The long overdue Halloween Kills is finally here so sit back and trick or treat yourself to our full spoiler review that’ll be talking about the ending and what could be happening next time.
There will be heavy spoilers so if you haven’t had a chance to check it out then I highly recommend that you check out now.
Halloween Franchise
Halloween 2018 was a mega reboot for the franchise that wiped everything other than the first movie from canon. This included the second Halloween film which introduced the idea that Laurie was actually Michael’s sister. It also heavily featured the Haddonfield Memorial Hospital which too features in this entry.
Halloween Kills actually has several references to the aforementioned work as not only does it follow on immediately from the first night but it also shows the outcome of the night that Michael was captured by. This includes an appearance by Doctor Sam Loomis played by Donald Plesence. Originally Loomis went out onto the lawn to find that he’d escaped into the night but Kills changes things up so that’s where he was captured.
Filling in the Blanks
One of the big issues that I had with the 2018 movie is that we never saw how Michael was caught however this corrects that and at least fills in the backstory of how he was brought in.
We see things through the eyes of a young Frank Hawkins who got up close and personal with Michael after the events of Halloween 1978.
Michael gave up and allowed himself to be taken but just before Loomis could kill Michael, Hawkins stayed his hand and allowed him to live. This feeling of regret very much hangs over the town and the movie is very much about righting the wrongs of the past.
Symbolism
Michael getting caught in the opening of the movie in front of a house somewhat juxtaposes him escaping the burning one that he was trapped in during the last one and it’s sort of like Poetry, it happens again in a similar way.
This idea of a fire rising is laced throughout the film, including the title sequence in which we see a pumpkin burning. In 2018’s version it was a decayed and rotten pumpkin being restored to its former glory and that is the metaphor that the franchise was being reborn. Here it’s just flat-out carnage and though the film is getting pretty mixed reviews I think that it’s definitely something that you’ll enjoy if you’re a fan of the franchise.
Laurie’s Motive
Another big issue that I had with 2018’s film is that Laurie’s vendetta just didn’t make that much sense to me. It seemed like she’d dedicated her entire life to get ready for Michael on the off chance that he should escape. She’d ruined her relationship with her daughter and granddaughter because Michael was some unstoppable force that wouldn’t rest until it got her. I kinda felt that with every other film being wiped that this kinda lost its weight because she’d no longer been through what we’d seen her go through.
However, the movie does somewhat explain that as it builds up Michael’s legend and shows that he’s seen amongst the town as a demon. In the first film, we saw how there were podcasts, books and just general sentiment in the town that no one who experienced that night ever really got over it. Thus it does add some weight to why Laurie is still so obsessed with Michael and this movie is very much about the survivors of the first film banding together in order to bring an end to the horror.
Cameos and Characters
There are several returning characters from that first movie including Tommy Doyle, Lindsey Wallace, Marion Chambers, Lonnie Elam and a lot more. Doyle is played by Anthony Michael Hall who you’ll probably know from 80s classics like The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, and Sixteen candles.
My favourite cameo is by far Brackett though who you will probably remember from the first film. He lost his daughter and it just shows how much care they’ve put into this movie by bringing him back.
There’s a tonne of Easter eggs in the movie and whilst the last film felt very like the consequences of the first film, this entry very much feels like a love letter to it and its disregarded sequel. They also do a nod to the razor blade in the candy myth that’s been somewhat of an old wives tale for the last couple of decades and the movie is very much about celebrating the holiday and the movie franchise that’s tied to it most.
Also, I didn’t realise that Theo from YOU Season 3 was in the 2018 movie and this and shoutouts the guy for having two big things drop on the same day.
Michaels Escape
After a toast to the survivors, we cut to the house from last time to watch Michaels escape as the fire department unwittingly lets him out of the basement. It’s an absolute bloodbath and it’s probably the best introduction in a movie that the antagonist has ever had as he rises out of the fire like a phoenix from the flames.
And the guy has no chill.
Halloween…no chills.
Relentless Horror
The movie is completely over the top in its gore and it’s almost relentless at points due to the horror it portrays. The reason why the first Halloween struck a chord with so many is that this was a killer attacking people in their homes in the suburbs. It wasn’t something that had really been shown before in film and this movie very much feels the same way. Some of the victims and killings are so brutal and they don’t cut away at all to try and hide the horror from you. At points it’s relentless and Myers is completely Thanos level in his attacks on the citizens of Haddonfield.
Hunting Michael
Now much like Halloween 2, Laurie is laid up in hospital for the majority of it and thus the focus of the film falls on the citizens of the town, her daughter Karen and Granddaughter Allyson.
Allyson and her somewhat boyfriend…well not anymore…they head out to take Michael down which sets up the finale. The whole town goes into somewhat of a lockdown and they hunt for Michael whilst Michael hunts for them making for a super tense movie.
Before you can say this is for Doctor Loomis you’ll be watching most of the characters get taken out and there are even some slapstick kills in it that I’m not gonna lie, made me smirk a bit.
Come on that was a bit funny, wasn’t it?
The guy was just chilling and barely did anything…Halloween..Halloween ch…never mind.
Panic and Chaos
It’s not too long before the town descends into chaos, let their blind rage get in the way of their ability to think clearly and Laurie is taken out of the fight whilst Haddonfield descends into hell.
After an escaped inmate is thought to be Michael, the people in the hospital chase after him and this leads to Karen escorting him through the hospital whilst they try to take him down.
Unfortunately, he ends up jumping to his death and it very much feels like how mob mentality can often push people into doing things based on very little. Cancel Culture turns everyone into a monster and the film ends with Allyson, Cameron and Lonnie retracing Michael’s steps as they realise that he’s been taking a trip through memory lane which ends at his house which is where it all started.
After Lonnie goes into the house by himself and a gunshot is heard, Allyson and Cameron travel in there too and they come across the carnage that has been unleashed on the new owners.
Karen Swoops In
Lonnie is found dead by Cameron and he follows in his father’s footsteps which ends up leaving just Allyson to square off against the shape.
However just before she’s killed, her mother Karen arrives with a literal pitch fork and takes his mask from him.
Final Fight
Karen leads him into a trap that mirrors the opening of the movie in which he is in front of his house surrounded by people who all wanna take him out. However, Michael defiantly puts his mask back on and though they seemingly beat him it becomes clear that at this point he’s more than a man. Michael throughout the franchise has taken on the essence of evil, a boogeyman that has transcended being simply human and instead he’s very much a mirror of our inner anger.
At this point, he simply can’t be stopped and though it sends the series somewhat into the supernatural it’s very much a meta-comment on how this icon is simply more than just a character. He’s something more, a million-dollar franchise that has been rebooted and retconned several times and though some might not like this big twist, I did quite enjoy how he very much became horror personified.
Karen goes to look out the window at the top of the house and it’s at this point that she’s killed by Michael. This very much echoes the death of Hawkin’s partner at the start of the movie who stood in the same spot before he was taken out by the character.
Importance of the House
Clearly, it holds a lot of meaning as before Karen entered the house she did catch somewhat of an apparition of Michael as a child. I believe that this was the moment that he caught a reflection of himself and saw what he really was on the inside. His soul has somewhat remained there and burned itself into the very fabric of the house making it the centre of evil. There’s even some foreshadowing of this darkness as Karen does catch a glimpse of herself at the hospital in a reflection and everything goes dark around her.
This spot is symbolic for a number of reasons as it’s in front of the glass and in this dark death ridden location those who stand there very much look into themselves and have to face what they’ve become. Karen could have returned to her daughter but instead, she stayed behind to stab Michael and this kind of sealed her fate from being the innocent woman that she said she was. She was willing to kill just in the same way that Michael was and in the end, the anger consumed her much like how it consumed the townsfolk. Hawkins can be seen as a survivor who made it through everything because much like Laurie, he didn’t go to the dark side but Karen did.
Classic Horror
It’s said in the film that Michael is a mirror of us and this is of course reflected in the glass that someone sees when they stand at that spot where so much death has happened.
It’s very fourth wall breaking but it’s a smart way to deal with the character and the genre as a whole.
The series is very much centred around the horror trope of a final girl and the first film in the franchise very much helped to establish this idea in the genre. Laurie is the ultimate final girl and the prior movie ended with somewhat of a trinity of final girls defeating the horror that had haunted them for so long. However, those that have stepped into the darkness can’t come out of it and thus Karen ends up falling victim to it here.
The movie ends with quick cuts between Laurie and Michael and it lets you know that it’s onnnnn.
Sequel News
Now we already have a lot of information about the sequel and we know that it’ll be the closing chapter. Titled Halloween Ends I actually kinda wish that it would be Halloween Endsgame and it would kinda bring together all the timelines from the multiverse to have every version of Laurie taking down Michael.
I don’t think we’ll get that but one can dream.
However, I believe that Laurie will die in it and then Allyson will end up as the final girl. Laurie has already died before in the franchise and I think that it would be very poetic for her to go out on the final movie along with Michael.
If they are going supernatural with it I can actually see the knife having some symbolism to it and throughout this reboot, there has been a lot of attention brought to it.
Though it wasn’t capable of killing Michael this time, it may be that in the hands of Laurie it gets somewhat of a new power that can finally end him. Supernatural elements have been in the Halloween franchise before including cults that believed Michael was somewhat of a God. I think other than Paul Rudd playing Tommy Doyle that those movies didn’t really work and I kinda wanna keep things slightly more grounded.
David Gordon Green recently spoke about Halloween Kills with UpRoxx and during the interview he also paid some lip service to the sequel and what will be happening in Ends. Interestingly he said it’ll be dealing with political issues and also the pandemic which…hmmm…I dunno if this is the right franchise to do it in.
I love political commentary in movies as much as the next guy but yeah, I’m not sure if this is the right kind of film for it. Saying that though I suppose Haddonfield did somewhat go into Lockdown and Michael is always masked up. I think what will likely happen is that Michael will somewhat be viewed as a plague on the town and that there will be people that use him to push their own agendas. There’ll also be more panic and so on and so forth.
I kinda hope it’s not too heavy-handed as like I said I’m sure if this is the place but we’ll see how that goes.
Review
Now as for my thoughts on the movie, as I’m sure you can tell I did enjoy it. I think that the film does kinda suffer from being the second part of a trilogy as it doesn’t really have a conclusive ending and at points feels like it’s setting up the sequel rather than delivering on just telling a good story.
That being said I think it does succeed in what I believe that a lot of sequels should do which is to improve the film that came before it. A lot of the issues I have with 2018 have now been rectified and I hope that Ends does the same with this film. There isn’t really much plot here and if you’re not a Halloween fan I can’t really see this winning you round. What it is is a splatterfest and I’m someone who enjoys over-the-top gore and just giving villains free reign so I had a lot of fun with it. I also really appreciated that opening and it’s so well made and put together that it feels like it was ripped right out of the second movie even though it’s pretty much all new footage.
The movie very much carries the theme of what fear can do to a community and it’s nice that they at least try and add some depth to the proceedings which could be pretty surface level. However, I do think the movie just feels kinda short and almost a rush-through so we can get things in place for Halloween Ends which will hopefully be a fitting finale.
I’m not sure what will happen next time but I had a lot of fun and it’s definitely better than most Halloween sequels. That being said it’s also not up there with the best ones but there’s still a lot to like.
Though it’s not perfect it gets a…
7.5/10
I hope that you enjoyed the video.
Now obviously I’d love to hear your thoughts on the film, whether you agree with the critics, whether you agree with me and what you think will happen next time.
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