The opening credits. That classic, bone-chilling theme plays over a (rather hilariously) rotted away jack o' lantern, which slowly reverts its own decay until it's looming up in all its former, leering glory.
The fact that the security around Michael has been improved considerably since the first film. Administrators and law enforcement didn't take Dr. Loomis's concerns seriously prior to Halloween in 1978 and we saw how easily he escaped. Now Michael is in what appears to be a maximum security facility for patients with mental health and he's being guarded 24/7 under intense surveillance. This shows that they learned from their mistakes and are treating Michael like the threat that he is rather than a joke. It's also possible that after he was captured administrators finally gave Loomis whatever recommendations he made in making sure Michael was secure. Regardless, in most horror films law enforcement and administrators never learn from their mistakes regarding the villain. Here, they clearly have.
On the topic of the film-making, there's the breathtaking scene right as Michael is being transferred out from Smith's Grove. Inside the facility, guards shout at other inmates and use tasers and it's utter chaos, while Michael stands serene. Right outside, Laurie sits and tries to work up the courage to finally kill Michael, and finally gives a Skyward Scream when the prison bus departs. In a nearby motel, the podcasters listen to Dr. Loomis' distraught testimony, demanding and eventually begging for Michael's death. All of this is spliced together and scored to John Carpenter's dreamy and melancholic "Prison Montage", and it suddenly feels like a funeral; Michael is gone, and Laurie will never move on. But then Michael escapes...
Laurie Took a Level in Badass in the last 40 years. She's had time to prepare for when The Shape escaped and by god if she hasn’t made good use of it. This is no longer the frightened but brave teenager in 1978, this is a woman ready to go toe to toe with and to take down a monster.
Just the sheer number of people who try to fight back against Michael, rather than cower in fear. It almost never works, but still, at least they tried.
Michael recovering and donning his old mask. For just a moment, everything slows down, and it's the only action he ever seems to savor.
The Oner shot that truly establishes Michael's well and truly back. It's a glimpse of how terrifying and viciously effective Michael still is, a masterful bit of cinematography and loving ode to the original all rolled into one. After all these years, Michael still shows how Evil Is Cool.
The sting that plays when Allyson finds Oscar's body. Michael Myers is back, and he's scarier than he started 40 years ago. He's not even in focus on film, but all he needs to do is step out of the shadows...
Frank Hawkins is the most competent law enforcement officer in the Halloween franchise. Back in '78, he prevented Loomis from killing Michael for good. He realizes that this was a mistake, but the first thing he does when he learns Michael escaped? Send a few officers to Laurie Strode's place to guard the area. Second decision, search every single area of Haddonfield for Michael. And the second he sees Michael threaten Allyson, his reaction is to run him over with a police SUV. Oh, and knowing that Michael survived all of his injuries, his reaction upon getting out? Try to shoot Michael in the head. In most of the Halloween films, the police officials made a lot of common sense mistakes involving Michael in all the timelines. This included failing to keep him locked up somewhere, approaching a seemingly dead Michael, failing to get security around anyone who might be his targets, which should be really easy since they know he only targets his family and anyone unfortunate enough to be near them, and in general, failure to look for him given that his mask stands out easily in a crowded area. Frank almost finished Michael Myers if not for the doctor's intervention.
Michael offing Sartain. Yes, they are both complete, utter bastards but with Sartain stabbing Hawkins and liking it, deliberately endangering Allyson so that he wouldn't get killed by Michael, and putting on his mask, all just to understand Michael and evil in general, going to the point where he presumably caused Michael to break out in the first place, leading to all the death before hand, it's intensely satisfying to see Michael kick the shit outta him, then crush his head to a pulp, all while denying Sartain's request to hear him talk.
Laurie, after a prolonged struggle with Michael in her bedroom, is thrown from the second floor balcony. Michael takes a moment to savour her defeat as she lies prone, before being distracted by the sound of Allyson rushing into the house. The second he looks back, Laurie has disappeared without a trace. That's right, folks. Laurie Strode managed to pull a Stealth Hi/Bye on the Shape himself. Doubles as an amazing Call-Back to the original.
The short little zoom-in on Michael after she disappears. He seems positively confused at what just transpired.
On an unrelated note, the shot of Michael on the balcony is just beautiful, as the lighting makes it look like he just shed 40 years of age in a moment, all the way back to the original.
Karen — who has been The Load up to this point — utilizing her mother’s training near the end, pulling a spectacular Wounded Gazelle Gambit on Michael, luring him in by feigning terror and panic at her mother's disappearance, then shooting Michael in the face when it looks like he’s about to have her cornered. It's an incredible moment, with Judy Greer perfectly flipping from helpless terror to cold satisfaction in the blink of an eye as Michael finally makes a crucial mistake.
Then, when Michael gets shot by Karen, Laurie emerges from the shadows right behind Michael, just as he did forty years ago. And in the subsequent fight actually beats him in hand-to-hand combat, mainly by sheer combat pragmatism.
THEN, when Michael pulls his usual Not Quite Dead and pulls himself up the cellar steps to grab Karen, it's Allyson - who up to this point has been utterly overwhelmed by the events of the evening and deaths of her friends - who grabs a knife and stabs Michael with it to get him off her mother. And when he's getting slashed and stabbed, Michael is audibly grunting and exclaiming in pain. He's not so numb after all.
And the moment when everyone realises how thoroughly Michael has been outsmarted - when Karen pulls the lever that seals off the panic room, and viciously explains it isn't a panic room, it's a trap. Even The Shape can only stand and stare up at them in helpless frustration before they burn him alive.
Michael's Tranquil Fury over realizing he's been outsmarted, cornered, and defeated is absolutely indescribably satisfying. The way he bitterly looks up at Laurie with utter hatred as flames form around to envelope him is just...UGH! This is also the only time we see Michael's eye in the film, since he's a mysterious creature of darkness. But this one time, he's forced into the light, at last naked, powerless, and on the brink of death, just like all the people he's victimized. "Catharsis" doesn't even begin to describe it. Considering the 40+ year legacy of the Halloween franchise, it's quite possibly not hyperbole to say that this might be one of the most awesome, satisfying moments in cinema history. For the first time, Michael is not in control of the situration, left to burn like the animal he is.
And on the other side of the coin the implication at the end of the credits, when you hear Michael's heavy breathing, that he's somehow survived AGAIN. This version of Michael has no supernatural abilities, no Curse of the Thorn to save him, just an older man who's somehow Made of Iron, yet he's never seen burning with the rest of the house as it turns into a torch, implying he somehow got out of a locked room while it was on fire, unseen by any of the Strodes. Evil never dies, indeed.
, and it suddenly feels like a funeral; Michael is gone, and Laurie will never move on. But then Michael escapes...