Halloween Kills Review

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. The leaves are falling, pumpkins are being carved, and knife-wielding maniacs are stalking their way through small suburban towns. Yes, the long-awaited, long-delayed newest installment in the Halloween franchise is finally in theaters and on Peacock this weekend, delivering all the gory thrills horror fans long for this time of year. 

It’s no secret that the Halloween series is a mess. Even the most die-hard fan would agree that all the shifting timelines and retcons are a lot to wrap your head around. For example, depending on how you choose to count, Halloween Kills is either the second, third, or twelfth film in the series, due to its constant rebooting. This new film is a direct continuation of 2018’s reboot, confusingly also titled Halloween, which was itself a sequel to the original John Carpenter classic. What’s curious is that while the 2018 film went out of its way to stand on its own as a singular narrative, Halloween Kills goes in the exact opposite direction and relies heavily on both the events of its immediate predecessor and the original 1978 film. The filmmakers have completely abandoned the idea of a standalone sequel, for better or for worse.

Set moments after the 2018 film’s conclusion, Halloween Kills deals with the aftermath of Michael Myers’ rampage. As the news of the killings spreads throughout the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois, the citizens of this once quiet neighborhood are rallied into a mob, out to kill the murderous “Shape” once and for all. Unfortunately for them, Michael has managed to escape the fire trap set for him by his former victim Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), and is out to kill again. And boy does he. This film features some of the franchise’s most visceral and shocking kills which will stay with you long after the credits roll. 

There are certainly pros and cons to the decision of setting this latest sequel on the same night as the last film. Since Michael’s killing spree is already in progress when Kills begins, there’s very little time for exposition in the film’s first act. Instead we’re dropped right back into the story’s climax, where we stay for the remainder of the film’s runtime. While this certainly creates a sense of non-stop excitement, it does get somewhat exhausting after a little while to watch a film that allows no time to breathe. Another potential downside for viewers comes from the nature of the story’s continuation. Characters and plot beats from both the ‘78 and ‘18 films return, often with little to no reintroduction. Having just binged through the franchise in the days leading up to Kills, this played really well for me and made it feel authentically like what happened next in the ongoing story. That being said, if you aren’t immediately familiar with the events of the previous two movies, I doubt this aspect of the movie will land for you at all, which is a pretty big gamble for a sequel to take. Halloween Kills simply doesn’t stand on its own.

My main issue with the film, however, is its use of Laurie Strode. 2018’s Halloween saw her get severely injured in her climactic fight with Michael Myers, a fact which Halloween Kills takes to heart as Laurie spends most of the film recovering in her hospital room. Personally, I love these movies because I love seeing Jamie Lee Curtis battle the Boogeyman, a sentiment I know many fans share. It was therefore disappointing to see her entirely sidelined throughout this latest installment. I’m sure the filmmakers are building to something with her character that will pay off in next year’s Halloween Ends, but for the sake of this movie alone, it was pretty disappointing. 

Overall though, I did truly enjoy and appreciate what Halloween Kills was going for. This is a film about mob mentality and generational trauma, themes that really resonated throughout the movie’s genuinely unsettling action scenes. While I would have loved to see more Jamie Lee Curtis, what we do get of her is truly compelling. The returning characters and actors from the previous installments served as a real treat for the die-hard fan in me, and it’s always great to see Michael Myers in action, even if the film’s characterization of him leaves more questions than it did answers. Halloween Kills is far from a perfect sequel, but it knows how to deliver on what it promises: more Halloween kills.