Halloween Kills
review by Bobby Blakey
There are a handful of iconic on screen killers with Michael Myers easily being at the top of the list. After his debut in John Carpenter’s 1978 classic it not only spawned a slew of sequels and remakes, but kick started the slasher genre as we know it. In 2018 Danny McBride and David Gordon Green teamed up to deliver a new entry to the franchise that brought back franchise star Jamie Lee Curtis. Now after its massive success they announced there were rounding out a trilogy with Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends.
Halloween Kills follows the Halloween night when Michael Myers returned but isn’t over yet. Minutes after Laurie Strode, her daughter Karen and granddaughter Allyson left masked monster Michael Myers caged and burning in Laurie’s basement, Laurie is rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, believing she finally killed her lifelong tormentor. But when Michael manages to free himself from Laurie’s trap, his ritual bloodbath resumes. As Laurie fights her pain and prepares to defend herself against him, she inspires all of Haddonfield to rise up against their unstoppable monster. The Strode women join a group of other survivors of Michael’s first rampage who decide to take matters into their own hands, forming a vigilante mob that sets out to hunt Michael down, once and for all. Evil dies tonight.
After being delayed due to the pandemic we are finally going to get to see the film starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, Anthony Michael Hall and both James Jude Courtney and original Myers actor Nick Castle as Michael Myers. Does the long delayed next chapter of deliver? Yes and no. I can say I really loved it, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its issues, but a body count is not one of them.
Let me start with saying I unapologetically love slasher films and the entire Halloween franchise. I know that there are issues with a lot of them, but my love for them outweighs their issues. I loved the 2018 film so was really
excited to dive back in. Right out the gate it played in the world of nostalgia pulling off some impressive story elements that further connect this entry with the 1978 original. I am going to steer away from too much info because its way more entertaining to discover it for yourself, but there is a ton of fan service here both good and bad.
The story bounces into the past but mostly pics up right after the events of the last film. This works great to allow it to hit the ground running while also introducing other elements that occurred at the same time to bring it all together in a chaotic nature. Curtis is fine here, but mostly sidelined with them clearly saving her for the finale in the next chapter. Both Greer and Matichak are more front and center along with Hall taking on the role of adult Tommy. He is ok but annoyed me after a bit with his constant exclamation of “Evil Dies Tonight!”, but at the same time that is kind of what the mobs do and it is annoying in real life too.
There is a portion of the film that is shifting the focus to showcase people as being the real monsters in just their reacting to fear and anger that mirrors a lot of what is happening in the world today. This was fine, but did feel like it dragged on a bit too long to finally get to the payoff which I did like thankfully. The other big issue for me was this story involving two characters known as Big John and Little John. I get the point, but it seemed to dwell on them for too long for no real reason and could have been trimmed down to a very minimal aspect and had the same effect.
While it may sound like I had more issues than didn’t, but I really dug the overall film. This is a middle film to a story it is letting Myers express his rage racking up a massive bloody body count that I loved to no end. This element could turn some off, but the more blood the better and I loved the fun kills and chaos of it all. The ending might put some off since it is not the end to the story so there is no real resolution, but instead ends with more chaos and a promise for more that I am eagerly looking forward too.
This film won’t work for everyone and there are a lot of elements that I have already heard have divided fans both good and bad, but I can say I think it is another good entry into the franchise and great stepping stone to the final chapter of this trilogy. In addition to the film this release offers up bonus content including a gag reel, deleted/extended scenes, commentary and featurettes as well as both the original and extended cut and alternate ending.
Grab your copy of Halloween Kills Extended Cut available now on digital and then on 4K, Blu-ray and DVD on January 11th from Universal Home Entertainment.