I watched Halloween Kills
WAS I ENTERTAINED?
Yes, but only if I turn off the more rational parts of my brain and let the film simply wash over me.
WHAT WORKED FOR ME?
The flashback to 1978 looks Great!
Once again the score is excellent!
Michael going full Terminator really is an awesome thing to witness.
Michael plays with his victims more in this film. It’s good to see and is a great way to subtly offer insight into his character and motivations. Not enough to be definitive, mind you, but enough to provide fodder for discussion and speculation.
Michael stalking Lindsey Wallace in the park is fantastic!
Big John and Little John are the most likable characters in this movie. They are a genuinely charming couple and it’s nice to see a gay couple without being preached at or chided.
Michael playing Peek-A-Boo with the kids in the park is a great set-up for a part of his killing spree that never manifests. The fact that it never manifests doesn’t diminish the impact of what nearly happened. It’s as though the writers understood him for a split second.
Lindsey hiding at the base of the tree while Michael lurks is made extremely effective by the lack of music or excess sound. Michael’s breathing carries the moment.
WHAT DIDN’T WORK FOR ME?
Halloween Kills is a poor choice for a title. It sounds like it was developed by a marketing firm. I think Halloween: Massacre would have been a better fit.
Two cops delivering expository dialogue to convey Michael’s backstory before he killed Judith was heavy handed in a way that suggested that there was more to it but, as we would learn, there was not.
Young Lonnie practically looks right into the camera and says, “…the Bogeyman.” 23 takes and they went with this?
While looking through the Myers house in 1978 the cops don’t use proper gun/flashlight discipline. To be fair, I don’t know if it existed then as it does now, but it stands out.
Young “Officer” (the filmmakers still don’t know the difference between Officer and Deputy) Hawkins can’t hit a slowly moving target from, at most, six feet away. Using the gun/flashlight discipline I mentioned earlier would have increased his chances of hitting his target, but the script clearly had other ideas. Hey, he did manage to shoot his partner, though!
Why does every surviving character from the original get together on Halloween in a bar for a public trauma circle-jerk? This isn’t how people of their generation behave. Indeed, Marion Chambers, the nurse at the beginning of the original, wouldn’t have much, if any, reason to hang out with the others in this little group except to be flaunted by a filmmaker desperate to let the audience know that he saw the original. Just like he did in Halloween 2018.
Tommy Doyle getting on stage to tell the tale of the original film with details he did not witness.
While being an awesome thing to witness, Michael going full Terminator would have far more impact if there were some kind of narrative reason for him to do so other than “This would be cool.”
Karen is always being a Karen. It’s exhausting.
Michael’s handling of Lindsey Wallace’s cohorts in the SUV at the park is silly and, once again, desperately referential.
This is the most incompetent batch of cops ever committed to film.
“EVIL DIES TONIGHT!”
They keep talking about Ray being dead, but only as a plot point. Bad writing? Bad Acting? Bad Directing? All of the Above?
Characters keep referring to Michael as “it” as though they were in the car will Dr. Loomis and Marion Chambers at the beginning of the original Halloween. This is another desperate reference upon other desperate references and therefore breaks immersion for me.
The whole subplot about Nutty Nut Man is unnecessary and only there because someone wanted to make a statement. It’s needless bloat.
“The more he kills, the more he transcends into something else…” If only they had a plan for this alleged revelation to actually mean something.
I could not empathize with the majority of characters in this film, and only three of the many victims. I can’t care about a character’s well being if they are not likable and only 3 ½ of these characters are likable.
“It’s Halloween, Michael. Everyone’s entitled to one good scare.” ~Lee Bracket. Why? Because original movie. That’s why.
WOULD I RECOMMEND?
Believe it or not, yes.
Once more in spite of my many criticisms this is a movie worth watching. Though my list of things that worked is much shorter than my list of what didn’t, that which did work almost balances the scales and makes this a film worth watching in spite of its flaws.
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