Halloween Kills Review

Although Halloween Kills picks up the same night as its predecessor, it may as well be set on a different planet. Sidelining Laurie Strode in favor of an angry mob, the second chapter of David Gordon Green’s trilogy misses the mark. With the final chapter, Halloween Ends in theaters and streaming on Peacock tomorrow…let’s take a look back at Halloween Kills.

Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.

Halloween Kills

Directed by David Gordon Green

Written by Scott Teems, Danny McBride and David Gordon Green

Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton and Anthony Michael Hall

Halloween Kills Review

Like Halloween II before it, Halloween Kills tells the story of what happens immediately after the previous movie. As a result, both movies make the mistake of sidelining Laurie Strode. It makes sense that Laurie would need medical attention after her encounters with Michael Myers…but as Halloween Kills will prove…sometimes what makes sense doesn’t make for a great movie.

With Laurie in need of surgery from wounds suffered in Halloween (2018), the bulk of the action falls to other legacy characters. All our surviving favorites are here. Tommy Doyle and Lindsey Wallace, the children Laurie protected in Halloween have grown up with the trauma of that night. Sheriff Brackett has lived in mourning for his daughter for 40 years. Marion Chambers carries the lessons of Dr. Loomis with her. Even Lonnie Elam is here, haunted by the memory of an encounter we never saw in the original film. Upon learning that Michael Myers is back they decide to lead a mob to find and kill him once and for all.

The concept of a town that has never recovered from its darkest night, and the survivors rallying together for vengeance, is a fine idea for a movie. It’s just not the best idea for a Halloween movie. Halloween has always played its best hand from the shadows. Quiet anticipation of evil emerging from the darkness to silently strike. The mob mentality in Halloween Kills, though sensible, is loud and obnoxious. A scene where they corner the wrong man and force him to a suicidal decision feels more at home in Rob Zombie’s version of Haddonfield than one supposedly connected to John Carpenter’s quiet suburb.

Unfortunately, this isn’t even Halloween Kills biggest problem. Laurie Strode has spent four decades convinced that Michael Myers is going to come back for her. After he does end up at her door in the last movie, she is more convinced than ever. That’s all well and good. The problem is…late in Halloween Kills Laurie learns that Michael’s return has nothing to do with her. This should be devastating information. After FORTY YEARS thinking about Michael Myers…she just learned that he doesn’t even know, or care, who she is. Laurie just brushes it off like nothing happened.

This should have been the defining moment of the new trilogy. Laurie’s life spent driving away loved ones and living in constant fear has paid off on a technicality. A technicality that would have been nullified if she’d just moved to a different town. He was never coming for her…she put herself in position to be in his way. And wasted her life doing it. Halloween Kills doesn’t even giver her character a response to learning this.

Luckily, it’s not all negative in Halloween Kills. Because Halloween II never happened in this timeline, the film gets to make its own version of what happened in very stylized flashbacks. Recreating the look of Halloween to perfection, we see how Michael Myers was captured after his 1978 rampage. The flashbacks are used to give backstory to Deputy Hawkins, a surprise survivor of the last film. He blames himself for everything that is happening because he stopped Dr. Loomis from killing Michael 40 years ago. In relaying this story to Laurie, he attempts to absolve her of her guilt…but much like the purpose the film strips from her, she has no opinion on the matter.

The oddest addition Halloween Kills makes to the Halloween canon is a new character trait for Michael. Apparently, he really likes staring out of his sister’s window. Yep. That’s a whole plotline here. A wasted one at that. Look, it’s silly to throw such an unexplained and never referenced before quirk onto the character…but they could have at least used it for some good. In the final scene of the movie Laurie’s daughter, Karen, is seen standing in Judith Myers old bedroom looking out the window. It’s implied that she is trying to gain an understanding of Michael Myers. Suddenly he appears behind her and stabs her to death. The movie ends with Michael staring out the window.

There is no explanation, aside from Hawkins speculating that he’s looking at his reflection, for why he does this. Given that Halloween Ends takes place 4 years after Halloween Kills and Michael hasn’t been seen in that time…he doesn’t seem too interested in continuing to do it. It seems to be just a build up to the final surprise kill. But why introduce such a vague question with no history or future purpose to the franchise?

If he had taken Karen’s body and thrown it through the window at least there would be a narrative push forward. If what Michael has wanted to do is stare out the window…and this movie ends with him shattering it…it begs the question “What does he want now?” You could wipe out the odd inclusion of this subplot in a way that makes the next installment more exciting without having to add any tangible development to the character. Oh well.

The big climax of the movie is the mob coming together to destroy Michael once and for all. They fail, of course, as Laurie narrates from across town that he is more than human and grows stronger with every kill. Halloween movies always end up in this place. Unable to reconcile Michael’s disappearance at the end of the original movie, they veer towards some power no one understands. It makes sense. Movie after movie sees him taking more and more damage and he keeps getting up. It’s one of the reasons that there never should have been sequels to Halloween in the first place.

Michael’s disappearance in the original served a purpose. You leave the movie thinking about it. How did he survive? Where is he now? What happens next? These are never supposed to be answers to these questions. It’s what makes the original ending perfect. Sequels are forced to answer all of them. And the further the explanations go the further away the movies get from what made the original work. Halloween Kills tries to have it both ways. Offering theories but never making them fact. Introducing motives and then not backing them up. It’s probably the best option they have. With the release of Halloween Ends, we’ll see what answers they have, or haven’t, decided to define the trilogy with.

Scare Value

Halloween Kills isn’t that bad of a movie in a vacuum, but it isn’t a good Halloween movie. Laurie is sidelined and replaced by a much less likable group of people. There are good kills in this movie, they just don’t feel like they’re from a different franchise. It feels more like Jason takes Haddonfield than Halloween. Change doesn’t have to be bad, but when the changes aren’t good…that’s where it usually ends up.

2/5