HALLOWEEN KILLS:
DESPITE SOME CREATIVE KILLS AND EXCELLENT ACTING, THIS HORROR SEQUEL FEELS MORE LIKE A STEP BACKWARDS FROM ITS PREDECESSOR!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4
UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND MIRAMAX
Infamous serial killer, Michael Myers is back for more blood in Halloween Kills, the latest installment of the Halloween franchise and follow-up to the 2018 film where Jamie Lee Curtis (True Lies, Freaky Friday (2003), Knives Out) reunited with the killer in a (supposed) final confrontation. Quick thoughts on the 1978 and 2018 films before we dive into this one, Halloween (1978) directed by John Carpenter I feel needs no introduction, it’s a horror movie classic that popularized the slasher movie genre and became one of the most iconic scary movies to watch during the Halloween season, while the 2018 film is a direct sequel to it that brought the franchise back to its roots after several ups and downs and for the most part, I thought was a worthy continuation of the story.
Now we have this sequel to the 2018 film with John Carpenter returning as a producer, David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express, Joe, Our Brand is Crisis) back in the director’s chair, and Jamie Lee Curtis reprising her role from the original and 2018 film (and the now non-canon, Halloween H2O) as Laurie Strode. Since the last film pretty much breathed new life into the franchise, clearly this one will advance the story even further and raise the stakes…Eh, not quite!
Halloween Kills is far from being one of the worst Halloween sequels and there are some genuinely creative and gruesome kills as well as solid acting from the cast, but compared to the high bar set by its predecessor, this one is a bit of a letdown and cares more about setting up the inevitable conclusion, Halloween Ends which is scheduled to be released next October, if Halloween (2018) was like what Jurassic World was for the Jurassic Park franchise, then this one is the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom of the Halloween franchise.
The film is set immediately after the events of the previous movie where Laurie has set her house ablaze with Michael Myers (Nick Castle-Escape from New York, The Last Starfighter, Major Payne) burning inside…or did he? Yeah, a group of firefighters unwittingly free him from the burning Strode residence and his reign of terror continues once more…that’s not a spoiler by the way as it was shown in the trailers and marketing.
Anyway, Laurie Strode (Curtis) has been taken to a hospital by her daughter, Karen (Judy Greer-Dawn of/War for the Planet of the Apes, Jurassic World, Ant-Man 1 and 2) and granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak-666 Park Avenue, Orange is the New Black, Blue Bloods), due to life-threatening injuries during her last confrontation with Michael. However, when news breaks out of Michael’s escape from Laurie’s trap, she fights the pain and prepares to defend herself and her family from his terrors once again, while inspiring the people of Haddonfield to rise up against Michael by forming a mob that sets out to hunt him down hence the phrase “Evil dies tonight!”.
The film also stars Will Patton (The Punisher (2004), Falling Skies, Minari) reprising his role from Halloween(2018) as Deputy Frank Hawkins, Anthony Michael Hall (The Breakfast Club, Edward Scissorhands, The Dark Knight) as Tommy Doyle, Dylan Arnold (Nashville, The Purge (TV series), You) reprising his role as Cameron Elam, Charles Cyphers (The Fog, Death Wish, Major League) reprising his role from the original film and Halloween II as Sheriff Leigh Brackett, Kyle Richards (The Car, Eaten Alive, The Watcher in the Woods) reprising her role from the original film as Lindsey Wallace, Nancy Stephens (Escape from New York, D2: The Mighty Ducks, A Time for Dancing) reprising her role as Marion Chambers, Omar Dorsey (The Blind Side, Django Unchained, Selma) as Sheriff Barker, Jim Cummings, Not to be confused with the voice actor! (13 Cameras, Thunder Road, The Beta Test) as Pete McCabe, Scott MacArthur (The Diabolical, Answers to Nothing, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie) and Michael McDonald (MADtv, Scrubs, Clone High) as Big John and Little John, and Brian F. Durkin (Flight, The Internship, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues) as Deputy Graham.
Overall, Halloween Kills at best is perfectly average and might appeal to slasher movie fans, but for a follow-up to the movie that brought the Halloween franchise back to basics and gave the Michael Myers legend some fresh blood (quite literally actually), this one sadly falls short and feels more like a desperate attempt to get to Halloween Ends as quickly as possible. This is where the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom comparisons came in as I felt the screenwriters had a lot of ideas for this movie but didn’t quite know how to work them all into the story, so the plot just becomes a huge mess with very unnecessary and hammered-in social commentary and quite possibly the most anticlimactic ending in a horror film since the Candyman remake from a few months ago.
The kills are nice and gory and there is a huge body count in this film, might even be the most out of any of the Halloween films. In fact, some of them did get audible reactions out of me in the theater so even if the movie itself is all over the place, it at least exceeds in gore.
Most of the acting is excellent, particularly from Curtis, Greer, and Hall, but there is one thing I was extremely disappointed about regarding a certain character. The last movie had a badass Laurie ready to go full Sarah Connor on Michael Myers’ ass, what does this movie have her do? Lay in a hospital bed throughout the entire runtime and give a speech at the end…that’s pretty weak!
Even the trailers built it up like Laurie was going to have a final confrontation with Michael and it never happens. She just lays in that hospital bed while everyone else does all the work, way to suck most of the fun and intrigue out of that character, guys! I was extremely disappointed that they set Curtis off to the side in this movie, especially given that she’s the lead in the film.
The film does try to pay homage to the Halloween franchise as a whole with various actors reprising their roles from earlier films or by dropping references to them, some of them work while others are painful. Again, this film feels entirely focused on fan service and setting up the next movie rather than tell a coherent story with this one.
Halloween Kills may satisfy slasher movie fans, but those looking for a worthy continuation of the Halloween legacy will probably be disappointed by this unfocused and standard follow-up that has a lot of good ideas but fails to stick the landing or offer a good payoff in the long run, sorry Mike, maybe next year will be better.
From the blog www.moviewatchinpsychopath.blogspot.com
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