Halloween R
John Carpenter’s franchise returns for its 11th outing on the original film’s 40th anniversary. Jamie Lee Curtis reprises brave babysitter Laurie Strode, survivor of Michael Myers’ slasher rampage. Nick Castle returns as masked Myers, while younger James Jude Courtney performs the killer’s more physically demanding scenes. On Halloween Eve, Myers escapes prison to grow his body count via gruesomely inventive murders. Finally, he reaches Strode, now a 60-year-old, gun-toting granny intent on having her revenge. Pitting Strode’s pure determination against Myers’ pure evil, the film allows comic moments as both characters “take a licking but keep on ticking.” When it’s all over, we can only guess whether Curtis fortified Strode’s endurance with Activia or whether William Shatner makes a royalty from Myers’ iconic mask. I’d like to think she did and he does.
