Halloween Kills

Halloween Kills wants us to forget all of those films, but not really. It throws in fan-service nostalgia nuggets throughout, such as the Halloween III Silver Shamrock masks and enlisting a few familiar franchise faces (some through CGI). It’s the primary reason the 2018 incarnation didn’t work for me, as we were made to believe that having only one singular encounter with him, Laurie has spent her life preparing for Michael’s return, destroying her family in the process. Here, we are made to believe that she was not some loner kook, but in fact, the entire town anticipated his return.

We pick up moments after the last film, where Michael (played by both original Shape Nick Castle and stuntman James Jude Courtney) dodges death yet again. Meanwhile, Laurie is hobbled by her stomach wounds and is laid out in the town’s hospital (wink to 1981’s Halloween II). Her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) learns of the killer’s escape but neglects to inform her injured mom. Karen is concerned that her daughter has joined the throng of villagers, who have been stirred into a frenzy by Tommy (Anthony Michael Hall), who Laurie babysat in the original. Tommy is able to convince all of Haddonfield to grab pitchforks and tear through the town, chanting, “Evil ends tonight!”

“…just who is this sequel for?”

That entire plot steamrolls precisely where one would expect. Laurie realizes that only she is somehow capable of stopping Michael’s reign of terror. Just not today. For as soon as she jumps into action, her near-fatal wounds send her back to the hospital bed for the rest of the film.

Tonally, Halloween Kills is all over the map, with Green including long stretches of dark comedy that feel wholly out-of-place here (as a sequence with a couple who refer to themselves as Big John and Little John demonstrates). The decision to add humor seems particularly out of place here, especially when it ratchets up the brutality and gore to sadistic levels. All of it leads to the question, just who is this sequel for?

Fans of Carpenter’s original will find none of the unrelenting claustrophobic chills that made it a hallmark of horror. Those who may enjoy Green’s more comedic tendencies (like those in Pineapple Express or The Sitter), or even the 2018 version, will likely be frustrated by the more nihilistic streak displayed throughout Halloween Kills. And for a film that asks its audience to erase so much of the series’ lore, it certainly enjoys feeding them “member berries” throughout its runtime.