Halloween Kills (2021) Review

 

Halloween Kills (2021) 

Picking up right where Halloween ends, Halloween Kills follows the Strodes, who, with the help of Tommy Doyle and the residents of Haddonfield, join together to hunt down Michael and end his reign of terror once and for all. 

For all intents and purposes, I consider myself a fan of David Gordon Green’s revival of Halloween in 2018. I am not, however, a fan of it’s sequel. For this entry, drastic steps were obviously taken to make this something we’ve never seen before in a slasher film—people fighting back. I don’t mean the final girl and her friends, I mean we enter into full blown mob mentality, (something the film really tries to make a statement on) with people taking to the streets to take the fight to Michael. And while I can appreciate trying something new as much as the next person, man this fucking sucked. For starters, we’re left without a clear lead, as Laurie is sidelined to the hospital all movie long (seriously??), leaving Tommy is charge, sort of. While the inclusion of him is cool and all, his character is seriously hindered by shitty fan service, serious overacting, and monologue after droning monologue that just feel so redundantly stupid (this was really just one, painfully long monologue really). 

The few good things rest solely in Michael, who finally transcends (officially) into the supernatural end the spectrum, becoming a one man fucking slaughterhouse through what once was Haddonfield. His kills were brutal, bloody, and a hell of a time to witness. But while he finally goes full slasher, we also lose much of what gave Halloween it’s identity, which is sorely lacking here and that’s pacing and the true scope of horror. The movie is in so much of a hurry, it couldn’t stand still for longer than a minute to let people grieve, catch their bearings, or just stop being goddamn idiots so that this spree doesn’t continue further. 

Also, and this is just a small bone to pick, but how in the Sam Hell do you have a score as scary and legendary as John Carpenter’s classic piano soundtrack and almost completely scrap it, aside from a few flashbacks? That’s probably the biggest crime of all, is just how much they avoid using that amazing score when it’s RIGHT THERE.

For this sequel, we get a rather forgettable cast as well, starring Thomas Mann, Charles Cyphers, Dylan Arnold, Robert Longstreet, Kyle Richards, Judy Greer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak, Nick Castle, Anthony Michael Hall, and James Jude Courtney. Courtney and Castle once again shine as the one-two Michael combo, killing it (literally) again as the shape. Curtis’ absence is really felt and I felt giving the reigns to Hall was a bold choice that, along with a bad script, was also terrible choice. 

Halloween Kills, directed by David Gordon Green, falls into the classic sequel trap of again, just more of it, giving us an unreal body count, but also losing it’s way in trying to be something it’s not—a deep, moving thriller. If anything, it’s quest to become deep and entrenched in the past makes it worse and leaves expectations for the Halloween Ends in limbo. 

4.9/10