Halloween Kills

I cannot even wrap my head around how bad this movie was. I loved the last one and had been looking forward to this movie for 2 years. I was so disappointed.

Never been so frustrated watching a movie. Every last character just made stupid decision after stupid decision right the way throughout. They all deserve to die. #TeamMyers.

Completely clueless about what it wants to be or where its priorities lie, Halloween Kills is an absolute trainwreck of a sequel from start to finish. A dull, pointless & thoroughly frustrating entry that fails to capitalise on the blank canvas after the 2018 film wiped the slate clean by retconning the franchise, this latest instalment is an utter mess that's all over the place and unsure of its own identity.

Co-written & directed by David Gordon Green, the story shift the focus on other survivors of Michael Myers' 1978 killing spree by sidelining our protagonist yet does it so awfully that we are never for once invested in the new characters. Green does the bare minimum to improve the ride, has no idea what tone to settle with, and branches the story out in directions that's neither warranted nor called for.

It attempts to give us a peek of the trauma that Myers inflicted on not just Laurie Strode but the entire Haddonfield community and skims on mob mentality in dumb, facepalm-inducing ways. The film is devoid of tension, build-up & atmosphere, Myers' looming presence is also gone, and the narrative flow & editing is a nightmare. The only aspects working in its favour are the grisly kills & Carpenter's score.

Overall, Halloween Kills features a healthy dose of gnarly kills & slasher brutality but the rest is not only underwhelming, it's almost cringeworthy. The callbacks are mere distractions, the subplots lead nowhere, performances are forgettable, and it really made me root for Michael Myers as he creatively slaughters a lot of stupid, annoying folks in this. A wasted potential at best, this newest chapter adds nothing to the saga.

A worthy effort, if nothing all that memorable.

I found 'Halloween Kills' to be a touch below 2018's 'Halloween' in terms of entertainment and general interest, but like that one it does what it needs to do and produces something that is (narrowly, in this case) worth watching. I would've liked a bit more progression in the story, as this very much feels like the middle entry in a three-parter.

This flick gives more screen time to those around Jamie Lee Curtis, which isn't necessarily a positive (given Curtis is as good as she is) but the actors all do find jobs - even if no-one particularly stands out, at least to me. Away from the cast, the deaths are solid and the use of the iconic theme is spot on.

I didn't love this, almost nonplussed by it in truth but overall I think it just does enough to merit being filed under 'good'.

The latest saga in the world of Halloween, what an absolute mix of good and bad this was. It has the same feel as Halloween 2, the first time I saw that, a slightly patchy follow up.

The previous film I really rather enjoyed, I was hoping for this to follow the trend, where the had the vibe of a horror thriller, this ventures more into the horror fantasy genre, Michael is transformed into some unearthly killing machine.

The opening few minutes were awesome, I loved what they did, and how they did it, creative, well realised, and somehow respectful, it was incredible, it really did work. The core of the film was as you would expect, lots of gore, lots of violence, and the ending was again a mix of good and bad. It didn't have much in the way of suspense.

The only upsetting death here for me, was the suicide, that was about the only time the screen went silent, it was a very upsetting moment.

My favourite characters were Big and Little John, those guys were really good fun.

It'll have its fans and its haters, for the season it's a thrill ride, does it enhance The Halloween catalogue, sadly not, it lacked structure, it lacked a cohesive narrative, it was just a killing spree slasher.

6/10.