The newest installment of the “Halloween” franchise brings the return of Michael Myers as a knife-slicing babysitter-killing psychopath who is a household name to this day. The newest sequel, “Halloween” (2018) lives up the original, which was released 40 years ago.

In this eighth installment, Jamie Lee Curtis makes her return as Laurie Strode, the lone survivor of the string of murders from the original movie. Michael remains fixated on her, as she is the only one to escape from him. Curtis’s performance, as well as the film, is receiving praise from The Rolling Stones and the New York Post. “Halloween” (2018) is widely regarded as the best return of the series.

The film checks all the boxes of general horror movies: jump scares, a mysterious and malicious entity and a damsel in distress (or three, in this case). This sequel adopts Myers’s spine-chilling and terrifying identity from the original movie which contributes to the sequel’s success. Myers’s innate sense of evil and incredible ability to hunt his victims gives the audience a mysterious and bone-chilling feeling throughout the film.

A study done by California State University studied the psychology of monster movies and, in comparison with Dracula, the shark from “Jaws” and many other classic characters, Michael Myers was ranked the highest “embodiment of pure evil.” The most interesting and frightening aspect of “Halloween” was Michael’s psychology and his ‘boogeyman’ persona.

The film opens with Strode suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, which led to losing custody of her daughter, Karen (Judy Greer) years ago. Karen now has a daughter of her own, Allyson. Michael is serving a life sentence in Smith’s Groves Sanitarium being examined and studied. The tests weren’t going anywhere, so Michael’s next stop is a maximum security prison. In true horror movie fashion, Michael somehow crashes the bus and kills a ton of people, all while handcuffed.

Most of the film is Allyson, Laurie’s granddaughter, wandering around in the dark because her phone was thrown into pudding at a party. Her family can’t find her, which is frustrating because Michael was usually about 10 paces behind her in every scene. If it’s Halloween and in the middle of the night, keep your phone! Especially if there’s a mass murderer stalking the streets of Haddonfield, Ill.

Most horror films can get monotonous, but “Halloween” (2018) keeps it interesting; the characters and Michael’s undying and uneasy march to his next victim is a fresh but familiar twist to the new installment. Michael’s unpredictability and vicious motivation appoints him the Jaws of the Midwest.