If I remember right, I called the 2018 Halloween film the best sequel in the franchise. Aside from Halloween 3 of course.
This time around I can easily say that Halloween Kills is the goriest in the franchise. They seemed to tone down the humor that the last film brought, but delivered heavy on the gore, amping up the killing and violence to unheard heights.
Michael Myers must kill at least 60 people this time around in his killing spree onslaught. Not even kids are safe this time around as he beheads one and stalks others. My main defense for Halloween 3 was how not even Myers went after kids like the villain in Season of the Witch did. Well, that’s out the window now.
The film does take place exactly where the last film left off, a bit like Halloween 2 did. However it does its own thing, taking us down what I thought was an interesting path to take. It really lived up to the title Curse of Michael Myers more than the actual movie titled The Curse of Michael Myers.
It plays with the paranoia and stigma he left behind, even after 40 years this town is still traumatized by what happened. Which made it easy for the townsfolk to get whipped up in hysteria, forming a vigilante kill squad out hunting him like he’s Frankenstein’s monster.
Of course you can guess how well that ends up working out for everybody.
I still think they should have called the last film something else besides Halloween. It was a direct sequel after all. Halloween and the sequel, Halloween.
Even the new Scream sequel I think is just called Scream. It’s like the 5th or so sequel and they’re just calling it the same as the first film again.
I almost wonder if this is a movie rights thing, being able to hold on to the rights of the first film. Kind of like that Child’s Play remake. How they had the rights only for the first film but not the sequels…
I hear Malek Akkad has kind of a death grip on this franchise, so maybe I’m just coming to weirdo out there conclusions.
Speaking of…
From the trailers, it made it seem like Jamie Lee Curtis would be featured prominently this time around, but she’s barely in this. Where we left off last time, she was stabbed in the gut, so most of Halloween Kills she’s stuck in her hospital room with Will Patton’s character Officer Hawkins. Who if you remember got stabbed in the neck by Michael’s crazy therapist.
He was discovered by I guess our new main lead Allyson, Laurie Strode’s granddaughter’s disappearing boyfriend Cameron.
Last time we saw him, they went to a Halloween party as gender swapped Bonnie and Clyde. After he cheats on her, he basically disappears from the film. But now he’s back to join in on the lynch mob, hunting for Myers.
Included in this lynch mob are a bunch of out of work actors that they must have rounded up at a horror convention, still milking the fact they were in Halloween 40 years ago, asking for $80 autographs.
It was so weird how they introduced them, like it was some big deal they brought back the actress that played a little who Laurie babysat once.
Or the nurse from the first film is back who Myers stole a car from. I’m glad they included her. No sequel would be complete without nurse lady who got her car stolen.
She even has a final line “this is for Loomis”. What? What does that even mean? Did she know Dr. Loomis? What is she getting revenge for? In this timeline for all we know Loomis died of old age, free of Myers since the fucker has been locked up for 40 years.
Oh, by the way, Dr. Loomis is actually in this via CGI. He does look more convincing than CGI Princess Leia from Rogue One, so I gotta hand it to them for that.
BREAKING NEWS!
Turns out it wasn’t CGI, but in fact a practical makeup effect. Monsters Makeup & Effects – VOL 1 Coming 10/20! on Twitter: “The magic of practical makeup effects in #HalloweenKills from the legendary Chris Nelson who will be in a future volume of Monsters, Makeup & Effects. https://t.co/GMfXPrYcIV” / Twitter
I liked the first half of this film where it is basically a flashback to the events that happened after the original film. Since this is an alternate timeline, I think it is important we see what or how things went differently.
However not much was really all that different, with Myers getting caught going back home to stare at himself in the reflection of his sister’s bedroom.
The main big difference being as a rookie, Officer Hawkins stopped Loomis from shooting Myers in the head after being handcuffed.
That moment has weighed on him, especially now that Myers is back in town murdering everybody.
The aforementioned lynch mob is spearheaded by Tommy Doyle, now played by Anthony Michael Hall. It would have been hilarious to see Paul Rudd reprise that role since he had that part back in Curse of Michael Myers.
He runs in that Danny McBride comedy circle, so I’m sure they could have gotten him. Having said that though, I did enjoy Anthony Michael Hall’s portrayal of this character. Tommy is kind of an asshole, but one of those inflated, self important assholes who clearly was a kid that used to be picked on.
Speaking of kids getting picked on!
Two of my favorite new characters were Big John and Little John, a gay couple living in the old Myers house that they have remodeled and fixed up. But they aren’t too shy about trying to scare any snot nosed kid that comes by, telling them tales of what Michael Myers did there as a child.
If the film has any kind of comedy relief, it’s from these two. I know, the stereotype of the funny gay couple, but honestly they are the most likable characters in the movie.
I honestly couldn’t care less if anyone else in this died, but it sucked to see these two kick the bucket. And god they don’t hold back on one of their deaths, with him getting his eyes gouged out.
But I feel I’m getting a little ahead of myself as I haven’t even told you how Michael Myers got out of the last dire situation we found him in.
So if you remember, Laurie set a trap for Myers, locking him in the basement while setting her house on fire.
Unfortunately, this small town has a fast acting fire department, who rush to the scene, inadvertently freeing Myers.
What proceeds is the first of many massacres, with Myers killing the hell out of these firemen. I for one love the hell out of this scene. It’s so insane and over the top, at this point Michael Myers is just a killing machine that can’t be stopped.
One complaint I’ve seen is how much the plot seems to be lacking this time around. Which is very true, not much relating to story or plot happens. It’s basically just Myers going from house to house, murdering people.
So here’s the thing… that’s kind of all this movie needs to be. Just Myers killing people. When you try adding a “story” to it you end up with a giant mess that is now retconned.
Would you rather we go back to the whole Thorn cult incest baby evil immortal whatever the fuck those movies set up? Because I sure as hell don’t.
That’s what happens when you try shoving a bunch of shit in that isn’t needed. Keep it simple. We only really want one thing deep down and that’s to see him kill shit. That’s what these new films understand and gives us plenty of.
Even the whole motivation of Laurie being Michael’s sister is thrown out the window. The fact is, Myers doesn’t have a motivation for doing what he does. I even love the fact Laurie spent 40 years fearing one day he’d come back for her, thinking he was obsessed with her, when in fact he couldn’t care less about her.
Even in Halloween Kills she thinks Myers is going to go to the hospital to finish the job when in reality he couldn’t give a shit about her and never sets foot in the hospital.
All playing into the paranoia of Michael Myers or this feeling of self importance. It’s the same with Tommy too who is leading the charge against evil. Evil dies tonight! The thing no one seems to realize is they are all side characters with Michael Myers being our lead.
Usually in these films, even in Halloween sequels we get our final girl. And I guess technically you could consider Laurie’s granddaughter Allyson to be that. But it really doesn’t feel like it. Our main character is Myers. If he isn’t in every scene, they have people talking about him.
He’s ever present throughout. Hell, I’d say Big John Little John are more main characters than Allyson is.
Back on the notion of self importance, almost every character they introduced dies needlessly because they think it’s their duty to finally take on evil because of what happened 40 years ago.
Our horror convention characters, class of 1978 all die needlessly because of this notion that they are important and can stop what is happening, only to be faced with the brutal reality that, like Laurie, they mean nothing.
While all of this is going on, one of the escaped convicts that was on the bus Myers escaped on is sneaking around the town with a head injury. He can’t go to anyone for help since everyone thinks he is Michael Myers. The guy wears a mask, so he could be anyone. Except for the fact Myers is like 6 feet tall and this pudgy guy is barely 5 feet.
He kind of acts as this catalyst for the mob when they know they’ve gone too far, forcing the guy to kill himself before they rip him apart.
But by the end they still don’t learn their damn lesson as they figure out Myers has a pattern. He stalks, kills then goes back to his family home to look at himself in the window.
Allyson and her boyfriend Cameron get to the house first only to immediately get attacked. Cameron gets the worst of it while Allyson manages to hang on long enough for her mom to show up and stab Michael with a pitchfork.
But being the unstoppable killing machine that he is, it only slows him down. She then leads him into a trap where the mob surrounds him, shooting, stabbing and beating him to the ground.
But if you think that’s enough to keep Michael Myers down, this 60 year old man, well, you got another thing coming.
He quickly recovers, slaughtering everyone around him, including Tommy and Allyson’s mom Karen.
And that’s where the movie leaves off as it will conclude with Halloween Ends.
With all the Halloween masks from Season of the Witch we see the kids wearing, I’m crossing my fingers the trilogy ends with the Silver Shamrock tv ad playing, then suddenly every kid wearing those masks has their heads turn into snakes and bugs.
I mean, if you really think about it, how cool would that be? Once they conclude the story of Michael Myers, which most likely will end with Laurie and him facing off. What if instead it ends with us hearing the song playing and we just see all these kids drop.
They were so worried about one threat, they didn’t even see the main threat that was right before their eyes.
Okay, wishful thinking, but still I’d like to see it.
Final thoughts, I personally loved Halloween Kills. I did have some nitpicks but not enough to ruin my enjoyment. It’s just a fun sequel. It’s light on plot, but gives us something I haven’t seen in the Halloween franchise since Rob Zombie’s Halloween and that’s make Michael Myers more of less our lead.
The film is a blast, with some pretty elaborate kills. At one point after Myers has killed a guy, he just continues putting a whole kitchen set of knives in him.
I also like in the first half of the film during the flashback to the events that happened after the original Halloween film, they did their best to basically shoot it like that movie. Recreating that feel kind of flawlessly. Minus the California palm trees and the puffs of smoke from John Carpenter chain smoking off camera.
I’m giving this one a SEE IT rating. So far it has been the only good movie I’ve watched this whole Horror Month.
Next week we are taking a break however as Dune comes to HBOMax.
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