DOLO FLICKS: Will Halloween Kills Live Up To Expectations?
In just a few weeks, one of the most anticipated movies of the year will be released in the aptly named Halloween Kills on October 15. The film will be the second in a planned trilogy to 2018’s Halloween, directed by David Gordon Green. The film was also written by Green, Danny McBride, and Jeff Fradley.
The film was initially set to be released in October 2020, but was pushed back a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Halloween (2018) was significantly successful, earning the best reviews the franchise has had since John Carpenter’s Halloween in 1978. The film earned a 79 percent score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. It also received a 70 percent audience score from the site and an average B+ rating from CinemaScore.
While the positive reviews for Halloween (2018) were welcome, especially for a film series like Halloween that has received chiefly negative reviews through the years, more notably, the film did fantastic at the box office.
With a worldwide gross of over $255 million, the film stands as the highest-grossing in the franchise. The film also had a $76 million opening weekend, which at the time was the second-biggest R-rated horror opening ever and the second-biggest opening in the month of October.
For the slasher horror sub-genre, it ranks as the highest slasher movie-opening weekend of all time.
Arguably the most significant accomplishment of Halloween (2018) was that it brought Michael Myers back to the mainstream. The film made new fans that might not have been familiar with the franchise or huge horror fans in general.
In many respects, much like Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015, Halloween (2018) played it safe as the film needed to get the Halloween franchise back on track to have mainstream appeal. Halloween Kills is the movie Green and McBride wanted to make when first venturing into the horror genre.
“I really do feel like each of these films is completely distinct and unique, and they all connect to each other in a way that I don’t feel is repetitive,” Danny McBride said in an interview with Total Film magazine. “But it just makes for an epic, bigger story. Which I thought was exciting.”
As is the case with most films over the last three years, the enthusiasm and general praise of Halloween (2018) has gone down with fans, specifically those who may be considered hardcore Halloween fans, who have highlighted many of the film’s issues.
Most of the issues that fans point to are the shifts in tone to comedy throughout the film that may have been humorous on their own, but out of place.
Also, there was the twist that went nowhere with the character Dr. Sartain played by Haluk Bilginer. The character chooses to kill one character to better relate to Michael Myers and then dawned his mask in a moment that comes off more cringe-inducing and comedic than menacing.
Undoubtedly, the vast majority of praise for Halloween (2018) went to James Jude Courtney, who portrayed the best version of Myers since Nick Castle in the original 1978 film, and to the film’s score that was done by John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies.
Thankfully, both Carpenters and Davies will return to make the music, and Courtney will continue his role as Myers for Halloween Kills.
Numerous films in the social media era have fallen victim to Internet leaks. Halloween Kills has been no different, with the script being leaked earlier this year and the film’s trailer leaking online this past June. Those leaks contributed to the film’s hype of being possibly the goriest and bloodiest film of the franchise to date.
“There’s an incredible amount of killing in this movie,” stated McBride. “It’s so bloody. It’s wild. David just went for it. This is such a vicious sequel. It’s relentless.”
The pitfalls of most horror franchises are that the more sequels the film has, the worst they tend to be. Halloween is no exception, with the original timeline ending with the famed “Cult of Thorn.” Or with 2003’s Halloween: Resurrection, where rapper Busta Rhymes played a character that used karate moves to beat up Myers.
Gordon and McBride seem to be aware of the franchise’s history and sequels in general and will try to avoid making the same mistakes.
“The sequel is almost always where it shits the bed,” McBride noted to Total Film magazine. “Or the monster is over-explained, or something happens that makes it into a joke. We really wanted to find a way to sidestep that.”
One of the minor criticisms of the film, made mainly by the most ardent Halloween fanatics, was that while the mask and Courtney’s overall performance were stellar, Myers’ full face and process were shown a bit too much.
There were numerous moments in Halloween (2018) where one could just pause the film and see Myers’ face right on the screen. An air of mystery is associated with Myers that separates him from fellow horror icons like Freddy Kreuger and Jason Voorhees. Many were disappointed to have seen so much of Myers in the film.
An explanation to Myers’ process and knowing why he kills is a mistake that Rob Zombie made with his versions of Halloween in 2007 and 2009. Myers, known as “The Shape,” is best utilized as an enigma with no explanation for his actions.
“You don’t want to reveal too much,” David Gordon Green said to Total Film magazine. “I don’t want to know Michael’s psychological backstory. I feel like the mystery is best left unsaid. I don’t want to see too much of him. I want to be very specific about how he’s lit.
“The mystique of Michael, I’ll say, is extremely important to preserving what’s scary about him.”
Halloween Kills will have to check plenty of boxes to be deemed successful by fans and critics alike. It’s unlikely with today’s climate with COVID-19 that the film will gross as much at the box office as its predecessor, but more importantly, can the film satisfy horror and non-horror fans? Will it be as critically praised as Halloween (2018)?
Numerous questions linger heading into Halloween Kills, but with the film run by people who are not only fans of the franchise, but with a passion and respect for the story and lore, it’s probably that Halloween Kills lives up to the hype.
Halloween Kills opens nationwide in theatres and will stream on Peacock on October 15, 2021.
Originally published at https://www.frontproofmedia.com on September 21, 2021.