I found this slightly disappointing but I had probably expected too much of a horror sequel. Disjointed describes it well but I also felt like the attempts at building tension made each kill a little too predictable.
Damn 2 more films…
More Judy Greer or GTFO
-Tom
Let’s goooooo
Hey, Halloween Kills came out tonight on the Peacock (premium, but no 30dollars surcharge or anything).
All I have for tonight is:
What a ridiculous, glorious mess.
My capsule review would be: artless trash. They’re clearly already into the “no need to make it good now, the title will sell tickets…just make it quick” part of the slasher franchise.
Ha ha, you guys watched Halloween Kills.
-Tom
I missed the press, and didn’t realize going in that ‘Kills’ was the middle of a trilogy, with ‘Halloween Ends’ due out next year.
Makes sense, because this film was a rudderless mess. I thought I went in with a low bar to clear, but sheesh. Judy Greer seemed as thrilled to be in this film as I was watching it.
I did like the return of the Halloween 3 masks. That’s probably the only positive I can muster.
This movie was bad in a way I find puzzling and extremely difficult to articulate.
They made a cameo in 2018.
The more I’ve thought about HK, the more I realize that the parallels between it and Halloween 2018 and Halloween II and Halloween 1978 are uncanny (spoiler protection just to be safe):
- Thin story/idiot plot
- Increased kills/gore
- Laurie is sidelined at a hospital for most all of the film
- Unnecessary flashbacks (although they looked great)
- Change in motivation for MM
I’ve been re-reading what I think can be called the definitive books on the making of the Halloween series (as well as all the ideas for films that were not made) – check out the first one here: Taking Shape – and this quote from John Carpenter on writing Halloween II struck me:
“I sat down to write the sequel and I realized there was no story here,” he recalls on the first film’s commentary. “We’d already done this story. All we’re doing now is Xeroxing. It’s hard when people expect you to repeat the same thing over and over again.”
Carpenter agreed to write Halloween II to, he will admit, cash in (because he believes he was screwed out of money from the original); he hates the sister twist he wrote, and since Friday the 13th and dozens of other slashers had happened since 1978, he had to up the body count/gore quota.
I think all of these things are paralleled in HK but there’s no self-hatred; everyone involved is going to make straight cash homey and then Halloween Ends next year. This movie, Halloween Kills, exists to take up space between now and then.
My question is whether David Gordon Green can do something REALLY original with part 3, or if it’s just going to be a rehash of H20.
I don’t see how this applies? His motivation isn’t really clear in either Kills or Halloween 2018.
Anyway, I liked Halloween Kills more in concept than execution. Green doesn’t have Carpenter’s editing rhythm, so what should’ve been escalating madness felt choppy and disjointed.
Sorry, I was headed toward another point in that bullet and never came back to edit it. Where I was going was instead to say that no matter what DGG has said in interviews, the end of Kills really can only be explained that MM either always has been or now is fueled by something supernatural.
Anyway, I liked Halloween Kills more in concept than execution. Green doesn’t have Carpenter’s editing rhythm, so what should’ve been escalating madness felt choppy and disjointed.
Agreed and well said.
Ah, right. I agree with that - he’s definitely more than human at this point. The original hinted at it, but it’s pretty explicit here. Which makes me curious where Halloween Ends is going, to be honest.
I agree with this but I feel like there is more to it.
This movie is filled with, well, filler. Better editing - which this desperately needed - wouldn’t have saved it on this front IMO (but who knows for sure). You note well the difference from 2018 overall: here there’s nothing like a normal buildup, because we hit the ground running. Mid-mayhem, as it were. Which makes all the actual filler all the more bizzare. It just kills whatever pacing the movie might have had/wants.
Even if you want to get serious about establishing the town’s own trauma where Michael is concerned - and this movie doesn’t quite do that IMO, it’s more like a gesture in that direction than an actual effort - there’s just a bunch of scenes that feel like they belong in a more traditional slasher that’s escalating from normalcy to whatever level of mayhem it’s going for. The Drone Couple, the gay Halloween guys getting pranked scene/the followup scene, Michael terrorizing Kim Richards’ sister’s posse in the car. We’ve seen all of that before, sure, but they also didn’t really feel like they belonged in this movie, but rather one like 2018. The flashback opening overstays (IMO) and all the times we return to the past later don’t add anything either. This movie is more aimless than The Last Jedi.
I remember an interview at some point post the 2018, but well before this movie, where it was said we’d get to see the Grandmother-Mother-Daughter relationship get more screen time in the sequel but this was the opposite of that. In fact the Strodes are a small side story here, when they were the best part of 2018 (a flawed movie, to be sure, but one that for me had some merit).
Maybe Halloween Ends or whatever will be decent like 2018 or even good, or whatever. But you won’t convince me they couldn’t have done a better job with two movies than three. Maybe they can get someone who can edit to help in the third movie. Although I don’t recall 2018 having anywhere near this level of pacing/editing issues? OTOH, I had to star in a mock political ad for one of the pairs running for 8th grade President/VP and that was also better edited than Halloween Kills. I guess I am saying it’s a very low bar.
Also, this was my first experience with The Streaming Service known as The Peacock™ and it sucked balls.
Halloween Kills was a terrible disjointed boring mess. I guess the only compliment I can give it is that it’s not The Curse of Michael Myers.
This pretty much nails it.
