Halloween

David Gordon Green’s 2018 film is a direct sequel to the 1978 original and sets aside every other film in the series. The most concrete consequence: the revelation added by Halloween II in 1981, that Laurie is Michael’s sister, goes with them. Green and his co-writers Danny McBride and Jeff Fradley judged the extra motive made the killer less frightening. What you get is a man whose reasons are never explained, and the film does not treat that as a hole. John Carpenter returned as executive producer and composer, writing the score with his son Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies. Carpenter has said Jason Blum told him to stop criticising from the sidelines and help. The man under the mask is mostly James Jude Courtney. Nick Castle’s return was heavily promoted, but Courtney said in 2018 that Castle on screen was a single cameo and that every shot under the mask was his own; Castle’s real contribution was Michael’s breathing. Shooting took place in Charleston, South Carolina, and a ten million dollar budget returned 259.9 million worldwide, the highest in the series. A good fit if you would rather the killer were given no explanation, and want to see Haluk Bilginer as Dr Sartain. Not for you if you bought the ticket because Nick Castle is back under the mask.