A lot has changed in our country since David Gordon Green’s Halloween premiered in 2018. There has been civil disobedience, outrage, protests, riots, and William Shatner just shot up into space, gaining the title of oldest man to traverse the stars. Speaking of Shatner, it was his innocuous visage which helped to breed a spate of Halloween movies, from John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978) to the present Halloween Kills. You see, it was a Halloween mask cribbed from his Star Trek persona that Tommy Lee Wallace (original Production Designer) painted and dressed to become the iconic fear-inducing headpiece of one very evil villain: Michael Myers.
Green’s Halloween in 2018 served to retcon all the Halloween sequels (good, bad and ugly) that came before, and continues directly from the original 1978 Carpenter box office blockbuster, albeit 40 years later. We see Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, a downtrodden, addicted final-girl survivalist obsessed with Michael’s impending return. She “feels” that Michael will one day come home to Haddonfield to find and stalk her once again. In all, Green’s 2018 entry was a love letter to the original, and it also bore small hallmarks and easter eggs alluding to the other Halloween movies, even though their continuity had ultimately been dispatched.
Which brings us to Halloween Kills. Suffice it to say, if you have any expectations of said movie, I encourage you, dear reader, to lose those expectations quickly. In Kills, the slow methodical build that was the 2018 installment has entirely been sacrificed to produce this relentless breakneck-speed roller coaster of highs and lows. And when Kills hits its highs, the feeling is great, but when it treads low, it is almost laughable in its melodrama and forced tone.
One thing is for certain, fans by now know that Michael survives the house fire at the end of the 2018 venture. And what ensues? Kills lives up to its glorious title as Michael indiscriminately gores into anything that gets in his way as he tries to return (and possibly “zen out”) at his still standing childhood home on Lampkin Lane where he offed his sister at the ripe old age of 6. In the end, the body count in this movie most likely outweighs any other Halloween movie entry, and the murders are very graphic and brutal.
Devoted fans of the Halloween franchise may find themselves all at once thrilled, dismayed, enchanted, and confused, as there is no real movie here, just a lot of interconnected scenes that, although filmed prior to the events of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, feel very much like a mirror held up to our society. We see how misguided anger and direction can lead to a mob rules mentality in that we witness the inhabitants of Haddonfield (led by Anthony Michael Hall’s Tommy Doyle) collectively take down Michael all at once.
To be brief, and relatively spoiler free, here are just a few of what I consider the highs (Treats) of Halloween Kills:
TREATS
1. The fast pace, as you are never afforded a time to relax. Everything comes at you quickly.
2. Kyle Richards reprising her role as Lindsey Wallace from the 1978 original as well as Nancy Stephens as Marion.
3. Judy Greer, always a likable actress, really shines in this film as Laurie’s daughter.
4. The costumed doctor and nurse character which we briefly glimpse from the 2018 movie are back again.
5. Michael’s childhood home shows up in present day and flashbacks.
6. The score. Carpenter returns to dress up the movie with his iconic music.
Now, for the lows, or what I call Tricks:
TRICKS
1. The dialogue. Every line feels like it could be printed on the poster as a tagline, or voiced in a dramatic bass over any random horror movie trailer.
2. Laurie is listless. Jamie Lee Curtis is given very little to do in this movie, which, conversely, leads one to believe she will have a significantly bigger role in the upcoming Halloween Ends. (Hopefully.)
3. This entry is very tongue in cheek. The comedic sheen, although welcome, doesn’t balance well against the conflicting brutality and hyper acute acting and, ultimately, feels out of place.
In all, it was an entertaining film, but not one I think that diehard fans are expecting. So, in a year’s time, we will have to see if Halloween Ends ties a nice bloody bow on this trilogy and makes up for the current entry, which I myself consider neither a treat or a trick, just a tease of what is yet to come.
