Halloween has come and gone, but we finally set down to watch the latest Michael Myers film. I'm not a huge fan of the stalk-and-slash genre, but I was interested in seeing this one cos I've seen most of the other's with the exception of the RZ takes in the franchise.

Let me get this clear right off the bat: It has a few hits, but far too many misses, foul balls, and walks.

Halloween movies always seem so full of potential when the lights go down and the film fades in to that ominous and slicker-than-crude-oil theme tune. With this twelfth installment, bearing the "Halloween" brand, dangerous psychopath Myers is back to finish what he started. It's an important bridge from Halloween 2018 to Halloween Ends. And with any trilogies, parts 1 and 3 mirror each other and part 2 always seems to be more of a wild card. And this one is no exception. It's a departure from its predecessor, opting for gore and shlock instead of subtlety and nuance.

It picks up where its predecessor left off.  Being mentally defunct in the thinking department to separate reality from fiction, right from wrong, Cocoa Puffs from Corn Flakes, etc., it is no problem for Mikey to escape a fiery burning house and continue his rampage. There's a greater focus on what Michael Myers stands for and the consequences of his being in Haddonfield society and how it has been affected psychologically over the years.  Characters from the original return, but Curtis  is criminally underused.

One thing of note is it showing how fast a mob mentality can get started and how dangerous it can be...all it takes is one person who knows how to talk. The idea of focusing on the trauma people go thru at the hands of Michael is great. Sadly, It doesn’t hit the same when they try to apply it to literally the whole town.  Also, Holy Moly - the mob mistaking a short, waddling fat man (who looked like Danny Devito as the Penguin) for Michael Myers was the funniest sh*t ever. Doesn't the mob know what Michael Myers looks like?  Haven't they seen his mugshot?

Films of this genre are usually richly filled with illogical reasoning and stupid behavior.  For example, I found myself laughing more than anything… the lady in the SUV shooting out all the windows, making Michael's job of reaching in to grab her all the more easy. Michael kicking the door making the other chick shoot herself, but, as with any movie in the horror genre, there will be character choices that make you scratch your head. Would the horror genre be what it is without questionable character choices? I've always thought you could get away with a lot of suspension of belief in a horror film and a little hokiness went a long way. Yes? No?

The whole blue balls ending I understand, because the same thing happened with The Hobbit Trilogy, and I love the LOTR franchise as a whole. The first movie literally tells you what the goal is for these characters and how important it is for them, then in the second one it ends with the biggest “F*#k you, you can wait another year” dick tease for the third one.

To be fair,  it's mostly well made in the technical aspects, the flashbacks were good, and kudos for attempting subplots. However, Its purpose, beyond the massive body count, is less defined. Speaking of the former there’s a whole bunch of disposable characters practically queuing up to be violently hacked to pieces. Here's an interesting piece of trivia: Halloween kills had a total of around 31 kills (same number of days in October) with a run time of 1 hour and 45 minutes that leaves us with a kill on average every 4.6 minutes.  

And while the film’s central message of not to let fear and hate control you is underlined a thousand times and then literally delivered as a voice over in case anyone missed it, by the end I wanted to walk through the screen and put a knife through Myers’ eye myself, just so I didn’t have to sit through the next installment. Joking aside...   .

Ultimately, it suffers from trying to tell an episodic story while wearing the straightjacket of horror movie convention, which states the killer must ‘die’ at the end of each film. Nonetheless, with some small improvements on some parts and a few big changes could have been perhaps something to really write home about! JMHO.  

Halloween Kills is one of those movies that is not hard to recommend. Say what you will about the continued sequels and reboots plaguing the world of horror, but for the most part,  "Halloween" is one of the stronger franchises. If for no other reason than because they seem to try just a modicum harder in their effort to deliver solid slasher-tales than many other franchises.

Funny isn't, If you listen to Rotten Tomatoes one would get the impression it's one of the worst movies they've ever seen, but-- come on -- no one was expecting it to be Citizen Kane…  

This is a guilty pleasure. It's certainly not meant to be taken seriously in the least. An ok sequel as far as slasher flicks go that falls into the horror slasher cliché with a thin plot, but sets up "Halloween Ends." What a knife review.

Wow, I think you've missed your calling as a reviewer, A!

I haven't seen this yet, but I probably will. Along with that other classic Candyman redo.
The original Halloween is a classic and can never be surpassed imh, or at least I'd be surprised if a movie ever came close.

Interesting and disappointing to hear Jamie Lee Curtis is underused.

Anyway, thanks for the very erudite and thorough going-over of this one.

P.S. If ever you're so inclined the Blog page could use your skills.  

Well, I liked that they tried something different. Turned out to be an absolutely terrible movie but it was worth a shot. Some fun scenes here and there and a whole lot of confusing boredom in between.

Hated this... I just did not care about anything that was happening.

Halloween Blows!

This was entertaining trash. Not the best sequel, but far from the worst. Some really great gore. Surprisingly mean-spirited, which earns extra points with me. I will say that the hospital stuff, while a good concept, was really cheesy and easily the worst bits of this flick. Still, I can't wait to see the next one.

Vigilante mobs in the Halloween franchise wasn't an innovate idea at all. (Part 4's Return Of Michael Myers) They been down that road. The only difference is that the mob is lead by survivors of past Myers attacks, specifically the gown up kids of who Laurie babysitted for back in '78.  I agree 100% it was odd that they mistook the crazy man for Myers; maybe they thought Myers ate nothing but cup cakes, tater chips and ice cream while in the institution.

I liked the prologue. What I didn't like it that it amounts to little, seeing how both that character and Strode were hospital roomies for the majority of the film.(*most hospitals put men with men women with women when filling rooms, but oh well.)

I liked the shout out to Halloween III Season Of The Witch. Didn't feel sorry for those kids, though. Little brats stealin' andy from the Myers ol house? That's just askin' for the buther knife.
Myers dispatches folks like laying out a deck of cards. Only one mild scene of suspense.

Then I guess...Myers IS the Bogeyman, as he seemingly becomes supernatural like p6 Curse. The film was a huge letdown. Aside from the original, I still prefer the second and seventh film (H20 I hope the next installment, Ends goes balls to the wall crazy nuts. I have some doubts.,