This week’s film is entitled, “Halloween Kills.”
As you fright fans may recall, the last film in the franchise, three years ago, was just titled “Halloween” and took a drastic step.
It erased all the other sequels, going right back to 1981, and just assumed the events in those films never happened.
In just-“Halloween” 2018, three generations of women—gray-haired Laurie Strode, her daughter and her grand-daughter-- banded together and burned down a house around Michael Myers.
But like the Frankenstein Monster, Michael can’t be stopped by a mere blazing inferno. And in the new film, Michael is on the loose again.
Laurie, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, is recovering from the events of the previous film.
So the film shifts attention to the people of Haddonfield, Illinois, who have been haunted, traumatized and riddled with guilt over the horrors of 40 years ago. Now they’re starting to mutter about finishing off Michael Myers for good.
A posse forms, including many peripheral characters from the very first “Halloween." They’re led by Tommy Doyle—remember the little kid who learned about The Boogey Man from his babysitter? He’s played by Anthony Michael Hall—the shrimpy kid from “The Breakfast Club” now looks like a retired truck driver. Now that’s traumatic!
These legacy characters have a certain likable bravado—and in a couple of cases, are played by the original actors-- but to no avail. They still become slasher-movie roadkill, and any survivors descend into mob hysteria.
Laurie remarks that when decent people give in to fear, the Boogey Man wins. At times like that it sounds like director David Gordon Green and his co- writers Danny McBride and Scott Teems are trying to send a profound, even topical message.
But actually, it’s already a cliché. In horror movies, the highest mortality rate is among, of course, horny teenagers in the woods. But a close second behind them is another group—half-cocked vigilantes storming out of a bar.
Jamie Lee Curtis, as always, brings some gravitas to the movie. But she spends almost all her time in a hospital bed—like “Halloween II” come to think of it.
We already know that they’re preparing “Halloween Ends” which may be the final battle between Laurie and the Shape. If so, it would be a good idea if they pretended that ‘Halloween Kills” didn’t exist.
We’re not giving out treats here. The film gets two stars out of five.
