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Movie Review: Halloween Kills

Mike Tyrkus
David Gordon Green in Halloween Kills

David Gordon Green in "Halloween Kills." Photo by Ryan Green/Universal Pictures - © 2021 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

The rejuvenation that the “Halloween” franchise enjoyed following the release of David Gordon Green’s taught and evocative account of Laurie Strode’s (Jamie Lee Curtis) final confrontation with masked-killer Michael Myers, has been parlayed into a sequel appropriately titled Halloween Kills, in that it may very well prove to be the long-overdue death of the series itself.

Mere moments after Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), her daughter Karen (Judy Greer), and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) left Michael Myers trapped in Laurie’s fiery basement at the end of Halloween (2018), Laurie arrives at the hospital with severe injuries, but relieved that Michael has finally been dispatched. Of course, after Michael somehow manages to get himself free of Laurie’s snare, he resumes his rampage. It is at this point that the survivors of Michael’s original night of terror stir the rest of the town into a frenzied mob determined to deliver justice upon Michael by their own hands.

At only 106 minutes, Halloween Kills feels overly long and tediously stretched out compared to its predecessor (which, incidentally, was precisely the same length). Curtis is given very little to do for a majority of the film other than lie unconscious in a hospital bed while exposition unfurls around her. Meanwhile, the bulk of the effective parts of the film arrive courtesy of several flashback scenes recounting parts of Michael’s original night of carnage from various points of views. That is, there is nothing interesting happening in the current story, it’s the flashbacks that prove to be the most engaging. Furthermore, while there is nothing wrong with the torch being passed along to Laurie’s daughter and granddaughter, there is little dramatic weight to it or any sizably intriguing buildup. It instead plays as though it is the only possible outcome from the moment the various characters are introduced.

Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode in “Halloween Kills,” directed by David Gordon Green. Photo Credit: Ryan Green/Universal Pictures. © 2021 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS. All Rights Reserved.

Scott Teems replaces Jeff Fradley as the third screenwriter working with director Green and returning co-writer Danny McBride and the trio delivers a not-too-subtle nod to (or is it condemnation of) the political ideologies and behaviors that have led to the various “Purge” films when vigilantism is allowed to usurp the rule of law in Haddonfield.

But that is not the sole poisoned fruit that condemns the whole of the film, rather the combination of this mixture of storytelling techniques and the uninteresting, yet predictable, way in which it all plays out proves to be the reason that Halloween Kills fails so fantastically on a myriad of levels.

The film is rather bland to look at overall and even the echoes of the classic “Halloween” theme by John Carpenter are somehow rendered ineffective by other surrounding elements, such as overly chaotic editing or the presence of a few over-the-top characters obviously inserted to force some minimal sense of fun into a film that desperately needs it.

Although the franchise had seen an uptick with its previous offering, there is little to suggest that the series should be allowed to continue given the tedious bore that is Halloween Kills. But, then again, the entire concept behind the film itself is that an unstoppable, relentlessly monotonous machine-like force continues to move forward despite anything, or anyone, attempting to stop it.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com
An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

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