Halloween Kills

 Halloween Kills
Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Anthony Michael Hall
Directed by David Gordon Green

The story of Michael Myers is indeed a muddy one, if you take all twelve "Halloween" films as one long narrative. He starts off as a six-year-old boy who for reasons unknown kills his sister, and then as an adult escapes a mental institution to return home to Haddonfield, Illinois, to stalk and kill babysitters. If you follow the film's line, it leads to the surviving babysitter being Michael's other sister that he has to kill because he needs to eliminate his entire bloodline so a cult can make him immortal or something like that, and he turns into a Jason Voorhees-type character that can seemingly never die no matter what's thrown at him. While I adore the original "Halloween" and it still holds up today, the sequels I found were severely lacking with each subsequent one, but then writers David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, and Scott Teems decided to give the franchise a soft reboot with 2018's "Halloween," which follows the 1978 classic and totally forgets everything that happened in-between. It turned out to be a breath of fresh air as it grounded the series once again to merely a crazy man stalking a non-family-related survivor of his rampage and the effect that night had on her forty years later. So when "Halloween Kills" came out, I was over the moon to finally get to be able to see the continuation of this timeline, and sad to say, it was an absolute mess, much like several of the other "Halloween" sequels.

Taking place immediately following the events of "Halloween," Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney/Nick Castle) manages to escape the fiery trap set for him by Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), her daughter Karen (Judy Greer), and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak), and begins a blood-splattered path to his childhood home in Haddonfield. Laurie is sent to the Haddonfield Hospital with severe wounds and remains in bed while Karen and Allyson hear that Michael escaped. Meanwhile, a mob led by Tommy Doyle (Anthony Michael Hall) - who Laurie babysat when Michael first attacked in 1978 - decide to take matters into their own hands and track down Michael and kill him for good.

2018's "Halloween" did an excellent job at catching everyone up to speed with what's been happening in the forty years since Michael's attack without burdening the story and chopping it up with unnecessary flashbacks and callbacks, but "Halloween Kills" makes no such indications. Instead we're greeted at the start with an elongated flashback (not really a "flashback" but new scenes shot that's supposed to take place in 1978), and when the old gang gets back together we're again greeted with real flashbacks to the classic film introducing each one like the old "Survivor" reality show montages. There's also long monologues about what happened back in 1978, and Michael's purpose as the proposed Boogeyman who's shadow has lingered in Haddonfield since that night (although not too much because kids never seemed to have heard of him), and it seemed like the writers this time around felt no one watching "Halloween Kills" even heard of Michael Myers before. It wasted time from what the film's true highlight was: the killing.

Michael really shines in this department, much like every horror sequel ever made, the kills are more frequent and more gruesome. Cinematographer Michael Simmonds makes excellent use of the darkness and editor Tim Alverson makes expert work of his craft in showcasing the kills in sheer brutal fashion, something that was lacking in the 2018 film. Michael is seen here as an unstoppable killing force, dispatching whole first responding units with ease and using his stealth to full advantage to lurk on other unsuspecting (and suspecting) victims.

While 2018's "Halloween" was filled with self-aware, strong, powerful protagonists who were more than capable of handling themselves, "Kills" seemingly turned everyone into Barney Fife when it comes to taking on Michael. Roger Ebert in his review for 1981's "Halloween II" stated "The plot of 'Halloween II' absolutely depends, of course, on our old friend the Idiot Plot which requires that everyone in the movie behave at all times like an idiot." Unfortunately, the writers of "Kills" seem to take his words to heart with their own sequel, turning everyone in the town into bumbling fools (literally, one woman shoots herself in the head on accident). They sideline Laurie Strode - most notably Michael's biggest adversary and the only one with the intellectual wit to go toe-to-toe with him multiple times and live - to a hospital bed where she waxes philosophical about the eternal longevity of the Boogeyman mythos, while the court jesters go about their merry brainless path. This mob is formed way too easily and even though they seemingly have a plan, it falls apart within thirty seconds. They plan to stick together - then they split up. They gather at the hospital because they think Michael is coming for Laurie - and end up chasing someone clearly not Michael through the corridors for an elongated period of time. Every time they come into contact with the real Michael, they freeze up like a middle school boy asking a girl he likes to dance at the high school dance. It's comical on its face, and I really wish Michael had the vocal wit of Freddy Krueger because he would slay them metaphorically before doing it literally.

As I said earlier, the film sidelines Laurie throughout the entirety of the film, which is easily its biggest mistake. What made 2018's "Halloween" amazing is the reunion of these two titans of horror, but here it's like they're taking their break in their big boxing bout while sitting on either side of the ring while the second-string takes their spots. It's like being a Steelers fan and watching a game with Big Ben sidelined and the second string playing quarterback (I think that's an adequate comparison, I'm not a big sports fan). Jamie Lee Curtis is still a visionary wonder, but with so little to do here, it's a complete waste of her talent, and I can only hope "Halloween Ends" will reunite these two for one final epic battle - it's the only thing that can save this series from utter ruin.

With Laurie on the reserved list, it's time for the second tier of characters to take their shot at Michael, and easily proves that only Laurie has what it takes to take him on. "Kills" does do a great job at returning to nostalgia with the return of Tommy Doyle (this time played by a beefed-up Anthony Michael Hall, far removed from his nerdy John Hughes 80s coming-of-age films) who returns to form the mob to take down his childhood boogeyman once and for all, and also showing that he's severely lacking in the intelligence department. Then there's a grown-up Lindsey (Kyle Richards, who reprises her role from the 1978 original) whose babysitter Annie was killed by Michael that night. Along for the ride is Nurse Marion (Nancy Stephens, who also reprises her role from the 1978 original) and Sheriff Brackett (Charles Cyphers, who, again, reprises his role from the 1978 original) who has a personal vendetta against Michael for killing his daughter Annie. Throw in a slew of other clueless vigilantes and you give Michael an all-you-can-kill smorgasbord that leads to several (hopefully) unintentional humorous moments during his rampage.

Thankfully not everyone chasing after Michael is an idiot, as Laurie's kin prove themselves more adapt now than they were a few hours ago in movie time (meaning they're more intelligent now than they were in 2018's film, even though in the film timeline this all happens in one night). Judy Greer's Karen now fully believes in the Boogeyman and even though she's grieving and scared, she still tries to see the good in humanity as well as showcasing a Strode prowess for tracking down the family's enemy. Andi Matichak's Allyson easily picks up Laurie's torch as Michael's main nemesis as she joins the mob and is the only one with a brain (probably because everyone else in the mob is drunk off their feet).

Still, none of this can save even them from making bone-headed decisions at times that put their lives and the lives around them in jeopardy, and it seems that in this universe, no one has ever seen a scary movie, as every single rule you're supposed to follow in a horror movie is abandoned. Don't split up - they split up. Run when you hear footsteps upstairs - instead go up to investigate. Find a dead body on the floor of someone who clearly didn't die of natural means and you haven't seen their killer yet? - drop your weapon and kneel over them to grieve. Knock the killer down - don't deliver a fatal blow but celebrate the fact that you think you killed him like dropping the football at the one yard line to celebrate a touchdown. It was infuriating to see so many people acting so stupidly, especially after Laurie showed them the proper way to take Michael down in the previous film.

All this bumble-headedness could've been forgiven if the ending was satisfactory, but it's like the writers wrote themselves into a corner and decided to throw an alley-oop with literally dizzying moments that comes fast and loose that makes absolutely no sense in the confines of the film as a whole, ending with a climax that'll ease "Halloween Ends" in 2022 to its conclusion. As it is with most middle films in a trilogy, there's the inherent problem with it not having a beginning or ending, but serving as a bridge between two films. To that end, it has to be seen in order to hopefully appreciate the trilogy, and with strong desires that "Halloween Ends" will be a true ending to the franchise once and for all.

While the film does excellent work in providing enough kills to satisfy any horror fan, "Halloween Kills" fails on every other level, especially in its decision to sideline the main heroine and focus on a gang of clueless second-stringers who only serve to help increase Michael's body count.

The Score: C