Halloween- still just as much fun!

I just watched the film Halloween, and I have to say I was very impressed and loved every minute of it. Jamie Lee Curtis is still wonderful and the other recurring actors brought their A-games as well. Below is a shortlist of why I think it was so good.

The cinematography was first-rate. The camera angles and shots were maximized to make it a pleasure to watch. One of the funniest experiences for moviegoers is when a director has a real flair and inspiration when it comes to creating what they see. Often, the way a film is shot can make it a spectacular film or just an ordinary one. Another great example of great use of shots was Hot Fuzz. If you watch it just with the shot list in mind, you see that it was very well done in this regard.

The foreshadowing in Halloween was also very well done. The buildup to Michael Myers's final confrontation with Jamie Lee Curtis' character made the whole movie feel like a roller-coaster ride with a big drop at the end. Each scene moved towards the inevitable showdown, adding to the tension and excitement.

The inventive ways they found to kill Michael Meyer's victims were also very fun to watch. Each one was gruesome and entertaining, making the whole movie a popcorn treat.

The pacing was also very good. There was no lag in the action, which is a death blow to a horror movie. You have to keep the audience on the edge of their seat the whole time, or the movie in its entirety fall s flat. You must always be moving the story forward at a frightening speed, so the audience doesn't have a chance to catch their breath.

There was one scene, the restaurant scene, that I feel could have been done better. It was the only time when the movie lacked spark. Jamie Lee Curtis' character was too refined when she first arrived, and much too polite. She should have come into the restaurant with a gun in her hand, causing instant cacophony, or acted much crazier and louder. After years of waiting for Michael, she should have been a lot more deranged, as a real person would be. That doesn't mean she wouldn't be the same smart, tough gal, but at the edges, she should have been more mentally unstable.

There were a few plausibility gaps. The idea that a hospital would send a whole busload of dangerous mental patients on a bus with only one guard is unlikely, especially after the way they isolated Michael at the hospital. And the police acted much too calm to be involved in so much mayhem. People surrounded by so many bodies would be freaking out, terrified every moment, and talking about what a psycho Michael was. The whole police force would be out, combing the streets. The Mayor would declare a lockdown. All in all, everybody acted way too calm for real people surrounded by so much death. But all this didn't really detract from the film, it was plausible enough that you could suspend your inner critic. Adding some more realism would simply have made it better.

The ending scene, which I won't share here so as not to give it away, was very satisfying and fun. All in all, Halloween set the bar very high for the rest of us screenwriters and moviemakers. I look forward to the new movie, Halloween Kills, expecting that it will be just as good.