Halloween Kills Movie Review

Could this possibly be the best Halloween film yet?

Warning: the following review contains spoilers. Read at your own risk. 

If you grew up in the seventies, then you probably remember going to see the first Halloween movie. The film came out on October 25th, 1978. For those of you unfamiliar with the franchise, the story follows a young teen named Laurie Strode played by Jamie Lee Curtis, who is being hunted by her deranged older brother Michael Myers played by Nick Castle (No relation to me).

The series has since grown to ten films soon to be eleven next year. I’m only including the films from John Carpenter’s series and not the two films from Rob Zombie.

In 2018, the first film of a brand new trilogy within the franchise was released. The title simply being Halloween. Jamie Lee Curtis and Nick Castle reprised their original roles for the trilogy.

The second film of the trilogy, Halloween Kills released to theaters and to Peacock last week on October 15th, 2021. The film was originally set to release last year but was postponed because of Covid Nineteen.

Now that I have everyone caught up, it’s time to get to the meat of this article and talk about the recent film, Halloween Kills.

The film begins by expanding on the original movie; back to the night that Laurie Strode was first attacked. The movie shows a young Officer Frank Hawkins chasing down Michael Myers. Of course, since Myers has a supernatural ability that allows him to disappear from his pursuers, the poor officer loses him. Soon after, he is joined by his colleagues, who decided they should split up to cover more ground. Hawkins ends up going with Officer Pete McCabe, and the two eventually make their way to the abandoned Myers residence.

The two make their way inside and do what good copes do and begin clearing the house room by room. Somewhere along the way, McCabe enters the room of Judith Myers, where he is attacked by Michael. Hawkins, being the excellent partner that he is, tries to save McCabe but ends up accidentally killing him.

What makes this scene truly epic is that the creators added a cameo of Dr. Loomis, who was played by the late Donald Pleasence. The late actor played the role of Dr. Loomis for five movies and probably would have played more if he hadn’t passed away. So seeing him being honored in the latest Halloween film warmed my heart.

After an amazing intro, the film starts right where the last movie left off. The movie starts at a bar where we catch up with Tommy Doyle, Lindsy Wallace, Marion Chambers, and Lonnie Elam. All of who are survivors of Michael Myers. At the bar, which is having an open mic night. Tommy tells the bar how his babysitter Laurie Strode saved him and Lindsy that night. It’s at this bar that we meet two new characters, a husband and wife team that we briefly saw in the last film.

Once Tommy finishes his tale of woe, he ends his story by saying. “Evil Dies Tonight,” That slogan becomes the overall theme of the movie, and I’m pretty sure will continue into the next film, Halloween Ends.

Meanwhile, Laurie Strode, her daughter Karen and granddaughter Allyson are right where we left them, riding away on the back of that truck. If none of you noticed, that scene is in reference to Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. Speaking of The Curse of Michael Myers, I was very confused when I learned Karen was Laurie’s daughter since her original daughter was killed in that movie. Until I realized this was a trilogy within a franchise and her other daughter doesn’t exist here. 

So as Laurie Strode and her family are running away from her house where she just set on fire with her brother inside, they see the Fire Department on their way. Of course, Laurie yells “No! Let him Burn!” as she sees this. Of course, the poor firefighters don’t hear her and make it to the scene where they then are attacked by an enraged Myers. Because, how dare you lock him in a house and try to kill him when he’s trying to kill you.

I must pause here because that scene was just epic. I also have to give the fighter fighters credit here because they tried to fight off Myers, despite knowing they were probably going to die. I also would like to say that this scene was a clue that Myers wasn’t playing in this movie and was about to show the world just how brutal he can be. I’m positive the directors told Nick Castle to just go for it this movie and be as brutal as possible.

So anyway, Laurie finally makes it to the hospital where we see our old friend Sheriff Leigh Brackett, who now works as a security guard for the hospital. Brackett lost his daughter in the first movie and never really recovered. It’s obvious the old man still holds a grudge against Myers, and rightfully so. He plays a key role later on in the film that will get to in a minute. On a side note, I would like to applaud the directors for finally realizing that it takes over four people to run a hospital.

So while Laurie Strode is in surgery. Allyson’s jerk boyfriend is trying to call his friend to help him find her. While he’s doing this, he finds Officer Hawkins bleeding and calls nine-one-one, then his dad, who turns out to be Lonnie Elam. The moment Lonnie hears what happened to Hawkins, he realizes that Michael Myers must be behind it. Shortly after, the news announces that two mental patients have escaped, and one is, you guessed it, Michael Myers.

You know, after one escape, you would think the asylum would stop trying to relocate him. I guess they never learn from their mistakes. Oh well.

The news triggers something in Tommy and he decides on his own to start a manhunt for Myers and have the town kill him. This actually sounds like a smart idea because, you know, strength in numbers, but I have a feeling this might not work with this psycho.

Oh, and you know that husband and wife team? Well, they left for home after realizing that Myers struck in their neighborhood, so they're heading to their car when the husband realizes he forgot his stethoscope and tells his wife to go to the car. Well, the wife gets in the car and realizes someones is in the car with her, yikes, but also why the hell didn’t you lock your car? You’re at a bar and didn’t think to lock it and then you’re surprised when someone is in the car? Anyway, the freaked-out wife believes the person is Michael Myers, like lady you already would have been stabbed if it was him.

So she runs back into the bar, proclaiming that Myers is inside the car. Tommy grabs the bar owner’s bat, good old Huckleberry, and gets ready to confront his arch-nemesis, who then proceeds to drive away because the wife left the keys in the car, smart, smart. Anyway, the driver ends up crashing the car and we then see it’s the other escaped mental patient who is just scared as everybody else. Probably more so because some guy he doesn’t even know is chasing him with a bat.

After this car crash, Lonnie somehow finds out Laurie is in the hospital and tells Tommy who rushes over. Tommy goes crazy and gathers a mob of people across the town and hunts down Myers. Laurie’s granddaughter Allyson tags along and confronts her crazy uncle without her mother knowing.

The movie just keeps getting better from here. To keep a long story short, Tommy gathers a mob, which includes Allyson, and they all go on a witch hunt for Myers. This goes as one expects.

I don’t want to reveal everything about this film, but I have to say that the story was well written and kept to the original storyline. Plus, it was great seeing all the original characters again, but older. In conclusion, I have to say this movie was well done, and the acting was good for a horror film. Plus the ending was surprising, and maybe a little confusing? I would give this movie a five-star rating. I highly recommend seeing it if you’re a horror fan.

Hello everyone, Caitlan here. I have a wide variety of interests, but to name a few of them, I enjoy reading, writing, films, and manga.

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