Halloween 🎃👻

Anyone who knows Michael Myers, knows the Halloween slasher films. 🔪🎬 They’ve thrilled us for decades, as we cover our eyes between (grisly) scene after scene. 🙈 We first meet Michael in John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978). Supposedly “pure evil” he is stalking teen babysitter Laurie Strode (the wonderful, and beloved Jamie Lee Curtis). He murders her friends, then attacks and almost kills her. The horrors she witnesses are many. 😱

Films of this type, in some ways, desensitize us to the violence. ☝🏽 Like a roller coaster, we seek thrill at the jump scares, the knife, the blood. Halloween (2018), currently streaming on Netflix, is different. Filtering through the multitude of sequels that have come and gone, this one stands out.

It picks up 40 years after the first. We actually see, after all this time, what effect Michael has had. Haunted by the memories of that fateful October 31,1978, we again meet Laurie, now living alone in the bush, in a sort of bunker. We witness her trauma, and that of her family -- her humanity, and the realness of it. All from a franchise, generally grounded in horror fantasy. 🎞

Enter Halloween Kills (2021) -- currently in theatres. 🎭 The production value has gone way up, as has the inclusivity, with a varied representation of characters. Of course, it’s still good old fashioned horror. But with a strong story. 📝 As much as his killing spree is over the top, putting that sensationalism aside, we learn how much Michael Myers has torn up this town, literally and figuratively. And how the subsequent mob mentality has created madness.

So, if you’re home looking for some scare this weekend, give it a go! 👌🏽

Happy Halloween, folks! 🎃👻