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Halloween Kills follows on from Halloween (2018), which I only got round to watching about two days before this sequel, but Michael Myers’ return – seemingly, lazily ignoring every sequel since (given that Myers has been in prison since 1978 – so, ignoring the fact sister Laurie has killed him oodles of times), it felt way too derivate of the original at times – such as Michael’s reflection in a window as he looks through the glass along with the spine-tingling music – rather than paying homage.
Plus, there was lots of time where very little was actually happening, and even when there are murders, most of them take place just offscreen. And where does Michael get the strength, given his advancing years? What nonsense!
For those who don’t stay for the credits, the 2018 film’s credits ended with the sound of Michael’s heavy breathing, as if… (2018 movie ending spoiler here)
Oh, and I hate how they just called it “Halloween“, same as when any new entry in a series copies the original title (the 2014 fourth entry in the Thief gaming series was just called “Thief“, for example), so that screws with searching for a title of something online, as well as SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), since if you have reviews of two films or games with the same title, the system can’t differentiate and assumes you’re referring to the same thing again, and thus, the latter post won’t rank as highly in Google.
Plus, it’s fucking lazy of those making the film or game.
Still, at least we have the original ‘Shape’ Nick Castle chasing after Laurie.
But to Halloween Kills, and it follows on right where the 2018 film ended, with the bit I mention in the spoiler header above, while Laurie and others escaped clean away.
Naturally, I won’t spoil how Michael seems to survive the end of the last film, but you have to assume that he does because, otherwise, there’s no sequels. And since there is a sequel, there’s more senseless deaths including one amusing one involving a gun, but following the events of the last film, Laurie spends most of this one in a hospital bed.
There’s a recreation of the original night – even throwing in footage of Donald Pleasance, but the point is that this movie will show what happened to some of the survivors of that night.
Anthony Michael Hall – who I only really remember from Weird Science and one of my all-time favourites, The Breakfast Club – is completely unrecognisable, but he is great as the angry Tommy who – 40 years on – wants to take back the town and declares that “Evil dies tonight”. Why isn’t he in more big films?
However, it’s ultimately still a dumb film which will just be a string of ridiculous murders with a threadbare plot to string them together.
Why do people bother going after him when they know that no-one has ever been able to kill him? And why do they assume he’s dead or even the slightest bit incapacitated? Why does no-one ever bring an axe and chop his head off? These people are so dumb they clearly deserve to die!
And even when we get Halloween Ends this time next year, how long before someone else actually reboots the series yet again?
Halloween Kills is available to pre-order on Blu-ray, 4K Blu-ray and DVD.
Also, you can pre-order the double-bill on Blu-ray and DVD.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 105 minutes
Release date: October 15th 2021
Studio: Blumhouse
Format: 2.39:1 (ARRIRAW (2.8K), Anamorphic Hawk Scope
Halloween (2018): 4/10
Halloween Kills: 4/10
Director: David Gordon Green
Producers: Malek Akkad, Bill Block, Jason Blum
Screenplay: Scott Teems, Danny McBride, David Gordon Green
Characters: John Carpenter, Debra Hill
Music: Cody Carpenter, John Carpenter, Daniel Davies
Cast:
Laurie Strode: Jamie Lee Curtis
Karen: Judy Greer
Allyson: Andi Matichak
The Shape: James Jude Courtney
The Shape: Nick Castle
The Shape (1978): Airon Armstrong
Officer Hawkins: Will Patton
Young Hawkins: Thomas Mann
Pete McCabe: Jim Cummings
Cameron Elam: Dylan Arnold
Lonnie Elam: Robert Longstreet
Tommy Doyle: Anthony Michael Hall
Leigh Brackett: Charles Cyphers
Big John: Scott MacArthur
Little John: Michael McDonald
Tivoli: Ross Bacon
Lindsey: Kyle Richards
Marion: Nancy Stephens
Sondra: Diva Tyler
Phil: Lenny Clarke
Brian the Bartender: Brian Mays Sr
Marcus: Michael Smallwood
Vanessa: Carmela McNeal
Sheriff Barker: Omar Dorsey
Concerned Brother: Damien Lee
Christy: Salem Collins
Mindy: Giselle Witt
Dennis: J Gaven Wilde
Dr. Samuel Loomis: Tom Jones Jr
Dr. Samuel Loomis (voice): Colin Mahan
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.