, she doesn’t hesitate to stand up and fight back. She fights with keener wits and greater resolve than any man who crosses Michael’s path. She proves herself as willing and as vicious as The Boogeyman; but where he is willing and vicious to feed a craving, she does what she does to starve that craving once and for all.
The men of Haddonfield have allowed Michael Myers to stalk its citizens once again. They have been seduced by the beauty of the beast, and unwilling to take the threat seriously. Many of them hold more legal or political power than this hermit grandmother, but none of them seem to know how to wield that power when the chips are down. HALLOWEEN judges these men harshly, and rightfully so.
While HALLOWEEN finds ways to cast judgement on the state of the world forty years later, it doesn’t do enough to explore the soul of its heroine. While there is no doubt a great amount of joy in seeing Laurie Strode go “Sarah Connor” on the monster in the closet, it comes with a cost. The movie paints her as a complicated and fractured matriarch in very broad strokes. She has taught herself how to survive, and even managed to keep ties with her granddaughter from a distance…but how, and at what price?
HALLOWEEN is a good movie that underscores the failings of several sorts of men; a great movie was there for the taking, and it would have underscored the strength of one particular woman.