Halloween Kills was the type of entertainment we needed during a global pandemic, locked away in our homes far away from social gatherings. This film was highly anticipated by fans and moviegoers, who ended up waiting an extra year before a release. That gave everyone more time to build up a dream scenario of what was to come in the middle chapter. The hype failed to live up to the final product, and all the momentum that Halloween (2018) had gathered all but withered and died with a slash of a rusty and chared butcher knife.
As many folks know, Halloween is my favorite horror franchise, and Michael Myers has haunted my dreams since I was a little kid. The same little kid who had no business watching a creepy man in a white mask kill people night after night. Although the franchise has more disappointments than people wish to talk about, it is safe to say that Halloween Kills will join the long list of hopeful sequels that never live up to the one before it.
I was disappointed with the way things played out in Kills. The absolute best part (Michael fighting the firefighters) was in the trailer and took away the element of shock and awe when it happens in the movie. I understand the trailer makers needed to lure in the casual movie fan with bloodshed, but the rest is garbage compared to the slaughter-fest at the inferno.
If we are being honest here, the parts I enjoyed the most were the flashback scenes to the end of the original Halloween in 1978 when Michael was captured and arrested. Since Halloween 2018 cut out all the other films and storylines, there was no link to what happened 40 years ago, which Kills planned out and executed with a certain level of perfection. Whether it was the attention to detail or the stand-in Dr. Loomis character, the entire back story was great for fans who adore the franchise as much as I do.
There is still a handful, like one hand, of surprise factors, but a lot of the movie is wasted on a side story to just pad its run time. Most of the main characters die, which wasn’t overly surprising as it was underwhelming. There is little to no character build-up except for the two guys who live in the Myers house.
Most of the plot is revealed in the trailer, which ruined a bunch of the film and didn’t leave me surprised or shocked. The ending does come out of nowhere; however, when Michael is in the middle of a beat down by the entire community, everyone and their grandmother knew he was going to just get up and carry on like nothing had ever happened.
On opening night, I went to Halloween Kills, and it was the second lousy movie I watched that week outside of No Time to Die. Halloween Ends (slated for 2022) better bring down the house, or I will be upset that such an iconic character and story would find itself back in the days of Curse of Michael Myers (1995) and Halloween Resurrection (2002), two of the lowest points of the saga.
People should still watch Kills and try to find something extraordinary to love about it. Diehards may be a little upset with this chapter, and they have every right to be. It wasn’t the greatest, and it wasn’t worst either. It had the potential to be great but got bogged down with a bunch of silliness and nothingness. 4/10
Ten Stars or Less 