[ENTERTAINMENT] ‘HALLOWEEN’ IS FULL OF CALLBACKS TO THE 1978 ORIGINAL

by sloppyvinyl | Oct 22, 2018 | Entertainment

SLIGHT SPOILER WARNING FOR 2018’S “HALLOWEEN.”

Director David Gordon Green’s remake of the iconic slasher film “Halloween” had the innovative thought to forget about all the sequels. That means that in 2018’s “Halloween” there’s no mention of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) being Michael Myers sister, and none of the events that happened in “Halloween 2”, including Curtis’s reappearance in “Halloween: H2O” and “Halloween: Ressurection.”

Green makes smany of his sequel’s shots eerily remniscent of Carpenter’s original, which not only adds an interesting perspective, but makes the film seem born from the original.

THE OPENING CREDITS

The opening credits sequence for the original “Halloween.”
Photo courtesy of artofthetitle.com

The ’78 film begins with a title sequence with Carpenter’s iconic “Halloween” score playing in the background. Alongside the credits is a jack-o-lantern carved for the holiday. The score combined with the jack-o-lantern and orange titles made this an iconic opening. The 2018 version plays on this.

After an opening sequence introducing two exposition-feeding podcasters, the “Halloween” theme plalys at full volume as it cuts to the film’s opening credits sequence. This time, the jack-o-lantern is destroyed, either kicked in by Myers himself of michevious trick-or-treaters. As the title sequence goes on, the pumpkin slowly raises itself back to life and by the time the opening credits are done, it’s fully formed and seems identical to the original. I thought this was an awesome way to subtly call back to the original.

DAYDREAMING IN CLASS

Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) looks out the window during class only to see Michael Myers standing there.
Photo courtesy of Youtube.com

One of the original’s iconic shots are Laurie, as she’s sitting in English class, daydreaming, staring out the window, only to see a masked Michael Myers standing in the street. Green’s sequel plays with this idea. Laurie’s granddaughter, Allison, is sitting in class (possibly in the exact same seat, I’ll let you know after I rewatch the new version again), looking out the window. Instead of seeing the masked killer, she sees her grandmother, from whom she’s estranged.

This was a really interesting shot, not only because it’s a great call back, but because it raises questions about Laurie’s sanity. Through the sequel, we see that the events in 1978 have taken over Laurie’s life. She couldn’t successfully raise her kids, she became agoraphobic and she secluded herself in the middle of no where. With this shot, audiences subliminally wonder if she’s turned into the monster.

THE CLOSET

Another iconic shot from the original “Halloween.”
Photo courtesy of lamag.com

If you’ve seen the original “Halloween” chances are you remember the iconic shot of Michael, breaking through the closet door to find Laurie hiding in the corner, cowering in fear. In the remake, this scene is very briefly referenced.

Without getting too heavy into spoilers, I’ll say Laurie is in a house, searching for the-masked-babysitter-murderer, who’s once again managed to escape her grasps. She walks through the different rooms of the house, and in one, comes across a closet that looked identical to the one she hid in 40 years ago. This was probably done to intentionally subvert the audience’s expectations in the third act.

WHERE’D HE GO?

After Michael falls out the window in the ’78 “Halloween” he’s presumed dead, until Loomis and Laurie look out the window and see his body has vanished.
Photo courtesy of wrightonfilm.com

The 1978 “Halloween” ends with Myers getting shot and falling out the window. When Laurie and Dr. Loomis look out to see his dead body, it has mysteriously vanished. Once again, this year’s remake references this shot. Laurie and Michael are in an intense third act showdown, and it looks like Myers has the upper hand. He manages to toss Laurie out the second story window, causing her to roll off the balcony and onto the grass. However, when the masked murderer looks out the window, this time its her body that managed to quickly get away(Don’t worry, I won’t say what happens next).

This remake of “Halloween” is far from perfect. It has too many characters, an inbalanced tone and parts of it seem clumsy. However, the character work done by Jamie Lee Curtis and writer Danny McBride on the character of Laurie Strode is impressive. Walking out of the theater, I was thinking about the lasting effects and trauma that surviving a horror movie would cause, and that’s an idea that’s rarely explored. Even 40 years later, Laurie is still struggling to cope with what went down in Haddonfield.

While not perfect, 2018’s “Halloween” was clearly crafted with care and respect for the original, as evidenced by the shots that mirror the 1978 classic.