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herelieshenry's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
I have a lot of thoughts about this novelization that I’ll probably later make into a full-fledged review, but for now, I just want to say I hate a majority of the choices made around Michael’s character and background for this novelization, and the inconsistency in the assigned motive is bizarre: it feels as if the author wants Michael’s motive to have been that he was literally possessed by a cursed Celtic spirit, compelled by psychosis, and sexually repressed all at once, and fails both to capture the ambiguity of the film or compensate that with a compelling character study. On top of seeming to instead participate in the sort of hysteria around “times changing” and the preservation of the sanitized, false suburban American dream/nightmare that the film commentated on, the prose itself feels sort of juvenile (in a way I would have forgiven if it had provided literally anything substantial to outweigh that negative), and overall, I’d hesitate to recommend this to even to other people who love Halloween (1978) as much as I do.
Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Gore, Incest, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Car accident
Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Rape, and Medical content
dragonbloom's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I actually really enjoyed this. IMO, much better than the original movie. An interesting expansion on why the crimes were committed, highly suspenseful and I felt more sympathetic towards the protagonists. If you enjoyed the movie, it’s worth a read. If you didn’t enjoy the movie but might like the concept handled differently... Worth a read!
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, Stalking, and Murder
Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Misogyny, and Medical trauma
Medical trauma, medical content, ableism: It is not intended to be be that way, but this book could certainly be very upsetting to a survivor of medical trauma or abuse. There are graphic asylum scenes, and Doctor Loomis is described as drugging patients he “believes cannot recover” to prevent them from pleading their case for release to a judge. Some comments exchanged by medical professionals about their patients are highly ableist. Animal death, cruelty: The antagonist kills a dog, in detail. It is self defence, sort of, as he shouldn’t have been in the garden in the first place. Stalking: The antagonist stalks his victims for a few hours before killing them. Sexual content: There are a few scenes of undressing, and one graphic sex scene. Misogyny: Many of the descriptions of women have aged poorly, as there is far too much talk of their breasts unnecessarily. Confinement: The antagonist is locked in a prison/mental ward for 15 years, though
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