Is Halloween (2018) the pinnacle of slasher success that its box office totals suggest?
It’s more than fair to say the Modern Horrors crew are no slaves to nostalgia. Whether discussing the latest indie, horror classics, or modern remakes, we call them as we see them. Often, to a fault *cough* Open House *cough cough*. So it should come as no surprise that no less than 3 staffers have publicly voiced their lack of enthusiasm for 2018’s Halloween installment. Jessica Rose penned an honest review pointing out the storytelling flaws within the film. Meanwhile, Anthony Alaniz waxed philosophic on why Michael Myers is more sad than scary. Perhaps the most telling, however, was our own founding editor Luke Rodriguez, channeling Jason Blum’s dad to say he’s not mad, just disappointed.
Today, let’s make it four for four, as I present you with six slashers released just this year that are superior to Halloween 2018 in some respect. Bear in mind, like my colleagues, I do not hate this movie. I’m not Todd. It’s perfectly fine. But therein lies the problem. Fine isn’t good enough in 2018, and shouldn’t be good enough for franchise fans.
The Ranger
The Ranger serves a giant middle finger to convention [while] Halloween is an homage to convention itself
Let’s get Jenn Wexler’s directorial debut out of the way first, because it’s the only one on this list I haven’t personally seen. But Luke has and I’m convinced it deserves a spot on this list for at least one reason. As he put it in his review, “The Ranger serves a giant middle finger to convention.” Meanwhile, Halloween is an homage to convention itself. While it may not be perfect, The Ranger takes risks and we should applaud it for doing so. While I certainly understand why a studio wouldn’t gamble with a valuable franchise, you earn no bonus points for playing it safe. The Ranger‘s got acclaim, y’all. Check it out!
Psychotic!
one of the best slashers in years
I will continue to beat the drum for this movie until I bust through it. And then I will buy another drum and beat it too. Pound for pound, Derek Gibbons and Maxwell Frey’s micro budget love letter to giallo is one of the best slashers in years. Psychotic! offers expert cinematography, great performances, gruesome kills, and brilliantly sculpted practical gore. Beyond that, the sophisticated story provides a clever commentary on hipster culture and surprises that are actually, you know, surprising! Check out my review for a spoiler-free discussion of some the amazing themes and skill on display, and check out the film as soon as you can.
Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich
satisfying and inventive
I’ll be honest. I was going to skip this one. I know nothing of this franchise, and I was not about to start with the thirteenth entry. “Actually, you can and you should,” said Luke. Well, I did and I am a better person for it. Like Halloween, there’s nothing terribly sophisticated about Puppet Master. That being said, I second Jason Almenas, who called the violence“satisfying and inventive.” It certainly is. You will see kills you (hopefully) never thought possible before, which is way more than we got with any of the kills in Halloween.
Continue reading on the next page.
Page 1 2
You Might Also Like
November 12, 2018
Pretty hilarious that you posit the thirteenth movie in a Charles Band series, which has fan-service casting and plays like a slicker Troma movie, as somehow being an alternative to nostalgia.
November 12, 2018
Woof. Looks like somebody doesn’t know how to handle differing opinions. Relax, dude. It’s okay that you liked Halloween. Most people did. Some of us didn’t. Those that didn’t have just as much of a right to write about not liking it and recommending alternative options for other like-minded individuals as those that walked away satisfied.
Not sure what’s hilarious about that. Seems pretty level headed to us. This obviously isn’t a place for you, and that’s okay too. We’re doing just fine without the toxicity that folks like you bring to the table.
November 24, 2018
Good lord, Luke. I only just saw your response and I’m quite startled by how hostile it is.
I don’t see where in my comment I said or implied that I liked the Halloween reboot. I thought it was a mediocre movie at best, and I agree substantially with the review that Jessica Rose posted on this site. I also thought it was over-complicated and had far too many dangling, unresolved plot threads, and I was also disappointed with the characterisation of Laurie as irretrievably damaged.
My comment was supposed to be a joke. Maybe it missed the mark, but I honestly don’t see the “toxicity” in it. All I did was point out the irony that an article which starts out saying that you are “no slaves to nostalgia” would list a late-series sequel that is 100% built on paying homage to past horror movies as an alternative to a Halloween sequel.
Maybe you were having a bad day when you commented, maybe you’re inundated by actually toxic people and my comment just happened to come along at a time when you were already close to snapping. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and overlook the insults in your comment. But as for “Looks like somebody doesn’t know how to handle differing opinions” – yeah, the irony is thick here.
November 26, 2018
Hey Pearce! Thanks for the thoughtful response. I’ll admit I also didn’t quite understand your initial comment, but appreciate the clarification. I’ll have to respectfully disagree with your assessment that Littlest Reich is “100% built on paying homage to past horror movies.” Between Zahler’s script and Lennon’s performance, I honestly found it fresh and don’t feel it relies on nostalgia at all. But on its face, yes, I see the irony.
November 26, 2018
Hey, thanks. I’ll admit that part of the problem for me was that I watched it immediately after Brawl in Cell Block 99, which straight-up bored me to tears, so I was pretty much over S. Craig Zahler’s writing style by the time I got to it. Add to that the casting of Barbara Crampton and Udo Kier, a lighting scheme that reminded me heavily of late ’80s direct to video movies and a sense of humour that I still think was rather Tromatic and it did play as quite retro to me. Your opinion differs, and I respect that.
November 14, 2018
I hated Halloween, but this list is garbage lol. Terrifier was decent tho.
November 17, 2018
Having seen all the films mentioned I don’t honestly think any of them are better than Halloween. Not that Halloween was overly impressive either. The Ranger couldn’t decide if it wanted to be Dr. Giggles (terrible one-liners based on a profession) or something more serious and therefore jumps between both with almost zero flair. Slice was just terrible.. It may have worked better as a niche show on a streaming service but overall the atrocious writing outweighs any flashes of creative brilliance the movie offers up. I did like Terrifier and I’m actually pretty good friends with David.. Let’s be honest though.. It’s not exactly fresh and the plot is non existent. I feel like you came up with the header to this article then sought out some random titles to fill in the blanks. You basically picked a half dozen not so great indie films and told everyone they should like them or shut up. Also, giallo and slasher are not the same.. If you believe that then you need to expand your knowledge in the era of what truly makes a giallo film and the history behind that word. I wish u luck but, with your writing style and your inability to take criticism, I’m not sure if your cut out for this.
November 23, 2018
Halloween 2018 was trash, thanks for the recs….
November 26, 2018
Fair enough. Sorry that you had to deal with that situation. My initial comment probably wasn’t terribly well thought out, in hindsight, so I apologise for that.
I’m sure The Littlest Reich was fresh compared to, I don’t know, Puppets vs Evil Bong or whatever the most recent entry was, I’m admittedly not up with the latest in Full Moon, but I did think it was a bit of a throwback in its style and its casting. You disagree, and that’s fine!
December 20, 2018
Having seen all the films mentioned I don’t honestly think any of them are better than Halloween. Not that Halloween was overly impressive either. The Ranger couldn’t decide if it wanted to be Dr. Giggles (terrible one-liners based on a profession) or something more serious and therefore jumps between both with almost zero flair. Slice was just terrible.. It may have worked better as a niche show on a streaming service but overall the atrocious writing outweighs any flashes of creative brilliance the movie offers up. I did like Terrifier and I’m actually pretty good friends with David.. Let’s be honest though.. It’s not exactly fresh and the plot is non existent. I feel like you came up with the header to this article then sought out some random titles to fill in the blanks. You basically picked a half dozen not so great indie films and told everyone they should like them or shut up. Also, giallo and slasher are not the same.. If you believe that then you need to expand your knowledge in the era of what truly makes a giallo film and the history behind that word. I wish u luck but, with your writing style and your inability to take criticism, I’m not sure if your cut out for this.