Halloween (2018): A Race Against the Clock

Before the movie Friday the 13th (1980) terrified audiences around the world, there was Halloween (1978).  This year has seen the release of Halloween (2018), the 11th instalment in the Halloween movie franchise. As the twentieth anniversary outing, Halloween H20 (1998), this movie presents itself as a direct sequel to the original. Like H20, it reintroduces the character of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), the lone survivor of the Haddonfield babysitter murders of 1978. Laurie has spent the last 40 years suffering from PTSD, all the while preparing for the return of the serial killer Michael Myers. In the original movie Michael Myers, also known as the Shape, killed his sister on Halloween night in 1963, escaped captivity and continued his killing spree 15 years later. Like all good Halloween tales, the 2018 movie is a story about a specific date when people don masks, going door to door to play a game of trick or treat.

Holiday Horror

The original film continuing the trend of holiday and other date-based horror films such as Black Christmas (1974). During the 1980's there would be Prom Night 1 (1980), 2 (1987), and 3 (1989), Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 1(1984), Part 2 (1987), and Part 3 (1989) the spoofy April Fool's Day (1986), as well as four more Halloween sequels. This procession of date themed slasher films would continue into the 90's and beyond. Popular film series were ripped-off, remade, rebooted and reimagined. At the heart of this phenomena is the dichotomy of the joyous celebration coupled with the horror of tragedy. Celebrations are times that we mark out for joy and merriment. Tragedy on these days is always heightened, the annual celebrations of life transformed into a yearly anniversary of loss. And Halloween is the perfect setting for such a story. The outward images of death and fear mask the joyful festivities of the annual celebration. In the Halloween film series, this subversion is reversed. The symbols of death regain their original meaning. The man dressed up in the pale white death mask going door to door is the agent of death bringing death with him. He is not a man dressed as the bogeyman, he is the bogeyman. The mask doesn’t obscure his features, it externalises his inward self. The conventions of Halloween night are his native environment. Just as pumpkins are carved to resemble heads, in the latest movie Michael takes the head of a policeman and carves it into a jack-o-lantern. In Halloween (2018), Michael’s deranged psychiatrist Dr Sartain (Haluk Bilginer), after years of studying the killer in captivity, revels in the opportunity to see Michael free in his element, i.e. Haddonfield on Halloween Night. Usually existing in a catatonic state since the murder of his sister, he only becomes active when he escapes in time for Halloween.

It's About Time.

The fixing of the story to an annual event allowed time to become an important theme in the Halloween series. This 40th-anniversary film will be known as Halloween (2018), just as the 20th-anniversary film was known as Halloween H20 (1998). A date is implied in the title and this date becomes the catalyst for Michael Myers’ return. In the opening of Halloween (2018) we are presented with a montage made up of inmate’s stares and an image of a clock hanging on the wall in the Smith’s Grove Sanitarium. The clock introduces the idea of time passing and the approach of Halloween evening. The eyes of the inmates suggest the waiting game of those looking on. When the time arrives what will Michael do? The eyes are also mirrored by the gaze of the audience. We are waiting to see the bogeyman of the series in action. Once Michael dons his Halloween mask, he will spend time watching and waiting until it is time to begin his lethal ritual. This sense of the passing of time is also assisted by the soundtrack of the film. Beginning with a ticking clock at the start of the film, this feeling of time racing to an impending event is evoked by the rapid staccato of the main theme. Coupled with its unsettling 5/4-time signature and languid countermelody, the theme underscores the film's sense of countdown towards the inevitable events of the Shapes’ return.

Part of the thrill of the countdown is the sense that there is a game afoot. It's a game that the filmmakers are playing with us as we eat our popcorn, thrilling to the shocks and scares that jump out at us from the screen. In the original Halloween, Doctor Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance), Michael Myer's psychiatrist, enters into the spirit of the festival. While waiting for the Michael outside of the killer's childhood home, he scares some neighbourhood children that have approached the house. We are reminded at this point that the movie is a trick being played on us. Its fun being scared, it's a treat. We are observers of a game of cat and mouse being played out on the screen, all which is a scenario designed to trick us. This sense of the game is also prevalent in the latest instalment. In the opening scene, two British podcasters are granted permission to try and interview the non-verbal Michael Myer’s. They are led out to where Michael is restrained in the centre of the exercise yard, an area comprised of black and white squares reminiscent of a giant chess board. Here they question Myers about the events of the past to which there is no response. Even when producing the original mask from his 1978 killing spree he is unresponsive. All around guard dogs bark and other inmates cry out, yet Michael is silent. He is waiting in his square to make his move.

The Long Game.      

Once Michael is free, the game begins. The streets of Haddonfield become a maze in which Myers can appear and disappear seemingly at will. The Shape toys with his victims, obscuring himself in shadow and hiding in cupboards. He plays tricks on potential victims, hiding corpses, displaying bodies in ways that strike fear in other potential victims (and the audience).

Narrative expectations are also toyed with. Although it was established in previous sequels that Michael Myers and Laurie Strode were brothers and sister, the latest film sets out to ignore this plot device. The idea is raised in conversation between several characters and dismissed as mere gossip. At one-point Laurie’s granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak) falsely claims to have heard Michael Myers utter a word, claims to which psychiatrist, Dr Sartain asks ‘was it the name of his sister?’ The sister being referred to was Judith Myers whom he murdered in the prologue of the first movie. Yet to those familiar with the franchise it also acts as a tease. Is Laurie indeed his secret sister or not? As no word was uttered the truth remains unanswered. The movie also plays with the conventions of the slasher genre. No longer is the female lead the prey in the game of cat and mouse. She has positioned herself as the hunter, trying to beat Michael Myers at his own game. In Halloween (1978), Doctor Loomis played the role of the Shapes’ hunter. In Halloween (2018) we find that he has passed away and replaced by his former student, Doctor Sartain. Though poised to be the hunter it is revealed that he is more interested in observing Michael's homicidal activities. He is even more interested in simulating them, than apprehending him. The security represents is undermined when it is revealed he is part of the chaos. Now it becomes clear that it is Laurie Strode who is the heir to Loomis’ role as hero.  She is no longer the survivor, the last girl, she is the hunter. Just as Michael has been waiting to begin the game again, Laurie has been playing an even longer game, luring Michael into a trap. Just as the game begins with the chessboard imagery, it finishes with the criss-cross of bars, caging Michael in a fiery trap.


For 40 years the characters created by John Carpenter, Debra Hill and others have thrilled horror movie fans with their classy atmospheric approach to the slasher genre. Even at it’s weakest, the Halloween franchise has been a cut above the rest. The unrelenting march of its emotionless villain, Michael Myers through jack-o-lantern lined streets of Haddonfield, always casts an eerie image. Halloween (2018) continues this legacy, with its thrilling game of cat and mouse played out against the countdown to Halloween. It’s a tense game where at times it is unclear who is the hunter and who is the hunted.