As part of our October HorrorFest, we will be posting new reviews of relatively recent horror films during the month of October
The people of Haddonfield stand up against the continued threat of Michael Myers in Halloween Kills. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) has left The Shape (James Jude Courtney) for dead in the burning remains of her compound and escapes with her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak). However, Michael Myers survives the blaze and continues his Halloween Night killing spree. This results in a group that includes fellow survivors Tommy Doyle (Anthony Michael Hall), Lonnie Elam (Robert Longstreet), Lindsey Wallace (Kyle Richards), Marion Chambers (Nancy Stephens), and Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers) to band together and ensure that “Evil Dies Tonight.”
Halloween Kills is a film that sees director David Gordon Green and co-writer Danny McBride return with a film that picks up right where their 2018 legacy sequel left off. The film includes flashbacks to the original 1978 massacre, which shows the events that lead to Michael Myers being apprehended by Officer Hawkins (Will Patton), played in the flashbacks by Thomas Mann, who is revealed in the opening minutes to have survived the events of the original film, with him joining Laurie Strode in removing in the hospital. This leaves the rest of the survivors from both past and present to band together and help put a stop to Michael Myer’s reign of terror.
It can easily be said that Halloween Kills is arguably the bleakest and brutal entry in the franchise, as David Gordon Green and Danny McBride continue their characterization of Michael Myers as an unstoppable killing machine. This includes somewhat deemphasizing the connection Myers seemingly has with Laurie Strode, with no one really knows what makes Michael Myers kill. In fact, as depicted in Halloween Kills, The Shape just ends up stalking whoever is within his path.
Halloween Kills doubles down on this new series being a legacy sequel by bringing back actors Charles Cyphers, Nancy Stephens, Kyle Richards from the 1978 original, reprising their roles of Leigh Brackett, Marion Chambers, and Lindsey Wallace respectively. Then there is the more featured role of Anthony Michael Hall taking over the character of Tommy Doyle, previously played by Brian Andrews in the original and Paul Rudd in the now non-canon Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. It is Tommy who decides to lead a mob of the residents of Haddonfield to fight back against the boogeyman that has tormented their town for decades. Of course, this escalates a bit into mass hysteria when a case of mistaken identity results in the mob chasing another mental patient, who escaped at the same time as Myers.
If Halloween Kills has anything going against it, it is the knowledge that the film is the middle chapter of a new trilogy that will conclude next year with Halloween Ends. As such, despite the repeated phrase of “Evil Dies Tonight” stated throughout the film, it becomes obvious that this is probably not the case. In fact, Halloween Kills leaves on such a downbeat note, I ultimately can’t really say it’s as satisfying a relaunch as the 2018 film.
Halloween Kills opens on Friday, October 15, 2021
Related Links
- Halloween
- Classic Thoughts Special: Halloween
- Rob Zombie’s Halloween II
- Rob Zombie’s Halloween
- Classic Thoughts: Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
