Everything Everywhere All At Once is a cinematic anomaly. It shouldn’t work at all, let alone as brilliantly as it does here; a cosmic, mind-bending exploration of Hollywood’s latest trend: the Multiverse. But where films like Spider-Man: No Way Home and the upcoming The Flash seek to use the concept to open up their properties to even more characters, the Daniels (writer-directors Kwan and Scheinert) have crafted an epic tale of love and forgiveness, anchored by a career defining performance from Michelle Yeoh, set against one of the most inventive, batshit crazy worlds ever put to screen.
In dire financial strife – and unbeknownst to her, on the verge of a divorce – Evelyn (Yeoh) struggles to balance an impending audit appointment, her well-meaning but irritating husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), and the upcoming introduction of her daughter Joy’s (Stephanie Hsu) girlfriend to Evelyn’s ageing father Gong Gong (James Hong). When a mysterious note appears amongst her tax documents at the IRS offices, Evelyn is accosted by an alternate version of her husband, who informs her that she is the key to stopping the evil Jobu Tupaki from wreaking havoc across all the universes in existence. Forced to learn how to draw upon the power of alternate versions of herself with unique skills, Evelyn must look inward to discover the true key to saving the Multiverse.
A24, 2022
Part The Matrix, part Martial Arts movie, part raunchy comedy and a heaping help of completely batshit strangeness, Everything Everywhere All At Once lives up to its name in defying explanation and being all these things at once; a celebration of cinema whilst being its own completely original thing. As you’d expect it takes a minute before you fully understand what is going on, with the Daniels throwing new world mechanics and terminology into the mix constantly. At a certain point however, everything just clicks together and this cinematic ride whisks you along with it; the visuals of Michelle Yeoh snorting a fly or Jamie Lee Curtis walking around with hot dogs for fingers being completely plausible as you explore this constantly inventive world the Daniels have created. From the people who gave us Swiss Army Man, a film about Daniel Radcliffe’s farting corpse, would you expect anything less?
Not only do they throw completely wild ideas on the screen, most of which shouldn’t work, but the Daniels manage to infuse it all with so much emotion that you will be a weeping wreck by the time the credits roll. At the core of all the zaniness is family and Evelyn’s relationship with hers is relatably complex, having let the everyday complications of life become her priority instead of the people around her. As she is allowed glimpses of herself in these different universes, she comes to understand the importance of the relationship with her husband and daughter in all of them, and it is this emotional core that drives the action, leading to a hilariously wholesome final act.
A24, 2022
Michelle Yeoh, a veteran of the screen, is given a rare role for an actor here; a chance to break away from the pre-conceived notions of what she can do by doing… just about everything. The range on display is truly astonishing, to the point where individual frames present wholly new versions of Evelyn, often featuring elaborate make-up or prosthetics and a distinct facial expression from Yeoh. These glimpses into alternate Evelyns may only be on-screen for a fraction of a second, but they all work together to hammer home just how epic in scope this adventure is, whilst remaining intimate. It also helps to further prove that Michelle Yeoh can do anything.
That greatness extends to the entire cast, with Stephanie Tsu’s frustrated and emotional portrayal of Joy, Evelyn’s daughter caught between loyalty to her family and striking out on her own. Jamie Lee Curtis pops up as a disgruntled IRS officer who follows Evelyn through the Multiverse, clearly relishing the weirdness and freedom of her role. But it is the return of Ke Huy Quan – Data in The Goonies and Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – that is most exciting, a familiar face who hasn’t lost any of the pure positive energy that he brought to those iconic roles back in the eighties. It’s heart-warming to see Quan return in a role this important and he knocks it out of the park, nailing his portrayal of the many versions of Waymond across the Multiverse.
A24, 2022
Those endless possibilities in the Multiverse extends to the film’s technical aspects as well, with the Daniels constantly playing with everything from the shifting aspect ratio to the colour grading and use of filters to denote different genres, universes and thematic elements. It’s a visceral, immediately noticeable element that gives each universe its own distinct flair, as well as demonstrating a clear love for the history of cinema and the different types of films within it.
In an infinite multiverse, Everything Everywhere All At Once is an infinite list of things we love about the movies – reasons to laugh, cry and cheer. Michelle Yeoh gives the performance of her career in this endlessly creative sci-fi epic; one of the most original films in recent memory that deserves to find a huge audience. With countless layers to unpack underneath the fantastic action and raunchy jokes, this is a film that will only improve upon repeat viewings as it works its way into your list of favourites. In a world where you could do anything anywhere, choose to see Everything Everywhere All At Once now.
A24, 2022
Everything Everywhere All At Once stars Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, James Hong, Tallie Medel, Harry Scum Jr., Jenny Slate & Jamie Lee Curtis – In cinemas now.
For the latest instalment in Michael Myers’ parade of violence across Haddonfield, no one could accuse Halloween Kills of being a misleading title. Murder is the name of the game here, and there sure is a lot of it, in almost every conceivable form. But director David Gordon Green’s sequel loses focus when it comes to furthering its predecessor’s examination of trauma and how that has affected three generations of the Strode family, spending the bulk of its time on carnage instead of character. The few ways that the narrative does inch forward pushes the franchise in new directions, but there just isn’t enough here to justify not skipping this and heading straight to the end of the planned trilogy.
Things are kicked off with a flashback to the pivotal Halloween night of 1978, as a young Officer Hawkins (played as a young man by Thomas Mann and in the present day by Will Patton) confronts Michael at the end of his night of terror. Cut to present day and events resume immediately following the prior film, as Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis), daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) flee Laurie’s burning home to seek shelter at the hospital, and first responder firemen race towards the blaze, unaware of the horror that awaits them.
Elsewhere in Haddonfield is original massacre survivor Tommy Doyle (Anthony Michael Hall), determined to remind the townspeople of their history and to ensure they remain vigilant. When he learns of Michael’s resurgence, Tommy gathers fellow survivors Lonnie (Robert Longstreet), his son Cameron (Dylan Arnold) and Lyndsey (Kyle Richards) and scours the streets, determined to capture the Boogeyman and riling the town into a murderous mob in the process.
Universal Studios, 2021
Gordon’s script is ambitious, shifting the focus from the Strode family to the entirety of Haddonfield and the effect Michael has had on the town’s collective past. Matichack and Greer find their roles largely scaled back here, as Anthony Michael Hall’s Tommy takes centre stage; a figurehead for the mob he has rallied to take down Myers. It’s an interesting character to fixate on, and one that does show Green’s interest in exploring the effects of trauma on different people – rather than just Laurie – and Hall is great as the enraged yet frightened Tommy. Where his character falls short is in the ill thought-out plan to incite a mob against Myers; emboldening the town with chants of “Evil dies tonight”. It’s a hokey phrase that is repeated so often that it quickly becomes irritating; a heavy handed metaphor for Michael that hints at a supernatural element (the physical embodiment of evil), and one which creates a jarring sense of campiness that clashes with the otherwise serious tone.
As a direct continuation of the last film, the threat of Michael still feels palpable, but as we track the killer on his path through victim after victim – unopposed as the rest of the town deals with red herrings and in-fighting – the novelty of these murders soon wears off. There are some great gore effects and a few stand-out scenes amongst them to be sure, but the film soon begins to feel like filler; an overly long bridging piece which serves as an epilogue to the last film and prologue to the next without ever really necessitating the need to exist as a standalone film. The plot is furthered in some major ways, but only in how things are set up to be paid off in the future, rather than individual character motivations.
Universal Studios, 2021
Speaking of characters, the most divisive decision Green and company have made in the sequel is to completely shelve Laurie, confining her to a hospital bed and never having her come face to face with her tormentor. It’s a colossal waste of Jamie Lee Curtis’ talent but she still manages to have some nice emotional interactions with Will Patton’s Officer Hawkins, whose significance to the franchise is greatly expanded here through flashbacks. These flashbacks are some of the best scenes the franchise has delivered in decades, faithfully replicating everything about the 1978 film right down to the slight graininess of the image and expanding on the story rather than changing it. Thomas Mann is terrific as the terrified, traumatised young Hawkins and Jim Cummings (indie superstar behind The Wolf of Snow Hollow, check it out) shines as a jaded mid-western police officer on the hunt for Myers: a fun nod to his other police-centric roles.
Halloween Kills biggest problem might just be how unfocused and unnecessary it feels; a stopgap on the way to a far more interesting conclusion that could have just as easily been a few scenes tacked onto the start of the next instalment. Shelving Laurie and shifting the focus to the rest of Haddonfield does allow for some interesting expansion of the lore but doesn’t greatly shift the board from where things ended in the 2018 film. If you can look past these problems, however, and focus on the quality filmmaking on display – with wonderfully macabre kills and another fantastic Carpenter score – then you will very likely walk away entertained. A stumble on the way to what will hopefully be a very bloody conclusion.
Universal Studios, 2021
Halloween Kills stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Anthony Michael Hall, Will Patton, Thomas Mann, Dylan Arnold, Robert Longstreet, James Jude Courtney, Kyle Richards & Jim Cummings – In cinemas and streaming in the US on Peacock now.
One of the most well known franchises in all of horror, Halloween has had something of a rocky history on its way to resurgence with 2018’s fantastic reboot. There’s been a robot army spin-off, Busta Rhymes karate kicking Michael Myers through a window, hell the big man has even survived a run-in with the also never ageing Paul Rudd. Even in Michael’s worst outings (and there are more than a few) there is some fun to be had, and we’re taking a look back through the entire 40 plus year history of films. Now cue the Carpenter score and let’s begin.
12. Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Universal Pictures, 1982
After an unsuccessful follow-up to the original behemoth, the creatives behind the Halloween franchise took a completely left turn for the third entry, leaving Michael Myers and the town of Haddonfield squarely in the rearview mirror. In its place we’re left with a strange sci-fi story involving cursed children’s Halloween masks that transform the wearers heads into pest infested pumpkins when a certain television commercial is aired. Now while that might sound like a “so bad it’s good” situation, the final result is anything but; an intensely boring, painfully slow sequel with little to keep you invested in a frustratingly uninspired mystery.
When her father is mysteriously killed in a hospital and the assailant sets himself alight, his daughter Ellie (Stacey Nelkin) teams up with doctor Daniel Challis (Tom Atkins) to investigate the circumstances of the death, leading them to the small Irish town of Santa Mira, home of mask manufacturer Silver Shamrock Novelties and its shadowy boss Conal Cochran (Dan O’Herlihy). It takes the film about half of its runtime to even get us to Santa Mira, wasting its time setting up an uncomfortable dynamic between Challis and his ex-wife (played by original Halloween actress Nancy Kyes), which the film feels allows him to be an unrestrained creep for the rest of the film, hitting on any woman that moves before ending up with Ellie, a romantic entanglement that has zero set-up. Michael Myers may not have impressed with his second outing, but even his victims corpses have more life in them than this mess
11. Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
Dimension Films, 2002
A lot of the Halloween films feel dated now, after all the franchise began all the way back in 1978, but none show their age as much as the abysmal Resurrection, the premise of which revolves around a group of fame hungry people locked inside the abandoned Myers house and rigged with cameras in some awful spoof of the reality TV craze of the early 2000’s. Complete with Tyra Banks and Busta Rhymes. Also Busta Rhymes roundhouse kicks Michael (Brad Loree) through a window. This isn’t a joke.
What makes it all so much worse is the absolute cheat that is the marketing, with posters and trailers promising the return of Laurie Strode, only to see Jamie Lee Curtis’s iconic character dispatched within the first 10 minutes. None of the other characters manage to make any meaningful impact (apart from Busta of course) and Michael is once again neutered as a villain; seeing him strung upside down flailing for his life and kicked through windows takes the edge of a killer known for his immovable strength. Despite all this, the movie still manages to muster enough entertainingly awful moments to keep you from boredom, something that the objectively better made Season of the Witch lacks.
10. Halloween II (2009)
Dimension Films, 2009
If the first film was proof he could adapt the iconic original, then Rob Zombie’s second instalment is him completely let loose, full of over-the-top violence and a visually dirty palette. Picking up years after Michael’s (Tyler Mane) initial terrorising of Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton) – after a needlessly gory, elaborate 30 minute dream sequence – we find her struggling with survivors guilt, pushing away adopted father Sheriff Brackett (Brad Dourif) and sister Annie (Danielle Harris). We know she’s not doing well because Laurie spends most of her screen time inexplicably screaming whilst the camera violently shakes and her character has shifted so violently to allow her to hang around the disgusting characters Zombie favours so much because it plays into his wheelhouse.
So extreme is the shift that Halloween II feels like a sequel to one of Zombie’s other films like House of 1000 Corpses or The Devil’s Rejects with Michael simply shoehorned in as a murder machine. It’s the most needlessly violent film in the franchise by a mile, as he decapitates, stabs and eye gouges his way through a washed out, grey looking Haddonfield; a fugitive on the lam running into almost everyone in the county if it means Zombie can extract some more bloodshed. Then there’s the bizarre sub-plot of Michael’s mother (Sheri Moon Zombie) reappearing in dream sequences with a white horse to guide Michael to Laurie – a way for Zombie to keep working with his wife maybe? A dreadful sequel that is so utterly uninterested with furthering the Halloween franchise that the iconic score isn’t even used until the second half of the credits.
9. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
Magnum Pictures, 1989
A direct continuation of 1988’s Return of Michael Myers, Revenge picks up with a bullet-riddled Michael (Don Shanks) miraculously floating downriver and being taken in and nursed back to health by a kindly stranger… before promptly murdering him and resuming the hunt for Jamie (Daniella Harris), the now mute daughter of Laurie Strode. Jamie’s brutal murder of her stepmother at the end of the previous film is conveniently forgotten and with adopted sister Rachel’s (Ellie Cornell) early death ridding the film of any carried over emotional investment; the weight of the film collapses around her, with a terrible supporting cast providing little assistance.
Donald Pleasence is now a caricature of the ominous psychiatrist from the Carpenter helmed original, violently shaking the little girl and commanding she use her randomly acquired uncle-niece psychic connection to lead him to Michael so that he can end the evil once and for all. It’s a brief respite of unintentional levity amongst forgettable kills, godawful writing and a now boringly unstoppable Michael, who completes his transformation from escaped mental patient to full on Superman, happily shaking off bullets and explosions in his unquenchable bloodlust. The only thing that seems to put a stop to his onslaught? A simple latch that completely stumps poor Michael, prompting him to rip the entire door off in a fit of architecturally challenged rage. We’ve all been there.
8. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
Trancas International Films, 1988
Following the dismal Season of the Witch, Michael Myers (George P. Wilbur) returned (see what I did there?) to Haddonfield in 1988 with a brand new mask and renewed bloodlust; the film wasting no time getting to the carnage as Michael’s demise at the hands of Loomis in Halloween II is quickly retconned and he breaks out of the sanitarium in suitably gruesome fashion. From here we follow Jamie (Daniella Harris) the daughter of the now (assumedly) dead Laurie Strode and her adopted sister Rachel (Ellie Cornell) as they attempt to navigate a typical Halloween of trick or treating and boy trouble before being alerted to Michael’s presence by the hilariously unhinged Loomis (Donald Pleasence).
While it starts strong, the film strangely chooses to constantly show Michael in awkward spots. Whether that be awkwardly scrambling onto a rooftop or bumbling, nothing takes the wind out of your spooky sails quite like watching a now middle-aged Michael catch his breath partway through a chase… until he rips a man’s throat clean out with one hand. The wacky tone continues right until the very last scene, with the young Jamie suddenly tapping into some dormant killer genes from her uncle, recreating young Michael’s first kill complete with bloody clown outfit, while a horrified Loomis looks on screaming “No!” for what you can only assume was well after the director yelled “Cut!”. Hilariously bad fun in all the ways that Season of the Witch should have been.
7. Halloween (2007)
Dimension Films, 2007
You don’t hire Rob Zombie for a carefully nuanced trip through Haddonfield. You hire him to deliver the bloodiest, grizzliest take on Michael Myers (Mane) to date; a film made to take you into the mind and world of Myers like none that had come before in the most disgusting, horrifying to watch way possible. And he delivers on that promise… eventually. So much of Zombie’s reimagining of Carpenter’s classic is spent explaining and that is its downfall. Audiences never needed to know why Michael was mute or learn about his horrifically abusive upbringing and terrible home life for him to be terrifying.
Yet Zombie seems obsessed with exploring every minor detail that could serve to give motivation to Myer’s killings; effectively making a sympathetic character out of him (to a degree); a victim of circumstance who finally succumbed to the darkness around him. It’s an admittedly interesting take on what exactly makes a psychopath tick, it just isn’t right for the character of Michael Myers. When it comes time to deliver on the “reboot” of it all and trace Michael’s hunt for Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton), Zombie has exhausted all of the new he wants to bring to the table, producing an incredibly dull second half that devolves into repetitive hide-and-seek antics with the odd gory kill here and there. All meaningless when we don’t know or care at all about Laurie or her friends.
6. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
Miramax, 1995
The end of the “Thorn Trilogy” The Curse of Michael Myers is a curious entry in the Halloween cannon. Things certainly get off to a good start, establishing Laurie Strode’s babysitting charge from the original film Tommy Doyle as the protagonist (played by a young Paul Rudd in one of his first roles), haunted by his experience and obsessed with discovering what drives Michael’s (Wilbur) bloodlust. He is soon drawn back into the nightmare when he discovers the abandoned newborn child of Jamie (J.C. Brandy), who has escaped from the strange cult that have held her captive for 6 years only to meet her own gruesome end. Teaming up with a now retired Loomis (Pleasence in his last outing), the pair race to protect the last of the Myer’s bloodline from Michael’s wrath: Laurie’s adopted cousin Kara (Marianne Hagan) and her son Danny (Devin Gardner).
For every step the film takes towards restoring the franchise to the height of the original – the small town setting, Michael’s slow burn stalking, Alan Howarth’s renewed use of Carpenter’s score – it also takes one back by doing what every good sequel does: completely ruining the fun through over-explanation. Michael’s motivations go from a deranged killer to a demonically possessed conduit of literal evil who was selected as a child by the same cult that has kidnapped Jamie. There are gross indications that Jamie’s kid might be Michael’s (the franchise was always missing the fun of incest), a bizarre subplot to have Loomis take over the role as leader of the cult and Danny’s unexplained psychic chats with a demon, but thanks to Paul Rudd and Pleasence’s toned down performance it manages to be more memorable than the previous two entries. Far easier to enjoy now knowing that the trilogy was wiped from the timeline with the release of H20: no harm done.
5. Halloween II (1981)
Universal Pictures, 1981
How do you improve upon a genre-defining classic like the original Halloween? Well, in Halloween II’s case the answer seems to be “more of the same”, as Michael (Dick Warlock) is revealed to have survived the events of the first film, hellbent on finishing off the only survivor: Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). Despite Carpenter’s continued involvement (he returned to co-write the script and co-compose the score), you feel his lack of direction in almost every scene; none of the tension of the original stalkings returns, replaced by cheap jump scares and a higher body count of utterly undeveloped fodder characters.
The shift in location to the local hospital does admittedly provide for some interesting variations on Michael’s usual methods – a nonsensical scalding hot hospital tub and a slow-burn syringe stabbing being two particular highlights – but having this titan of horror fooled by the sound of gas leaking is a unique way to completely neuter your killer in only his second appearance (in addition to inexplicably making him Laurie’s long-lost brother). Thankfully there is some fun to be found thanks to a gleefully deranged performance by Donald Pleasence as psychiatrist Sam Loomis; shouting completely serious nonsense like “You don’t know what death is” and somehow managing to maintain a straight face. Kudos also to Jamie Lee Curtis’ shift in portraying Laurie Strode, ridden with PTSD after her traumatic first run-in with Michael and unable to do much for majority of the film, it is nonetheless a great performance that, in a film full of brash hilarity, feels like a genuine response to the events unfolding.
4. Halloween Kills (2021)
Blumhouse Productions, 2021
Picking up right where things left off in 2018, Halloween Kills continues the story of Laurie (Curtis) – now bed-ridden in hospital – and her daughter (Judy Greer) and granddaughter (Andi Matichak) as they regroup to take on Michael (James Jude Courtney) after learning of his survival. The story expands to the other survivors of the 1978 attack, widening the circle of heroes to include Anthony Michael Hall’s Tommy Doyle among others as the town mobilises to protect themselves, risking their own humanity in the process. Meanwhile the man himself is carving a bloody path through Haddonfield towards a climactic showdown with enemies new and old.
Halloween Kills suffers from being the middle instalment in a planned trilogy, with less development and significantly lower stakes than its 2018 predecessor. Nevertheless the film more than lives up to its name by crafting some of the goriest, most intense kills in the franchise, delivered by a Michael Myers who has now begun to transcend into un-killable, more-than-human territory. There are interesting strides made on the story-side of things too, as writer-director David Gordon Green subverts expectations and suggests that Michael’s rampage might not actually be tied to Laurie (a breath of fresh air for a franchise historically obsessed with their connection) but it ultimately feels incomplete without the final film to tie everything together; a gruesome piece of filler on the way to a (hopefully) more satisfying conclusion.
3. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
Dimension Films, 1998
The combination of Jamie Lee Curtis’ return and the recent success of fellow slasher Scream proved the shot in the arm Halloween needed so desperately needed to revitalise itself, discarding films 3-6 and picking up 20 years following the “death” of Michael (Chris Durand) in the hospital (cleverly conveyed through the reuse of that film’s anthem “Mr. Sandman”). Laurie (Curtis), now headmistress of a private school and living under the name Keri Tate, has been permanently scarred by the events of 1978, leading her to become an overprotective mother to rebellious teenage son John (Josh Hartnett). When Michael returns for revenge on his sister and nephew, Laurie must finally confront the demon from her past once and for all.
The influence from Scream is immediately felt through the Drew Barrymore-esque appearance of Joseph Gordon-Levitt – who is promptly murdered with an ice skate – but extends to the constantly quipping cast of friends that John surrounds himself with and the frequent meta references to the franchise’s history. Along with the (mostly) inventive kills it makes for an incredibly fun return to the story of the Strode’s, free of the complicated lore of earlier entries and with a great performance (as usual) from Curtis, who brings new layers to a more forceful portrayal of Laurie: a final girl turned final woman for the ages.
2. Halloween (2018)
Blumhouse Productions, 2018
Of all the Halloween sequels, David Gordon Green’s soft reboot/sequel is the only one to recapture the tone and characters while creating genuine fear towards Michael Myers (Courtney). So it’s a good thing then that the story ignores all the sequels and reboots, taking place 40 years after the original and focusing on Laurie (Curtis), her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak). There’s endless dramatic tension and emotional depth to be mined from the complicated relationship between these three women, all affected by the actions of Michael in different ways and at odds with one another about how best to move forward. It feels truly great again to have Curtis back in the lead, and although we’ve seen her tackle the PTSD ridden survivor Laurie before, this time it feels more genuine; a fascinating and relevant story of a woman taking back her life.
As for Michael, he is as terrifying as ever and Green wisely utilises a slow burn approach to build that fear back up, focusing on the legacy of the man and the carnage he carried out in 1978. When the kills do start flowing, they are suitably gruesome (without the needless gore of the Rob Zombie films) and effective in conveying the pure strength and immovability of this murder machine – no stumbling, bumbling Michael here, he is all business. Carpenter’s return to the score also lends a huge helping hand in revitalising the franchise; delivering a revamped version of his iconic theme that is familiar but feels darker and heavier, perhaps indicative of the hatred bubbling away in Laurie for all these years. A perfect start to a new chapter in Michael’s history.
1. Halloween (1978)
Compass International Pictures, 1978
Was there any doubt? Just about every aspect of John Carpenter’s Halloween cements it as a cinematic horror classic, from the introduction of Michael Myers (Tony Moran) and ultimate scream-queen Jamie Lee Curtis to the instantly recognisable score from Carpenter himself. Laurie Strode’s (Curtis) first encounter with evil itself is still the franchises’ high point, revolutionary in its chilling depiction of Myer’s relentless stalking which boils over into a bloodbath. Opting for a less is more approach, Carpenter rarely allows Michael to be seen, utilising shadows and other obstacles to obscure him and create the constant sense of dread that he could be lingering. One minute Laurie spots him ogling her from afar, when she looks back he is gone.
The only insight we get into the killer himself comes from a horrific point-of-view sequence that puts us in the shoes of a young Michael during his first murder, an inventive sequence that pulls the rug out under the audience by revealing the killer to be a fresh-faced six year-old Michael. Sure, there are gorier and more intense slashers that have released since, but Halloween is the defining titan, popularising the genre and providing the blueprint for everything from A Nightmare on Elm Street to Friday the 13th.
Old-school murder mystery tales are always a bit of fun, aren’t they? Made famous since the days of Poirot and similar grand detective tales, these Cluedo-style adventures have since become a whole genre of recognisable stereotypes and traditional storytelling. Yet despite having a generic template to follow, murder mysteries are deceptively hard to pull off in practice. The cast of suspects must be large enough to keep the audience guessing, but each character needs room to flourish unique personalities and motives. The plot and twists need to properly fool the viewer, without coming off as ridiculous or foolish themselves. Then there’s the act of nailing a smart and definitive grand finale, one that could either make or break all the events that precede it. The list reads as a minefield of challenges for any film in the genre, however it’s also a list of tropes that Knives Out deftly delivers at damn near every turn. Featuring a larger-than-life cast, expert writing and a zippy pace, it’s no mystery that Knives Out is one of the best adventures you’ll find in cinemas this year.
As expected from any entry within the genre, Knives Out wastes no time in introducing its crime, suspects and lead detective. Private investigator and ‘last gentleman detective’ Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is called to the Thrombey family mansion after a reunion evening ended in death. Blanc’s heavy southern accent is a bit jarring at first, however it’s cleverly folded into the humour of the film and Craig does an excellent job of bringing the complex key character to life. Ruling all members of the family as suspects, Blanc quickly finds his hands full with the troublesome Thrombey clan as each present their own twisted story of the night’s events. You’ll hear from the aggressive and self made Linda – played expertly by a fiery Jamie Lee Curtis – before her anxious husband Richard (Don Johnson) provides his own contradicting alibi. There’s also the case of their adult son Ransom (a scene-stealing Chris Evans), whose playboy lifestyle and abrasive attitude have all but cut him from the family completely. Each character is expertly crafted as instantly recognisable and completely unique, and we’ve yet to even scratch the surface.
Lionsgate, 2019
We have Christopher Plummer as the wealthy-yet-scorned family patriarch Harlan Thrombey, assisted by his kindhearted caretaker Marta (delivered brilliantly by a talented Ana de Armas). Harlan’s bitter son and business manager Walt (Michael Shannon) has his own agenda, and wife Donna (Riki Lindhome) is quick to fire up when the time calls. Their socially unstable son Jacob is also at the scene of the crime, with the brooding character played well by Jaeden Martell following the recent It films. Rounding out the cast is the hilarious Toni Collette as Harlan’s daughter-in-law and struggling ‘lifestyle guru’ Joni, desperately trying to put her daughter Meg (Katherine Langford) through a prestigious school. There’s quite a lot to unpack there, but know that each personality effortlessly carves out their own little niche of the film – while still managing to form a cohesive, albeit dysfunctional family when all together. As with most similar films, you’ll spend most of the runtime trying to pick the culprit yourself despite the red herrings and plot twists – of which there are many. Knives Out manages to work in some of the smartest twists the genre has seen, however it also makes some bold choices around the halfway mark in an effort to set itself apart from the rest.
Knives Out essentially has two distinct chapters – the first adhering to what audiences can expect from a traditional whodunit, and a second that attempts to spin something almost entirely unique. It would spoil far too much to dip into specifics, however it’s definitely worth noting that this shift does nothing but lift the film even higher, almost as if introducing a second mystery before you’d even put the first together. There’s also a decent shot of adrenaline in the later half, again setting Knives Out apart from films such as 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express, which generally tend to follow somewhat of a slower pace. All of these wild events are of course leading to the expected grand finale, and it’s safe to say that Knives Out has no trouble ending on a dramatic high.
Lionsgate, 2019
For such an integral part of the film, Knives Out offers up a satisfying conclusion that keeps you guessing right up until the final pieces of the puzzle fall into place. The climax is also brimming with the film’s sharp writing and dark humour, all resulting in a worthy ending to the rollercoaster of events that came before it. This is mainly thanks to writer and director Rian Johnson, who has really created something special with Knives Out. Expertly written and delivered, the film soars off the back of its huge and immensely talented ensemble cast. It’s also a tale that never takes itself too seriously, managing to inject a ton of life and humour at every possible opportunity. It’s hard to say much more without spoiling what is easily some of the most fun you’ll have at the movies this year – but just know that it is without a doubt a mystery worth solving.
Lionsgate, 2019
Knives Out stars Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, Toni Collette, Ana de Armas, Christopher Plummer, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Katherine Langford & Jaeden Martell – In cinemas now.
