Halloween Kills (2021)

 

I watched the "official" second film in the new Halloween series on DVD, and came away with a solid meh about the new attempt to reboot the franchise.  Sure, I was fine with the filmmakers ignoring the entire curse of Thorn story line, as well as Laurie having a daughter at some point (no offense to Danielle Harris, who did a GREAT job in the fourth film).  But I suspected part of my problem with this film is that I really enjoyed Jamie Lee Curtis as a PTSD suffering Laurie in Halloween H2O.  But, the more I thought about the film, the more it felt like a filler episode in a TV series, designed to fill the needed episode count before getting to the season finale.

But, as it seems current studio mandates for any horror movie is that you plan for a trilogy, we have Halloween Kills.  And again, I hate to say it, but the film just didn't justify its existance.  Sure, it's well done, with terrific performances, some well shot sequences, and some amazingly bloody deaths.  But this edition left me feeling that John Carpenter and Debra Hill were right in trying to take the franchise in an anthology direction with Halloween 3: Season of the Witch.

Besides, it gave us this catchy earwig song.  And everyone is thankful for that!

Okay, I know I've sounded overly negative so far, but I knew I'd be watching Halloween Kills, given how well made the first (second?) film was made. And that's despite some problems I had, especially concerning the podcast duo.  And again, I hate being negative on a film so well made.  But I just couldn't get invested in the story or the characters, no matter how they brought back to Haddonfield.

The film picks up after Laurie (Curtis) her daughter Karen and granddaughter Allyson imprisoned Michael in Laurie's home and set it on fire.  But a fire truck is on the way to put out the blaze, and Michael pops out from behind a rolling steel door to emerge from the basement and kill the entire battalion trying to fight the blaze.

And that's a major face palm moment in the film.  Because, let's be honest, that steel door wouldn't have protected him from smoke inhalation, but also had amplified the heat of the fire.  Hey, metal is a good conductor of thermal energy, and can be transferred heat rapidly enough that Michael would have been cooked by the time the fire fighters arrived.

And let's not even get into the fact that he was engulfed in flames at the end of Halloween.

Damn, this dude should be well done and ready for a bottle of ketchup at this point. 

After Micheal escapes, and a group of people at a bar find out about his latest killing spree.  Among them are Tommy Doyle (Anthony Michael Hall ) and Lindsey Wallace (Kyle Richards), who Laurie protected from Michael in the first film, as well as Marion Chambers (Nancy Stephens), the nurse who accompanied Dr. Loomis to the sanitarium in the original.  Though why she's there, I have no idea.  Oh wait, it's fan service, as both actors reprise their roles from the original!

Anyway, Tommy whips everyone at the bar to hunt down Michael, who's busy doing what he does best.  Meanwhile, Laurie is hospitalized for the injuries she received in the first film, while Allyson takes off to take Michael down with Cameron (Dylan Arnold), her scummy boyfriend from the first film.

Meanwhile, Officer Frank Hawkins (Will Patton), whose encounter with Micheal in 1978 ended tragically, ends up in the same room with Laurie, and we get some bonding for Part Three.  Meanwhile, on the streets of Haddonfield, mayhem ensues. 

I'm not saying the film is terrible.  It's well shot by by director David Gordon Green, the cast gives great performance, the Easter eggs are nice and, I have to say, the mayhem is bloody.  Though sometimes, it feels like the filmmakers decided to add some moments that feel unrealistic.  I mean, who brings a battery operated circular saw to a lynch mob?  Is there a more inappropriate weapon to bring to a Michael Myers fight?

Oh yeah.  We get Laurie strolling out of the hospital with a knife, threatening to take down Michael. 

Girl, get yourself a shotgun!

I did like what the film had to say about mob mentality, but overall, I was underwhelmed.  As I mentioned earlier in the review, the film feels like a filler episode, designed to pad out the running time before the final episode.  Again, I hate saying that about a film so well made, but it feels like that could have cut the movie in half and added it to the third one. 

Of course, I'll catch the third one at some point, 'cause that's who I am.  But I suspect that, no matter how good it is, I won't feel that Carpenter and Hill were right to leave Michael as the boogeyman that survived six round to the chest and walked away, while Laurie's cries and the soundtrack plays over Michael's previous haunts, with his breathing coming across the audio.  Despite liking H2O, that's how I want to remember Michael.  Always lurking in the shadows, waiting to get you.  Not someone killing a bunch of people just to drive a final episode that should have been the second film in a very limited series.

 If Deputy Dewy, sorry, Officer Hawkins takes out Michael before Laurie, I'm gonna be really angry.  Just saying.

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