Halloween Kills Movie Review

The Halloween horror movie franchise is one of the most loved, albeit confusing horror franchises. It forever establishes the character of Michael Myers (no, not that Mike Myers!) into the holiday horror icon. Ever since the first Halloween film (directed by John Carpenter, and written by him and produced along with the late Debra Hill) was released on October 25, 1978, the series now consists of 12 films. There has been 6 sequels (unless you count “Halloween III: Season of the Witch”), 2 remakes, and 1 reboot. While its subsequent sequels through the 1980s and 90s tried to contain some semblance of continuity, it often branched out into bizarre and bewildering directions, which often included everything from a seemingly-supernaturally-powered and indestructible serial killer, with apparent ties to an ancient pagan deity and a clandestine druid-like cult with dubious motivations and goals.

 While most horror movie fans revel in the bloody mayhem and murder of Halloween. There are many who take this franchise very seriously and ponder both the good and the bad of these films and their attempts to construct a linear story, despite the efforts of several directors which have in fact created 3 separate timelines. Following the slasher’s “demise” in the critical failure that was Halloween: Resurrection (2002), musician and independent filmmaker Rob Zombie took it upon himself to remake the movie in 2007, complete with his own unique, sleazy style of extreme violence and vulgarity. He then followed it up with the highly-stylized and mind-bending sequel in 2009.

 But then in 2018, fans got yet another soft reboot of the series with a more realistic and gritty version of Halloween, directed by David Gordon Green. The 2018 movie picked up where the original film essentially left off, but 40 years later, thus eliminating the events that took place during Halloween II (1981), as well as the continuing story of Lori Strode’s (Jamie Lee Curtis) offspring Jamie Lloyd (played by the beautiful Danielle Harris) in Halloween 4 (1988) and 5 (1989), not to mention Michael’s “death” in Halloween: H20 (1998) and Laurie’s death/suicide in Resurrection. 

2018’s Halloween ended with a much older and wounded Laurie Strode, now a grandmother, having seemingly trapped Michael Myers (although now no longer her brother) beneath her fortress-like safe house, while on fire, and fleeing the scene with her daughter and grandmother. As Halloween Kills starts exactly where it ended (although released 3 years later) with firefighters heading to Laurie’s house while the 3 women head for the hospital in the opposite direction. Sure enough you can bet that we will find Michael Myers alive and well (sort of). Although the newest Halloween movies has tried to get rid of any kind of supernatural references with a more grounded, down-to-earth story, you simply cannot kill Michael Myers, no matter what timeline after having been shot, stabbed, and burned (multiple times). And if he didn’t survive as he has the last 10 times, we wouldn’t have a sequel, let alone a trilogy with the announced release of “Halloween Ends” in 2022. So without even trying to spoil it, I’ve pretty much spoiled all 3 movies. Fans have come to expect that you just can’t keep a good killer down. Whether it’s Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, Leatherface, or even little Chucky, the many slashers from the last few decades will continue to kill, die, and be reborn (or rebooted) and kill again, over and over until the end of time, or until these franchises cease to be profitable. Although, I’m not so sure about Jason’s future… 

While the main focus of 2018’s movie was an older Laurie Strode (Curtis is almost a senior citizen at 62-years-old) and her current state as a “prepper” waiting for the day when her one-time babysitter stalker will inevitably come back. Although since we’ve skipped Halloween II, Michael hasn’t earned the reputation of revisiting her on October 31st, because that’s in another timeline! Now in Halloween Kills Laurie spends much of the film in the hospital (again) just like in Halloween II alongside her long-time “friend” Officer (No first name?) Hawkins (Will Patton), who apparently came face-to-face with Michael Myers (in a flashback, but not in the original movie) and failed to shoot him or let Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance, who’s also seen in flashbacks) kill him either, and he now regrets his actions (or inactions) all those years ago. So now he’s in the hospital with Laurie after being mortally wounded by Myers, while the town of Haddonfield learns that Michael Myers has returned. And now Tommy Doyle (Anthony Michael Hall, but not played by the original actor Brian Andrews) and Lyndsey (Kyle Richards, who was the original actress!) are all grown-up and organize the citizens into an angry mob, without torches and pitchforks, but with a few guns and baseball bats, to finally put an end to the Halloween horror. 

What follows is a wild-goose chase as both the cops and the townspeople go searching for this elderly serial killer (who must be at least 80-years-old by now!) who is still stalking teenagers on Halloween night. While his mask does show a lot of wear and tear, it’s not as extensive as the punishment Rob Zombie gave “The Shape” in his 2nd version, now with a blackened smirk on his cracked rubber face. The entire pursuit culminates, of course, back at the hospital, where the crazed townsfolk think Michael is hiding. While it’s easy to put a willing suspension of disbelief on the immortal slasher villains like Myers, Halloween Kills relies heavily on Michael Myers’ “reputation” as an infamous serial killer, both in real life on the screen and in the movie itself. Which causes a problem since he really isn’t known for returning on Halloween, or even continuing his killing spree over the years, really there was just the one night back in 1978, and most people have forgotten it, some willingly. 

As we saw in 2018’s movie, he’s been locked up in a mental institution for years, until some wannabe podcaster wants to meet him and produces his old mask out of nowhere. But that plotline didn’t go anywhere. Spoiler Alert: they died! Although many actors and stuntmen have portrayed “The Shape” of Michael Myers over the years, at least this time, some credit is given to the original actor Nick Castle (also a director) who also appeared in 2018, but he is also played by 2 other actors, both in modern times and in flashback. 

The film portrays the law in a somewhat negative role (although unfortunate, it is not surprising, given our current controversies, but let’s not get into that shall we.), but not as bumbling as they were depicted in Halloween 4 and 5 (clown shoes!), but kind of blaming them for letting Michael’s killing spree to continue, and the ineptitude of both the former Sherriff Bracket (played by returning actor Charles Cyphers) and the current black cowboy hat-wearing Sheriff Barker (Omar Dorsey). Not to mention their inability to catch Michael again as they did 40 years ago, in a bizarre retcon of the 1978 movie’s ending. While it does seem popular lately to delve into this retroactive continuity and produce more reboots and remakes of popular films, especially those of the 1980s, horror being the number 1 genre with the most remakes. I feel that many fans will be heavily divided on the reception of Halloween Kills. 

While there will always be fans of the original 1978 movie, its sequels have both hits and misses, more often misses. And there are some who may prefer Rob Zombie’s versions as well. After we see what writers and producers Danny McBride and David Gordon Green have in store for us, we may be talking about these endeavors as just another attempt to catch lightning in a time where Hollywood is bereft of originality and constantly rely on reinvigorating nostalgia. Maybe we’ll see what happens in the year 2038?