Although the newly released “Halloween ” movie, directed by David Gordon Green, shares a name with the horror cult classic, it most definitely does not share the same great cinematic qualities of its 40-year old predecessor.

“Halloween ” takes place after the events  of John Carpenter’s original “Halloween ,” Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is still suffering from the traumas of almost being murdered four decades ago — not with cowardice but with preparation. Strode has been preparing for the day Michael Myers (Nick Castle and James Jude Courtney) escapes, so she can finally take her revenge and murder him.

The new “Halloween” ignores every other“Halloween” film, except the original. This shows how desperately the latest “Halloween ” tries to present itself as the true sequel, while abandoning the others in the blood trail left by Michael Meyers himself.

Sadly, “Halloween” does not do a fantastic job at masquerading as the true sequel to the 1978 original. With this, along with interesting “artistic” decisions present in the film, “Halloween ” begins to show its cracks and falters where the original stands tried and true.

The film is not only confusing to the audience, but frustrating. There are genuine moments that capture the tense atmosphere of the original, but those moments are rare. The original does not rely on gimmicky jump scares and senseless, bloody murders, but the subtlety of the terrifying atmosphere that follows our silent and stone cold murderer, Michael Myers.

The sequel relies too heavily on the numerous, and excessively brutal murders. This would be fine in any other “by the number” horror film, but in the cases of Myers, this is character assassination. In John Carpenter’s piece, the act of Myers murdering someone isn’t necessarily the scary thing about him, but how he creepily and eerily stalks his prey.

This is not where the problems end. Another issue that pulls down the movie is an overabundance of characters of underdeveloped characters.. The amount of poorly portrayed characters, along with disconnecting and loosely related subplots all stitched together make for a Frankenstein of an uninteresting story.

The only interesting character is Strode, who is criminally not featured enough in this film. When she is on screen there is a purpose, and the plot finally begins to move. But these scenes are few and far between.

There are also random, unrelated scenes that bear no importance to the plot. These scenes, in tandem with a mashed-together plot, uninteresting character storylines, and a lack of cohesive idea hinder this movie.

There are points in “Halloween ” that harken back to the original, with point of view shots of Myers watching his next victim, coupled with him breathing heavily through his mask. Even when Strode is hunting Michael Myers, there is a constant metaphorical tug of war each character plays to get the upper hand on the other. But these scenes do not right the sins of the entire movie.

The original “Halloween ” is not just a great horror movie, but a great movie. It illustrates how the use of small details elevates the film into its spot as a classic. 2018’s “Halloween ” doesn’t take inspiration from the original and build on the foundation John Carpenter laid in 1978. Instead, it relies too heavily on horror movie stereotypes.

“Halloween ” is for audience members who are interested in watching bland characters brutally slaughtered with enough blood to give a Quentin Tarantino a run for his movie.

If you are expecting a continuation of one of the most beloved American horror movies that can satisfying a cinematic experience rivaling the first- you will feel stabbed in the back.