Dolo Flicks: Halloween Kills — A Divisive Slasher With A Few Moments of Brilliance
HALLOWEEN KILLS
SPOILER WARNING
Director: David Gordon Green
Writers: David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, and Scott Teems
Runtime: 105 Minutes
Jamie Lee Curtis — Laurie Strode
Judy Greer — Karen Nelson
Andi Matichak — Allyson Nelson
Will Patton — Frank Hawkins
James Jude Courtney — The Shape/Michael Myers
Anthony Michael Hall — Tommy Doyle
Kyle Richards — Lindsey Wallace
Robert Longstreet — Lonnie Elam
Charles Cyphers — Leigh Brackett
Nancy Stephens — Marion Chambers
“He’s a six-year-old boy with the strength of a man and the mind of an animal. Who knows what makes him kill? What motivates him? But in his heart it always seemed to me he wants one thing.” — Deputy Frank Hawkins
The day a plethora of horror movie fanatics have been waiting for has finally arrived, and the dust has settled. David Gordon Green’s follow up to his massively successful Halloween in 2018 named Halloween Kills arrived nationwide in theatres and on streaming platform Peacock last week on October 15.
The timeline in the movie takes place immediately after the previous film’s events, which was also a direct sequel to John Carpenter’s 1978 classic Halloween, ignoring all the other sequels.
The film has divided the horror movie community, with many praising the film as one of the best entries in the Halloween franchise. In contrast, others have lambasted it as a step backward from the previous entry in 2018.
Halloween Kills currently sits at a 39 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, dropping below the 79 percent its predecessor Halloween (2018) received. The CinemaScore for Halloween Kills stands at a B-, while Halloween (2018) garnered a B+ grade.
The rating the film has received from the critics isn’t surprising. Besides the 1978 original, the Halloween franchise has primarily received unfavorable reviews from critics. Even the franchise’s most popular sequels, such as 1981s Halloween 2 and 1988s Halloween 4, don’t have the best critical reviews.
In many respects, Halloween (2018) was an anomaly garnering the biggest box office take in the franchise at $255 million, with a tremendous amount of anticipation heading into its release.
Respectively, Halloween Kills thus far has exceeded expectations at the box office, at least in its first week, earning a pandemic-era horror and R-rated opening of $50.4 million.
The greatest strengths of Halloween Kills fall in line with what worked in 2018. Michaels Myers is once again played by James Jude Courtney, who in years to come may be looked upon as the definitive version of “The Shape.” Being that the film primarily takes place at night, the way the film looks with its usage of darker tones and balance give it more of the same aesthetic as the 1978 original.
Returning to do the score is John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel A. Davies. The music in a Halloween movie is arguably just as much a part of the franchise as Michael Myers. Carpenter and company do not disappoint putting out a score that matches the intensity of the movie. Throughout the film, numerous standout tracks elevate a scene to a higher plateau.
One of the most significant portions of the film takes place before its opening title sequence in a flashback to the famed night in 1978 when Myers first returned home to Haddonfield.
The flashback follows a young Frank Hawkins (Thomas Mann) and his partner leading up to the arrest of Michael Myers in 1978. For Halloween purists who hold up the original in the highest regard, this has to be a highlight as the lighting and camera work here give the film the look and feel of 1978.
The 78 version of Myers is played by Airon Armstrong, who does a fantastic job of mimicking the original “Shape” Nick Castle. Most of the credit should go to make-up artist Christopher Nelson who does something seemingly impossible for the majority of the franchise in getting the mask to look like the one used in 1978.
If you are a Halloween fan, you are well aware of the series’ issues throughout its sequels regarding the mask.
When you put the word kills in the title of a well-known iconic slasher franchise, there will be expectations for it to be one of the bloodiest entries. In that regard, Halloween Kills lives up to its name and delivers some of the most brutal kills the series has seen.
Myers’ escape from the burning house at Laurie Strode’s (Jamie Lee Curtis) features some iconic shots. The view of the firefighters seeing Myers walking out of the burning house with flames surrounding him holding a halligan tool is unlikely to be forgotten.
One of the best kills in the film takes place after Myers’ onslaught on the firefighters at an older couple’s home near Laurie Strode’s house. The kill features something that is rarely seen in the franchise with a glimpse into the process of Myers’ kills.
When Myers places the husband on top of the island in the kitchen and begins to test out different knives stabbing him several times, the camera veers slowly to the perspective of his wife, who is sitting on the floor slowly dying. The camera keeps the wife in the frame on the side, giving her point of view with Myers kept out of focus.
Some of the mixed and negative aspects of the film come from the film focusing on a large group of characters.
Halloween Kills brings back numerous legacy characters from the 1978 film, such as Tommy Doyle (Anthony Michael Hall), Lindsey Wallace (Kyle Richards), Lonnie Elam (Robert Longstreet), Marion Chambers (Nancy Stephens), and Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers).
The film doesn’t give room for these characters to develop, leaving some extensive missed opportunities as Brackett, who was the Haddonfield Sherriff and father of Laurie Strode’s best friend Annie, never shares a scene with Laurie.
Tommy Doyle plays one of the most significant roles in the movie, as he is the character that starts the mob storyline. However, the film’s most glaring weaknesses come from being the second act of a three-act story and the execution of its mob and hospital scenes.
The secondary storyline in Halloween Kills follows a second patient still on the loose after the bus crash in the previous film. The character resembles Danny DeVito more than Michael Myers and is confused for Myers inciting a riot at the Hospital.
Also, the film spends an abundant amount of time referencing “40 Years Ago” repeatedly in reminding fans of the events of 1978 and earlier in the night of 2018. These constant references to 40 years and what is now an internet meme with the number of times the phrase “Evil Dies Tonight” is said only serve to slow the film down.
When watching horror movies, specifically slashers, audiences usually need to suspend their disbelief when characters make stupid decisions. It’s part of the nucleus that makes horror movies; characters are going to be, at times, idiotic. In Halloween Kills, a news report shows both Myers and the other escaped mental patient with photos.
It’s hard to believe that a group of friends who meet up every year on Halloween to celebrate their experience with Myers wouldn’t know what he looks like unless the point of the mob storyline was to show how mob mentality can overtake common sense.
When it first came to light that David Gordon Green and Danny McBride would be making a direct sequel to the 1978 original ignoring all the previous sequels, it seemed like a chance to simplify the Halloween mythos and storyline.
However, the inclusion of 1981s Halloween 2 would have made the actions of nurses and doctors joining a mob at the drop of a hat seem more organic.
In 1981s Halloween 2, Myers finds Laurie Strode at the hospital and proceeds to kill various nurses and doctors along the way. The brother-sister storyline was introduced in Halloween 2; however, Laurie Strode never finds this out in the movie; it is Dr. Loomis who is told this revelation.
But, while ignoring or simply re-writing the brother-sister angle could have been done, explaining how Myers survived an explosion that left him completely engulfed in flames would have been difficult.
While there are numerous gruesome kills throughout Halloween Kills, the film only has small pockets of suspense.
One of the film’s highlights comes in a park scene with Myers stalking Lindsey Wallace (Kyle Richards)as she hides, covering her mouth to keep her breathing as low as possible. This scene has genuine suspense, and it’s in these moments where you can see the potential of this movie.
If there were more of these scenes and less of the convoluted mess in the hospital, the film would have benefited. An opportunity to show some of the Shape’s process in how he decorates his kills could have been shown here as well.
The scariest portions of the original Halloween weren’t the kills themselves, but the anticipation of the kill. Laurie looking out of her window and seeing Myers just standing there with the sheets of laundry blowing in the wind was more frightening than any kill, no matter how bloody or gruesome.
Not every single portion of the film in the hospital is lackluster, especially when the film decides to focus on just one or two characters.
Seeing Karen (Judy Greer) wash the blood off her hands and notice her wedding ring, realizing that her husband is now gone, was simple and effective visual storytelling.
Some of the standout scenes in the hospital include Frank Hawkins (Will Patton) and his conversations with Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). These scenes feel the most organic and natural compared to the majority of the characters featured in the hospital setting.
Another positive note for Halloween Kills is that it adds some motivation for Myers that works within his mythology. One of the first places that Myers goes to in the 1978 film is back to his abandoned home. If Myers should have any pattern for his kills is that they are random, and when he is done, he returns to his childhood home.
The film’s final act holds the last bit of suspense with Allyson (Andi Matichak) and Cameron Elam’s (Dylan Arnold) confrontation with Myers at his home. Cameron’s death is one of the more ghastly deaths in the film.
It must be said that Halloween Kills has a good amount of horror movie fodder in characters that only serve the purpose of dying.
The couple of Little John (Michael McDonald) and Big John (Scott MacArthur) along with the doctor and nurse couple of Marcus (Michael Smallwood) and Vanessa (Carmela McNeal) were welcome additions that brought some levity to a film that takes itself too seriously.
The ending sequence with Myers losing his mask to Karen (Judy Greer)and then being lured into a trap to be assaulted by a mob of people led by Tommy Doyle (Anthony Michael Hall) is somewhat divisive. Myers crosses the line between human and supernatural here, surviving multiple gunshots, stabbings, and hits with various objects.
The problem with the sequence is that Myers is shown in a vulnerable state, and in a film where he has essentially blown past everyone, it gives the film another uneven tone. The film’s final scene has Myers kill Karen (Judy Greer) after she decides to go inside the Myers house after seeing a vision of Myers as a child looking out his sister’s bedroom window.
Now that it has been put out by director David Gordon Green, that the final movie Halloween Ends will be taking place up to four years after the events of Halloween Kills, it’s worrisome the direction that film will take.
Allyson (Andi Matichek), in many respects, has suffered more significant losses than Laurie did in 1978, losing her mother, father, boyfriend, and numerous friends. Now with Laurie having lost her daughter, the stakes will be higher in Halloween Ends. What happens to Myers in that time gap between Kills and Ends will have to be well thought out.
All in all, Halloween Kills is a slasher film that harkens back to many that came out in the 1980s. Many of the most hated movies in the Halloween franchise, such as Halloween 5 and 6, now have a cult following. Halloween Kills will likely fall into that category.
It has moments that show its potential in getting Myers, the cinematography, and the score done in a way that honors the original. Still, the script, pacing, and editing bring it down from being something more substantial.
Halloween Kills has some elements that make a great Halloween movie, but overall it finds itself lost within its message. Much like Myers staring at himself in his sister Judith’s room, hopefully, David Gordon Green and Danny McBride can look within themselves to keep the final film simple.
Rating: 3/5