Starring - Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween, Freaky Friday), Judy Greer (Ant-Man, Jurassic World), and Andi Matichak (Halloween, Son)
Release Date - 2021
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Three generations. Strode strong"
Format - Streaming (Peacock)
Rating (out of 5):
Like most horror fans, I'm a huge fan of the Halloween series. Like most of my other film opinions, my opinion on the Halloween franchise is very controversial. I absolutely adore Season of the Witch and the Jamie Lloyd Saga along with Curse of Michael Myers and the first remake from Rob Zombie. I know many fans dislike these films but I absolutely fucking love them. Hell, I even like H20 but I don't really care for H40. It offered very little in the way of a continuation of the series and I found myself bored out of my wits. I was on the fence about watching Halloween Kills but after seeing how divided horror fans were with it I decided to give it a go.
The film picks up immediately after the events of the first film with Laurie's home going up in flames with Michael stuck in the basement. As her daughter and granddaughter rush her to the hospital the fire department arrives to put out the flames and accidentally unleashing Michael from his fiery tomb. Now, Michael is tearing his way through Haddonfield while Laurie is in the hospital.
I went into Halloween Kills hoping it was better than H40. What I didn't like about H40 was that it was pretty much a retelling of the original Halloween but with extended family of Laurie. Halloween Kills dials it up a notch with the kills but doesn't really deliver a different story. In fact, it's just another Blumhouse retelling of Halloween II. The acting in this one is funny. Everyone in the film is so serious but a lot of the dialogue had me in stitches. Since my initial viewing I've spent hours making "Evil dies tonight" memes. That is the goofiest battle cry I have ever heard and hearing it come from the stern faced Anthony Michael Hall made it so funny. I don't know who wrote this dialogue but it was hard to take seriously. The rest of the cast isn't as funny with their dialogue but a lot of the scenes are over-dramatic and extremely awkward. Even Jamie Lee Curtis is hamming it up more than normal. The story for this one takes the setting of Halloween II but puts that hyper-violent and gritty spin that H40 started. It doesn't really offer up anything different in terms of story. We follow the Strodes as they struggle with Michael while the towns people group up to stop him. That's it. We literally have a feature length movie following Laurie and her family panicking in the hospital and the towns people arming themselves. Finally, the film is extremely brutal with some seriously impressive practical effects. One that stands out is the make-up prosthetics is when they aged an actor to look like Donald Pleasence who is known to fans as famously portraying Dr. Loomis. We also have some brutal and extremely enjoyable deaths that look fantastic. The effects are the only reason to watch this one. Overall, Halloween Kills is alright for a first time watch but does sit low on my Halloween film rankings. It's a quick cash grab that just doesn't do it for me. I wish it was more focused on story instead of who the film was casting.
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