Halloween Kills
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak, Judy Greer, Will Patton, Thomas Mann, Jim Cummings, Anthony Michael Hall, Charles Cyphers
Director: David Gordon Green
As a wounded Laurie (Lee Curtis), Karen (Greer) and Allyson (Matichak) make their way from the burning rubble of Laurie's house on their way to the hospital, they believe they have ended the terror of Michael Myers once and for all. Little do they know, not only has Michael survived, but he continues his brutal surge across Haddonfield on his way to his childhood home. Standing in his way is the town itself, led by Tommy Doyle (Michael Hall) who has grown up as a survivor of Michael's attacks decades ago. Will it be enough to stop the brutal and unforgiving Michael Myers?
A few years ago, we were all caught by surprise with how well Director David Gordon Green tapped into the sensibilities that made Carpenter's original Halloween a horror classic. Acting as a direct sequel to that film, fans breathed a sigh of relief that a lot of the silliness that had permeated the sequels were no longer canon. This middle entry of the announced new trilogy had a lot to live up to.
While I hesitate to call the movie a massive disappointment, it does have one glaring issue: being a middle film. There is no actual beginning and there is no ending, and Director Gordon Green and his writers have done nothing to help the movie rise above that middle film stigma. Despite this, the film actually opens with a fantastic flashback sequence to the events that transpired back in 1963 and the aftermath of Michael's first attack. Chilling and well made (it feels like it was something Carpenter and team actually filmed decades ago) it sets a fantastic tone that the rest of the film just doesn't follow up on.
Speaking of silliness, the plot of this movie meanders constantly. It doesn't commit to being a movie about Laurie or Haddonfield's trauma. What makes this frustrating is that not only does it keep Jamie Lee Curtis off screen and confined to a hospital bed for the majority of the film, but I also think it's an interesting idea to focus on Myer's effect on a town like Haddonfield. Unfortunately, the town constantly shouting "Evil Dies Tonight!" becomes quite funny and there is an unsuccessful subplot where they are chasing another escaped convict and not Michael, that doesn't work as well as the movie thinks it does.
The violence in this movie is also quite brutal. The film also has zero sentimentality towards characters old and new, with one character getting an almost unnecessarily graphic death on a stairwell. While I appreciated the film's willingness to kill off characters, in the end it became a little too much.
Like I said, Jamie Lee Curtis spends the majority of the film confined to a hospital bed so it's hard to really speak about her in the film. It's clear they are saving her for the final film Halloween Ends. This leaves a lot of heavy lifting for Judy Greer, who rises admirably to the challenge. Her evolution from non Myers Believer in the first installment to fearless believer here is impressive and Greer is fantastic in the movie.
Despite beginning with promise, this middle entry doesn't live up to the hype. Hopefully it will all make sense after the third film.
Grade: C-
Halloween Kills is available in theaters and on Peacock
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