Halloween Kills (2021)
HORROR-THON 2022 • HOUSE PARTY
8/10
DIRECTOR: David Gordon Green
STARRING: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak
RELEASED: 2021
RUNTIME: 1 hour, 45 minutes
WATCH ON: Peacock, Amazon, Apple TV, Fandango at Home
SCARE LEVEL: High body count
MOVING OUT OF HADDONFIELD: Highly recommended
There’s a question this movie never answers: why does anyone still live in Haddonfield? Michael Myers has been coming back for 40 years. There are other towns. Literally just move.
This picks up the same night Halloween (2018) ended. Laurie, Karen, and Allyson think they left Michael to burn in Laurie’s basement. He gets out. Laurie heads to the hospital.
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Meanwhile, the people Michael terrorized in 1978 are all grown up and they are done being scared. Tommy Doyle, the little bo Laurie babysat, leads the town in a chant of “evil dies tonight.” Lindsay (Kyle Richards returning to the role she played as a kid) is in it too.
The whole town turns into a mob, and that goes really badly. Karen ends up going after Michael herself and lures him back to the old Myers house. She ends up in the upstairs bedroom where his sister was killed in 1963.
MY HUMBLE OPINION
Of this modern trilogy, this one might be my favorite. It’s messy, loud, and having way more fun than the other two. The ending with Karen in the bedroom is a nice touch. It’s the same room where this whole franchise started, and the movie knows exactly what it’s doing.
Then there are the masks from Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Those are the Silver Shamrock ones, from the movie with no Michael at all. Seeing them pop up here is the kind of deep-cut fan service that makes me happy.
The mob plot gets heavy-handed, and the dialogue is mostly people shouting slogans. But the kills are inventive and fast, and it’s a lot more fun than you’d expect for a middle chapter.
The town won’t leave, though. Why do these people stay?
Next up: Halloween Ends
FUN FACT FOR YOUR NEXT DINNER PARTY
Jamie Lee Curtis, Kyle Richards, Charles Cyphers, Nancy Stephens, and Nick Castle all reprise their roles from the 1978 original. It’s the most former cast members brought back together since Halloween II (1981), and is also tied with Halloween II for the most credited original performers that don’t include reused scenes or photos.