ReelBob: ‘Halloween’ ★★½

By Bob Bloom

“Halloween” works hard at trying to please old and new fans of the series, which creates a schism in which the movie fails to completely please anyone.

The latest film in this franchise returns to the 1978 original for its source — ignoring all the sequels and remakes that came in between.

“Halloween,” directed by David Gordon Green and written by Green, Danny McBride and Jeff Fradley, wants to have it both ways. It seeks to be not only a sequel but a homage to the original.

And this divided focus works against the movie.

Green and the writers expend a lot of energy reminding us of moments from the original, while also struggling to give the movie momentum.

Sometimes it works — such as a Halloween-night sequence in which the movie tracks the silent killer, Michael Myers, walking along the street among unaware trick-or-treating youngsters.

Also helping is the John Carpenter score from the original mixed with a new and more ominous track by Daniel A. Davies and Carpenter’s son, Cody.

Michael Simmonds’ cinematography also is an asset as he keeps his camera on the move, tracking through the town of Haddonfield, IL, always skulking around corners like a hunter stalking its prey.

The foundation on which “Halloween” rests is the savage performance of Jamie Lee Curtis, returning as Laurie Strode.

It was this role in the original that propelled Curtis to stardom.

Forty years later, she is no longer the frightened babysitter trying to keep her charges safe from “The Boogeyman.”

Now, living in a self-contained compound with enough firepower to arm a militia, she is ready for Michael’s return. In fact, she has prayed for it.

Laurie, twice married and obviously paranoid, wants to be the one to kill Michael.

Michael has been in a state mental hospital for the past 40 years where Dr. Sartain (Haluk Bilginer), a student of the late Dr. Loomis who figured so prominently in the original movie, has been studying Michael.

Michael has not said a word in his four decades of incarceration, much to Sartain’s frustration.

Events unfold for the worst when a prison bus transporting Michael and other inmates to another prison facility crashes.

Michael single-mindedly heads for Haddonfield to renew his killing spree.

Laurie, hearing of Michael’s escape, takes action to protect her estranged daughter, Karen (Judy Greer), and granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak).

“Halloween” stubs its toe several times before a violent but unsatisfactory finale, which is designed to continue the series.

But for all its missteps, “Halloween” is low-rent scary. True, it fails to wholly capture what made Carpenter’s 1978 version so special and groundbreaking, but it does help cleanse your palate of the mostly inferior sequels that followed.

I am a member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My reviews appear at ReelBob (reelbob.com) and Rottentomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com). I also review Blu-rays and DVDs. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com or on Twitter @ReelBobBloom. Links to my reviews can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.

HALLOWEEN
2½ stars out of 4
(R), graphic violence, scary, bloody and disturbing images, language, drug use, nudity