Review: Halloween Kills
By William Pattison
For Horror Bob’s Blog
Gore and Scares and happy Halloween. I just finished
watching Halloween Kills, the sequel to the reboot/sequel to the original
Halloween that rejects all previous sequels and creates a new narrative for the
terror that is Michael Myers.
This film starts off where the reboot sequel, which was
amusingly and simply titled Halloween ends. The injured Laurie Strode and her
family are in the back of a truck escaping. Laurie freaks out when she sees a
fire truck heading to her burning house where she had fought Michael Myers and
had thought she’s burned him up with her home. Unfortunately, this is Michael
Myers we are talking about and he inadvertently escapes the flames with the
help of The Haddenfield Fire Department. He also kills the firemen as a warm
thank you.
Of course, then he goes on a killing sprees on his way back
to his house, which is the love den for a gay couple. Meanwhile some of the survivors of Michael’s
1978 murder rampage come out of the shadows and go on a search for the guy in
the white face Kirk mask, including the two kids, now grown up, who Laurie had
been babysitting all those years ago as well as the nurse whom Michael stole
the care from who he escaped the mental home originally. Also add to our cast
of characters a deputy who accidentally shot his partner when trying to shoot
Michael. Stupid fool. Shit, doesn’t he know bullets don’t have any real affect
on Michael? Hell, by now you would think Michael would be clicking as he
marches around with all that metal in his carcass.
All this leads to another killfest hosted by the grandmaster
of slaughter. Shit, we even get to see some mob mentality fun as all the people
in Haddenfield General Hospital go nuts and chase an innocent nut ball who got
away from a bus crash from the nut house and stumbles into the hospital at the
moment when the crowd is craving blood.
So, on with the review…
I have to say that I royally enjoyed Halloween Kills. Unlike
a lot of reviewers, I liked the pace of the film and found the tension level
very satisfying. I realize a lot of millennials, who had been weaned on slasher
films during the years of hell that The Horror Social held horror in a
strangled hold and only allowed slasher films cast with The Breakfast Club
clones, weak or no storylines, and the ideology that good horror films only
needed killers in masks and gory kills to be good. Don’t get me wrong,
Halloween Kills has horribly brutal kills, but it also has full on character
arcs along with plot, story, and lots of Easter eggs. I love the homage to
Halloween III and of course the appearance of….Oh, spoilers. You’ll have to see
for yourself.
All in all I found Halloween Kills an excellent middle film
in a trilogy. It is not perfect, but it is enjoyable and I figure any plot holes
in this film will be addressed in the final chapter, Halloween Ends, which
should come out in the next two years. But, as for this film I can highly
recommend this film for those looking for a little Michael fix…
Keep on Creepin’, Horror Bob’s Blog…
