Halloween Kills

For Halloween yesterday I watched the new Candyman and Halloween Kills. Both movies have been done repeatedly and to be honest at one point enough should be enough. Candyman wasn't bad though but it's nothing like the first movie when it was all a surprise. Halloween Kills on the other hand is just another movie too much. Nothing new, Michael Myers can't be killed, it doesn't matter if you stab him, shoot him, set him on fire, he just can't be killed nor injured. It's getting lame to be honest. Jamie Lee Curtis hasn't a huge role and that was maybe best like that. I hope this one was finally the last one because there's no milk to be milked anymore here.

The movie takes place immediately after the events from 2018's Halloween. I imagine that if you liked that movie, you'll probably like this one as well. I'm sure you're familiar with the drill. Michael Myers kills a bunch of people, the end.

Here is my problem with this movie. For things to happen as they do, every single character in this movie must do the dumbest thing possible. People are literally throwing themselves into Michael Myers' path to be murdered when they could easily avoid it. People go off, alone, in a house to go looking for him. They never have a chance. When they have the opportunity to call for backup, they don't. When they have a gun that they can use to shoot him, they don't even try to get a good shot and just shoot wildly. Even when they are like two feet away, they can't hit him. They are worse shots than the stormtroopers from Star Wars. Even when they do have an opportunity to take him out, they totally blunder it by letting up and by getting in close to fight, one by one. This movie even goes back in time to come up with new scenes showing people making the dumbest choices possible. Michael Myers just keeps going about his business, and all of these people go out of their way to get murdered by him. Everyone in this town is a moron. So, if you're looking for a movie that isn't remotely scary involving Michael Myers walking around slaughtering people dumber than livestock with occasional scenes of Jamie Lee Curtis screaming wildly for no real reason, you will probably like this.

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.

David Gordon Green is one of the few people I trust in the Hollywood community and has a prominent place in my DVD/Blu-Ray archive. But this movie did not happen. They've abused a myth so much that it's empty. It is no longer exciting.

Even if the stars I've always loved, from Thomas Mann to Will Patfon, are in the cast.

Hollywood must stop exploiting cult productions to the bone.

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.