Halloween

The opening scene is spectacular, though it appears too modern in the contest of the rest of the movie. Also, I would prefer for the ending to be more psychologically intimate and dark. Still, it turned out to be the best it could be. Because it absolutely pays tribute to the original and succeeded in the most important thing – using the same camera shots and music – it brought me back to the same streets, backyards, hallways and rooms, to the same place with the unique atmosphere that once defined my weakness for this amazing film subgenre. And that was a hell of a delight! (10/14/2018)

A predator does not want to die until it kills its prey. But the same goes for the prey. David Gordon Green has carved out and carefully shone a dignified tribute on the unbeatable original, with an amazing soundtrack proving that, like Michael, John's tunes from the 1980s do not age. The atmosphere is dense, the homage is elegant, the camera rides are smooth. The jump scares are not completely inventive, but the atmosphere is sharp ... I see no reason not to get sliced up again. (10/16/2018)

A typically painful sequel or the expected flush down the toilet. The new Halloween may be good in terms of craftsmanship, but by the most part is a characterless homage to the original that coldly copies Carpenter’s style, and every attempt at a signature of its own and to subjectivise the titular evil in potentially climactic scenes is paradoxically buried by Michael Myers’s legendary ghostly aura. The intro is a modern spasm that has nothing to do with the darkness of the first one, there’s one key twist that suddenly develops dementia and there are moments when it feels like a Wes Craven flick (the wisecracking black kid). At least the rest is an above-average, lively and at times inventive slasher, the kind we get in cinemas every now and again, but as a direct sequel to a horror legend, unfortunately, it’s not worth much. 55% (10/18/2018)

Mad killer Michael Myers is free and goes after Laurie Strode, who escaped him on his first spree. She's a mental wreck, but she's been preparing for this confrontation for 40 years. Only one can survive, but anyone can die... The new Halloween follows in the footsteps of the original one, refusing to conform to new trends and contemporary styles. It's old-school, unafraid to build tension for long, knows how to get under the skin and refuses cheap violence. Instead of gratuitous brutality, it relies on uncomfortable chills, excellent actors and the most traditional "Halloween" scares in the style of the classic first film. If you want modern horror, look elsewhere. But if you're a fan of Carpenter's film, you couldn't possibly get anything better in the cinema. (10/17/2018)

I only saw the first Halloween, and now this sequel. It’s a great sequel. The creators (very surprising to me) have preserved Carpenter's uncompromising vibe without me feeling like they're just copying it, and everything is in its place, everything has (within the genre of course) logic, justification, reason... call it what you want. And Jamie Lee Curtis is admirable. She managed what Linda Hamilton failed to do in the last Terminator, namely to bring back an iconic female character to the game and not simply rely on her being an iconic female character. Having given a full rating to the original film, I don't see a single reason not to give it this time as well. (11/23/2020)