After watching Halloween Kills the sequel to 2018’s Halloween you might have to. This latest installment in the Michael Myers franchise picks up right where the previous film left off. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) along with her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Alyson (Andi Matichak) are racing to the hospital after trapping Michael in Laurie’s house and setting it a blaze. Laurie knows however they have not seen the last of Michael as several fire trucks race pass them.
Halloween Kills flashes back and forth to 1978 and the original Haddonfield killings. Some clever CGI brings Dr. Loomis (the late Donald Pleasance) back into the story line. Director David Gordon Green even found a way to include characters like Nurse Marion Chambers, Lindsey Wallace and Tommy Doyle (played by Nancy Stephens, Kyle Richards and Anthony Michael Hall respectively). Lindsey and Tommy you may recall were the children Laurie babysat that Halloween night 40 years ago. It was Nurse Chambers who assisted Dr. Loomis the night Michael escaped. They are known as the survivors of Michael Myers and have vowed that “evil dies tonight”.
As is the norm of any second part of a trilogy, there are lots of twist (literally and figuratively) and turns. The pacing of the film is quite good for a slasher film. The body count and explict gore are higher than previous films. This could be a turn off for some viewers. Perhaps the biggest disappointment is how little involvement Jamie Lee Curtis has in this installment. No doubt done on purpose with a third and final film due out next October.
What made 2018’s Halloween so good was seeing Jamie Lee in her badass element. Where this film lacks in regards to Jamie, they made up with a very terrifying Michael Myers. Michael is an Apex predator with no semblance of humanity whatsoever. It is that trait alone that may make Michael Myers arguably the most evil horror villain of them all.
Directed by: David Gordon Green
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, James Jude Courtney, Kyle Richards, Nick Castle, Andi Matichak, Nancy Stephens and Anthony Michael Hall
R 105 Mins
HALLOWEEN KILLS – *** (out of 5 stars)
May the Dork be with you,
JPB
The Dork Knight
