Halloween Kills

'Halloween Kills' is the definition of a sequel for the sake of making a sequel (or more accurately the sake of making money). It not only adds nothing to the story, it destroys some of the good things from the 2018 version. I've been looking forward to this movie for a long time with the COVID delays, and I sadly have to say it was not worth the wait at all.

The characters in this movie were atrocious. Firstly, they destroyed 'Laurie Strode'. Not only does she do absolutely nothing in this movie, she is rude to kind nurses and assaults a doctor. Yup, that'll get us on her side. But that wasn't even the worst of it. The side characters they created for this film were embarrassing. There is a scene where a character just stares at 'Michael Myers', says something to the effect of, "Michael, you've come home", and then just stands there and waits to be killed. That's the worst example of it, but this is very much a rinse and repeat thing throughout the film.

The pacing of the film is all over the place too. There's a very strange and uninteresting opening scene. Then we get a couple of admittedly great scenes with the firefighters and in a house with a couple. At this point I was having a good time. 'Michael' was ferocious and in no mood to mess around. Then we hit a wall and frankly never recovered. Even at the end when the film should be building up to the big conclusion, it feels like it's stuck in first gear.

Also there's a subplot involving a mental patient that is just unpleasant. It's not scary, it's not clever, it's just depressing and unnecessary (and quite insulting to the audience that we are expected to buy it). I didn't find much to enjoy about this film sadly. It looks great and the start was decent. Otherwise though it's not one I can recommend. 4/10.

David Gordon Green is one of the few people I trust in the Hollywood community and has a prominent place in my DVD/Blu-Ray archive. But this movie did not happen. They've abused a myth so much that it's empty. It is no longer exciting.

Even if the stars I've always loved, from Thomas Mann to Will Patfon, are in the cast.

Hollywood must stop exploiting cult productions to the bone.

Never been so frustrated watching a movie. Every last character just made stupid decision after stupid decision right the way throughout. They all deserve to die. #TeamMyers.

Completely clueless about what it wants to be or where its priorities lie, Halloween Kills is an absolute trainwreck of a sequel from start to finish. A dull, pointless & thoroughly frustrating entry that fails to capitalise on the blank canvas after the 2018 film wiped the slate clean by retconning the franchise, this latest instalment is an utter mess that's all over the place and unsure of its own identity.

Co-written & directed by David Gordon Green, the story shift the focus on other survivors of Michael Myers' 1978 killing spree by sidelining our protagonist yet does it so awfully that we are never for once invested in the new characters. Green does the bare minimum to improve the ride, has no idea what tone to settle with, and branches the story out in directions that's neither warranted nor called for.

It attempts to give us a peek of the trauma that Myers inflicted on not just Laurie Strode but the entire Haddonfield community and skims on mob mentality in dumb, facepalm-inducing ways. The film is devoid of tension, build-up & atmosphere, Myers' looming presence is also gone, and the narrative flow & editing is a nightmare. The only aspects working in its favour are the grisly kills & Carpenter's score.

Overall, Halloween Kills features a healthy dose of gnarly kills & slasher brutality but the rest is not only underwhelming, it's almost cringeworthy. The callbacks are mere distractions, the subplots lead nowhere, performances are forgettable, and it really made me root for Michael Myers as he creatively slaughters a lot of stupid, annoying folks in this. A wasted potential at best, this newest chapter adds nothing to the saga.

God bless these actors...they're all trying so hard with what they have. And there are so many good ideas on display here: a town going mad with bloodthirsty revenge because of what Michael has done, violently coming together to hunt him down? So good on paper.

But I swear...this script was written in two hours...by a group of aliens who have never actually interacted with human beings before or heard real human beings speak. Not a single thing here is believable or genuine in any way.

These characters are all so stupid. 80% of the deaths in this movie would have been avoided if they had just acted like real people. I have no sympathy for anyone who dies. I feel no fear for them. I feel nothing.

The only reason I don't give this a lower rating is because one of the deaths made me laugh so hard I forgot how underwhelming the rest of the movie was.