The saga of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode continues in the next thrilling chapter of the Halloween series.
“Halloween Kills” takes place immediately after the events of 2018’s “Halloween.” After Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), her daughter Karen (Judy Greer), and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) trapped Michael Myers in Laurie’s house and set it on fire, they manage to escape and make it to the hospital, checking Laurie in as she is suffering from stab wounds she obtained from fighting Michael. As the trio of women begin to rest easy, believing that Michael is dead, word quickly surfaces that he is, in fact, still alive, and killed all the first responders that arrived at Laurie’s house. Laurie believes he will make his way to the hospital to try and kill her, Karen, and Allyson but fed up with the senseless killings and a long history of murder and mayhem, the town comes to their defense, and take matters into their own hands, deciding to track down Michael themselves, chanting “Evil dies tonight” as they go.
Since when did a Halloween movie turn into a black comedy? Since David Gordon Green took over directing duties on this new trilogy. With this latest entry in the series, it is quite apparent that Mr. Green doesn’t know the first thing about making a scary film. He brings along with him his unconventional sense of humor and infuses the movie with it, taking away any moments of true horror that might have existed otherwise. Moments of levity are essential in any scary film, especially when it is inundated with as much blood and gore evident here but to constantly interject playfulness and witticisms around every corner, instead of Michael Myers, is the true sign of an inexperienced horror filmmaker at work.
There are a few impressive scenes that take us back to the night of the events in the original “Halloween” movie, the night of October 31st, 1978, when Laurie was first attacked by Michael but this time around, we see it from other people’s perspectives, specifically that of Deputy Frank Hawkins (Will Patton), who was a rookie cop at the time. While he and Laurie are recovering from their wounds in the hospital, he recounts how he almost killed Michael that fateful night after he was captured, but couldn’t force himself to pull the trigger, and now, many years later, continues to blame himself for the ensuing carnage. In an unexpected but welcome surprise, Donald Pleasance’s Dr. Loomis makes an appearance, by way of motion capture, but because he was shot at night and in the shadows, his physical appearance and mannerisms are practically flawless, making it almost impossible to believe the late actor was onscreen once more, confronting his old nemesis.
These few accolades aside, “Halloween Kills” has absolutely nothing going for it. Jamie Lee Curtis is basically relegated to a secondary character while Judy Greer and Andi Matichak take center stage, along with Anthony Michael Hall, who plays a grown-up Tommy Doyle, the young boy Laurie babysat in the original film. There are so many scenes of unintended humor that the more serious elements of the story are dismissed in favor of a good laugh and this is where director Green drops the ball. John Carpenter’s original was suspenseful, terrifying, and relentless with its unceasing tension but here, Green appears to struggle with what to put onscreen; should it be scary or funny? Okay, funny it is. Should it be bloody or funny? Okay, bloody funny it is. He appears to be having a conflict of interest, should he stick with the time-tested formula that worked for Carpenter’s classic, or should he imbue it with much hilarity and ensuing hijinks? I’m sure you can figure out what direction he went in. While the original had a few moments of buoyancy, overall, it was a horror-thriller that remained somber and humorless and as a result, the scares were more frightening and disturbing. “Halloween Kills” instills so much black humor, you never know how to react to a scene, you’re half expecting Michael to kill someone, but at the same time, you’re waiting for something comical to transpire to offset the gravity of the situation, and for a “Halloween” film, that ambiguity is not the desired result.
At the end of “Aliens,” when Ripley squared off against the queen in an exo-suit cargo-loader, she said her unforgettable line, “Get away from her you bitch!”, and the audience erupted in applause. The timing was perfect for her retort but in “Halloween Kills,” when Tommy realizes that Michael is back, he says to the crowd he has just riled up, “Evil dies tonight!”, and while it works within the overall context of the scene, letting the audience know that the townspeople of Haddonfield have had enough of Michael and his barbarity, when he repeats it again sometime later, and then again later on, and then later on again, it loses its impact. When the crowd finally makes their way to the hospital in anticipation of Michael’s arrival, Tommy once again fires them up so that everyone is chanting “Evil dies tonight!” and by this point, you wonder why Green hasn’t come out from behind the screen to smash you over the head with a mallet to serve as another reminder because, you know, we’re clueless.
I don’t care for these new Halloween movies thus far. Next year, we get the concluding chapter, “Halloween Ends,” but at this point, if it’s anything like this iteration and its 2018 predecessor, it will add nothing new to the franchise. John Carpenter returns in a producer capacity and even composes the music along with his son Cody and Daniel A. Davies but it is just a lazy retread of his now-iconic score, and like the film itself, sadly, serves no purpose other than to offer fan service. It’s hard to gauge how people will react to “Halloween Kills,” a lot of the crowd at the press screening I attended were howling with laughter while others shook their heads in silent disbelief. As a fan of the original “Halloween” and “Halloween II,” I wish the producers had left well enough alone but Michael Myers isn’t just an unstoppable killing machine, he is also a cash cow, and when Hollywood sees dollar signs, like Michael Myers, it’s almost impossible to stop them.
In Theaters and streaming only on Peacock Friday, October 15th
