Just under 45 years ago, a mad man wearing a white mask and blue coveralls began terrorizing the town of Haddonfield. When Michael Myers would appear, not only would a rhythmic piano tune play but numerous people would be murdered in the most horrific ways. As the story goes, Michael murdered his sister by stabbing her to death. After being Institutionalized/jailed, Michael would escape and once again go on a murder spree in the town in which he grew up. One of his "survivors" was Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis; True Lies), who came back in 2018 to kill Michael once and for all.
After trapping him in her house, she set it on fire and was taken to the hospital by her daughter, Karen (Judy Greer; Jurassic World), and granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak; Assimilate) because she had been stabbed in the stomach. It is at this point where the new film, Halloween Kills, picks up. Thinking Michael Myers is dead, Laurie finally can rest but she is unaware that he escaped from the fire, killed eleven firefighters, and is once again on a rampage. Taking matters into their own hands, the townspeople hunt Myers down so an angry and half geriatric mob could beat, shoot, and stab him to death.
When Curtis returned to the franchise in 1998 (Halloween H20: 20 Years Later) and 2018, she couldn't have realized how iconic her character had been and how audiences flocked to theaters to see Laurie's return. Three years later audiences will once again be thrilled to see her return in Halloween Kills, premiering in theaters and streaming tonight. Joining her are Greer, Matichak, Robert Longstreet (The Haunting of Hill House), Anthony Michael Hall (War Machine), and Dylan Arnold (Mudbound).
Assembling the older cast members with the younger actors allows director, David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express), to pay homage to the past while moving the story forward.
Green, along with writer Scott Teems (That Evening Sun) do a wonderful job of mixing the past with the present to remind moviegoers of where the franchise started and how far it has come. There are flashbacks to, not only the 2018 film but to the original story forty years earlier. Speaking of older…the mob that goes after Myers with the equivalent of pitchforks and torches seems to be the rowdy group who will stir up trouble at the nursing home bingo night in a few years. The problem with continuing a story from over forty years ago is that the original cast is becoming close to being the geriatric population.
The bloody and gruesome deaths are still a part of the film, and it seems as if Gordon and Teems have created new and disturbing ways to murder people. The special effects have improved exponentially with the newest technological updates so none of the "kills" look cheesy or fake. In fact, Laurie's surgery scene was extremely realistic looking, perhaps more than we ever needed it to be. I'm also not sure that the 15 minutes spent by the mob chasing another escapee from the Asylum, thinking it was Myers, was even necessary.
The script is lacking but I enjoyed the flashback moments as they seemed to try and tie the older and newest film together. Also, in keeping with the attempt to be PC and "inclusive", there is the obligatory, stereotypical, homosexual couple who currently live in Myers' childhood home and therefore are slated for horrible and gruesome deaths.
If you enjoy the Halloween films because of the gore and guts, then Halloween Kills will be right up your alley. However, don't try to dig too deep to try and find substance in the movie as there isn't any.
Grade: C+
