Halloween Kills
2021, Holiday/Horror, 1h 45m
271 Reviews 2,500+ Verified RatingsWhat to know
Halloween Kills should satisfy fans in search of brute slasher thrills, but in terms of advancing the franchise, it's a bit less than the sum of its bloody parts. Read critic reviews
Halloween Kills doesn't do much to move the Michael Myers saga forward, but viewers looking for hardcore horror violence won't be disappointed. Read audience reviews
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Movie Info
Minutes after Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) left masked monster Michael Myers caged and burning in Laurie's basement, Laurie is rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, believing she finally killed her lifelong tormentor. But when Michael manages to free himself from Laurie's trap, his ritual bloodbath resumes. As Laurie fights her pain and prepares to defend herself against him, she inspires all of Haddonfield to rise up against their unstoppable monster. The Strode women join a group of other survivors of Michael's first rampage who decide to take matters into their own hands, forming a vigilante mob that sets out to hunt Michael down, once and for all. Evil dies tonight.
Cast & Crew
Jamie Lee Curtis
Laurie Strode
Laurie Strode
Judy Greer
Karen
Karen
Anthony Michael Hall
Tommy Doyle
Tommy Doyle
Andi Matichak
Allyson
Allyson
Will Patton
Deputy Frank Hawkins
Deputy Frank Hawkins
Thomas Mann
Young Hawkins
Young Hawkins
News & Interviews for Halloween Kills
Critic Reviews for Halloween Kills
Audience Reviews for Halloween Kills
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Nov 07, 2021Everything Michael Meyers in this movie kills. Literally and figuratively. Not only is the body count higher, but Michael as a character feels more genuine to himself than ever before. Some have criticized the films kills and brutality. Guys, this is a slasher movie, it comes with the territory. We're the kills brutal? Yes. We're they any more than most other modern slashers? Not really, and they felt true to Michael. I also liked the films commentary on mob mentality. At first I thought it was going to be the whole town vs Michael, but instead we see how that mindset is often dangerous. What doesn't work is Laurie, and that's a damn important part of the Halloween formula. While Jamie Lee Curtis is stellar as ever, she's restricted to a hospital bed for most of the film and given almost nothing to do. It's definitely the second part of a trilogy, and a key component is lost, but Halloween Kills still mostly works. Is it the best Halloween? No, it's not even the best Halloween sequel, but it's one of the better ones and it made me excited for the big finale to this reboot trilogy.Michael M Super Reviewer
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Oct 20, 2021Halloween Kills had a lot of expectations to meet and sadly this falls into the disappointing category. My main issue with the film is that its the middle of what will be a saga of films and at this moment and time it feels somewhat empty. The filmmakers may slam in home with Halloween Ends but from my current viewing this film accomplishes little character development. The sequel had its flaws as well but this sequel attempts to change the layout of the series but in the end it becomes one of the mind numbing sequels it attempted to avoid.
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Oct 18, 2021In 2018, versatile indie director David Gordon Green (Stronger, Pineapple Express) and actor Danny McBride (Eastbound & Down) rebooted the Halloween franchise with a monstrous box-office return for their efforts. From there, the studio planned two immediate sequels to cash in. Delayed by a year, Halloween Kills is the first sequel and coming out just in time for the spooky season. The problem is the only thing this movie is going to adequately kill is 100 minutes of your time. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her daughter (Judy Greer) and granddaughter (Andi Matichak) have trapped Michael Myers into their basement and set the house ablaze. Unfortunately for everyone, a team of firefighters rescues the giant killing machine. Michael wanders the town of Haddonfield, killing whomever he encounters, eventually circling back to his childhood home, the site of his first murder. The townsfolk have decided that they are sick of living in fear from the legend of Myers. They form a violent mob, chanting "Evil dies tonight," and break into armed clusters to snuff out Michael Myers and put him in the ground for good. There is one intriguing aspect of the movie that gives it some fleeting life. The 2018 predecessor tantalizing explored the idea of generational trauma from terror, with Laurie raising her daughter in a constant state of paranoia and anxiety to prepare her for the eventual return of the unstoppable menace. The fraught relationship between three generations of Strodes was deserving of far more attention than it ultimately received in the 2018 film, although at least the filmmakers were smart enough to realize having them join their multi-generational talents would be a natural payoff. With Halloween Kills, we get a similar concept of generational trauma but from the point of view the supporting townsfolk, many meant to resemble middle-aged versions of bit characters from the older Halloween movies from the John Carpenter era. That sort of dedication to furthering the mythology of this town seems misplaced for the fan base. I doubt many hardcore Halloween fans were chomping to find out what happened to the little kid Laurie babysat. However, these obscure Haddonfield characters become a support group for trauma, a lasting memory of the horrible history of their town, and when Myers returns, they're the first to fight back and form a mob to round up the masked boogeyman. The town's social order breaks down and people give into the mob mentality of ends-justify-the-means violence. Even though Halloween Kills was originally scheduled to be released a year ago, it has a different feel in a world after the 2021 U.S. Capital insurrection, watching a sea of angry, misinformed citizens run wild in misplaced fear and loathing. It leads to tragedy and mistakes as the Haddonfield mob sweeps up, gathers more momentum, and doesn't stop to think who it may trample upon next. It was enough that made me wish the entire movie had been told from this peanut gallery perspective. Rather than following the silent killer stalk and brutally slay, let's focus on the lesser seen cost of terror. Let's concentrate on the side characters, the kinds who would normally play out as Cop #3 or Concerned Mom #2 in a normal slasher movie. What if we elevated them and told a slasher story from their victimized perspective and we stayed with their fear and anxiety while they remained in the dark about a madman terrorizing their town? The earlier movie was about how trauma had racked Laurie Strode's life and personal relationships. It's fitting that a sequel would widen the scope and show how many others have also suffered and are still haunted by their own trauma and PTSD from their fateful experiences with homegrown evil. Maybe it's the less cinematic approach, but it's something new and different and looking at a more human perspective for a sub-genre better known as serving as a relentless conveyor belt for wanton vivisection. What I'm saying is that these standard genre slasher movies bore me unless they have some exhilarating style, fresh ideas, or clever perspective shifts. With Halloween Kills, I'm watching a dull silent killer slowly murder disposable supporting characters and none of it qualifies as interesting. I don't care about these people. I don't find Michael Myers to be interesting (even when Rob Zombie foolishly tried to establish a trashy childhood back-story). The only thing I found worthwhile from the 2018 movie was the mother-daughter drama with the Strodes, which has all but been sidelined for the 2021 sequel. Perhaps I'm not the right audience for these kinds of movies, or perhaps this one just simply isn't trying hard enough where it counts. The kills aren't particularly memorable, though several are quite brutal and even a bit mean-spirited. The suspense set pieces are rote. The movie just feels far too much like it's on autopilot, trying to provide enough filler material until its eventual concluding chapter, 2022's Halloween Ends (yeah, we'll see about that, title). We're still watching a man pushing 70 years of age defy multiple stab wounds, bullets, contusions and beatings, and any number of aggressive defensive violence. It gets irritating. He's not some supernatural force back from the dead like a Jason Voorhees; he's just a beefy AARP member. Green has an affinity for the franchise and the gore can be downright gooey and wince-inducing. The opening segment is an impressive recreation of the filmmaking techniques John Carpenter used in the late 1970s, even down to the period appropriate synth score. It's a fun inclusion that essentially gives added context to the adult versions of many supporting charterers, seeing their own youthful run-ins with Michael Myers that fateful Halloween night so long ago. It's clever but it adds up to little else as the movie progresses. If these moments with these characters had been more meaningful, maybe their eventual deaths would have meant more, but just because we spent more time with Cop #3 doesn't mean their ultimate demise feels more than the death of Cop #3. Ultimately, it feels like this early section, a superfluous reminder of the past, is just here as something to entertain Green as a returning director for a filler sequel to a so-so movie. The strange humor of the 2018 edition has been completely eliminated, so what we're left with is a thoroughly redundant slasher movie with some intriguing ideas percolating but not coming to fruition. If you were a fan of Curtis (Knives Out) as the gritty survivalist, the Cassandra trying to warn others of the impending doom they seem so oblivious to, then you'll be disappointed here. I don't know if Green and his co-writers were making a purposeful homage to the 1981 sequel where Laurie keeps to a hospital for the entire movie. Either way, Laurie is stuck in a hospital bed because the movie only follows mere hours from the events of the 2018 movie and only goes forward mere hours from there. We're stuck, and so is Curtis, as she practically sits this one out. Judy Greer is likewise wasted as Laurie's adult daughter. If there's a star of this 2021 sequel, it's Anthony Michael Hall (Live by Night) as the leader of the town's mob. He has an intensity to him that feels believable without crossing over into exaggerated cartoon zealot. If you're a sucker for the Halloween franchise, or the glut of slasher movies that have exploded in the age of streaming, then perhaps enough of the crimson stuff gets spilled to satiate your horror appetites. I'm just bored by another movie about another slow-moving guy in a mask at this point. I need more, anything more, and Halloween Kills gives me too much of the same old same dead. Nate's Grade: CNate Z Super Reviewer
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Oct 18, 2021I have a very strong love/hate relationship with the Halloween franchise. I think the original Halloween from 1978 is a very solid slasher flick, but it also feels very dated today. After the endless number of mostly poor sequels and even a remake by Rob Zombie with another sequel (which I very much disliked), I slowly started not caring about the franchise as a whole. Then they decided to release a direct sequel to the original film back in 2018, ignoring all of the films that came after and they surprisingly struck gold in my opinion. 2018's Halloween isn't a great film by any means, but it brought back the feel of the original and I may even say that I prefer it to the original. For that reason alone, I was intrigued as to where they would take this series next. Halloween Kills is now playing in theatres and here's why I believe it's pretty much just as good as 2018's Halloween (for different reasons). Picking up immediately after the events of the previous film, Laurie Strode (played once again by Jamie Lee Curtis) is being rushed to the hospital. Spending the majority of the film in the hospital, the film focuses on a number of side plots to further this story while she is laid up. More than half of this film is devoted to a storyline that involves the survivors of the original 1978 film and that was easily my favourite portion of the film, even though most of their dialogue was very clunky and overwritten. Many performers from the previous film also make a return and have bigger roles to play here, but it really came down to the simplicity of this movie that won me over. There are very few locations here. Aside from the hospital, a few scenes on the streets, the police precinct, and some homes, this is a very confined movie. Halloween Kills exists simply to further the murder count of Michael Myers so that when Halloween Ends comes out next year, the finale of the Myers character will feel earned. Due to this though, there are many instances where it felt like the writers didn't have anything for characters to say. The word "Evil" is said far too many times throughout this film (referring to Michael) to the point where I actually began to find it annoying, rather than be in terror like these characters were. The repetitiveness of the dialogue in this film actually hurt my enjoyment of an otherwise great entry in my opinion. When it comes down to it, everyone just wants to see Michael Myers deliver on clever kills. If you're going into these films hoping for something more meaningful, I think that's a mistake right off the bat. Looking at this film from that lens, it's a terrific Halloween film. The issue is that the issues with this film are very apparent. Again though, it's hard to pick this film apart when it's very clearly just trying to be one thing and it does exactly that. In the end, Jamie Lee Curtis is solid once again as Laurie Strode (even though she doesn't have much to do here) and all of the supporting cast is doing their best. I especially liked Anthony Michael Hall as grown-up Tommy from the original film, but again, some of his dialogue is atrocious. It really came down to the screenplay for me here. The same lines are muttered almost constantly and it made for an irritating experience in that respect. If you can get past the repetitiveness as I did, Halloween Kills is a solid sequel and if the ending of this film says anything about next year's Halloween Ends, I"m very excited to see how this all comes to an end.
Verified