Halloween Kills Review (2021) Worth Watching?

It's about the inhabitants of Haddonfield banding together to stop Michael Myer's latest bloody rampage as he spreads fear throughout the town.

Halloween Kills was directed by David Gordon Green (who also directed Halloween) and stars Jamie Lee Curtis (from Halloween: Resurrection, Virus, Halloween: H20 and Roadgames), Judy Greer (from Carrie and Cursed) and Andi Matichak (from Son and Assimilate).

Evil Dies Tonight!

Horror is a genre where it is surprisingly difficult to feel franchise fatigue. I don't care if there are nine Saw movies or twelve Friday the 13ths. Give me more, damn it! And yet, after seeing some arguably misguided attempts to course correct Halloween like the Thorn trilogy, Halloween: Resurrection, and the Rob Zombie duology, it's easy to feel exhausted seeing Michael Myers' big white mask pop up yet again for more supernatural and slashy shenanigans.

Halloween (2018) wasn't exactly a franchise revelation, but it worked really well as a nicely done companion piece to John Carpenter's original. It creatively used the return of Jamie Lee Curtis to expand upon that first movie's themes while also showcasing some nicely done kills and one of the greatest John Carpenter scores ever conceived. But the announcement of Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends came with trepidation. After all, did Halloween (2018) really need a sequel? Was there more to say about Michael Myers, Laurie Strode and the town of Haddonfield, or was this just Jason Blum cynically pushing out two more movies to rake in that Halloween bank?

Let's not beat around the bush; Halloween Kills is great. David Gordon Green and his creative team build on Halloween (2018) in a way that feels like it had to have been pre-meditated. This isn't an "Oh, we made $250 million, what can we crap out?" movie. This is the perfect lead in to whatever conclusion these filmmakers have in-store for Michael and Laurie.

If Halloween (2018) asked what the effects of the original movie had on Laurie Strode over the course of forty years, Halloween Kills asks what the effects are on Haddonfield at large. When Michael starts his killings anew, it is fascinating to see him deliberately exacerbate and toy with the fear that spreads through the town. On the one hand, it's easy to sympathize with the characters as they deal with seeing their loved ones die at the hands of a seemingly invincible psychopath. On the other, Michael's influence is just as dangerous as his presence, leading to a heart-pounding sequence that doesn't even have Michael Myers in it.

From a technical stand-point, Halloween Kills fires on all cylinders. Whether this movie is recreating 1978 or right in the middle of 2018, this movie looks fantastic. The score, once again performed by the trio of John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies, goes incredibly hard. The kills are upped-to-11, with the Shape hacking through the town in a deluge of creative and visually well-executed ways with his own fair share of homages to the previous movies.

Then there's the tone. Everyone that complained about the moments of levity in Halloween (2018) should have no problems with this movie, as it is bleak with a capital B. When Michael Myers is not on-screen, the characters are dealing with the impact he leaves, leading to lots of great character moments for a cast that bring their a-game.

Don't get it twisted. Even though it's not going to be for everyone, David Gordon Green is in full control of his vision here. He's not here to present you with a rehash of what's come before, but he is also not here to flip the table and start all over again. Halloween Kills is a happy medium between two extremes, using its callbacks to support the new ideas it brings to the franchise. As a Halloween fan (as the majority of horror fans tend to be), I don't think I could ask for more.

Worth Watching?

This movie is absolutely worth a watch. It might not shake up the franchise in a way that critics seem to want (hence the fairly low score on RT), but it builds on the story in a refreshing and interesting way. Whether it's the brutal and elaborate kills, the expansion of the story's scope beyond Laurie Strode, or the still-effective aesthetics, you're bound to leave this movie with something that sticks with you in the best possible way.

Halloween Kills Review (2021) Worth Watching? - ALL HORROR Tweet it

Halloween franchise ranked Worst to First

"I met him, 15 years ago; I was told there was nothing left; no reason, no conscience, no understanding in even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, of good or evil, right or wrong. I met this… six-year-old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and… the blackest eyes – the Devil’s eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up, because I realised that what was living behind that boy’s eyes was purely and simply… evil."

🏆 All Halloween movies ranked