Halloween Kills...Expectations

****wrote this last year on another site, but wanted to put it up here after re evaluating it, after watching its sequel "Halloween Ends"****

So, "Halloween Kills" is an interesting movie and the short version of how I feel is I'm glad I saw it. But do I recommend it? That's a bit more of a loaded question/ response because it really depends on what you want from a Halloween movie or a slasher movie in general. So how you feel about the ending really will determine it's re-watch value to you and may ruin the experience of re-watching the original Halloween, depending on how attached you are to it. Maybe...

I don't know, to be honest my fiancé LOVES the OG Halloween and I didn't get the sense he came to the same conclusion or feelings about it as me. Which is fine, after all, art is subjective. But it's also why it's tricky to recommend this. How you experience the movie varies, which is a really cool thing. This is just about what I personally observed, liked and disliked.

At the end of the day its a slasher with some good kills, good atmosphere and likeable characters and a rad soundtrack. And, as said, I'm glad I saw it. If that sounds like it's worth your time, then check it out and make up your own mind, but if you're curious about the details you can read my thoughts below.

Things I liked:

-It's probably one of the bleakest additions to the franchise as well as having some of the most brutal kills (yes, even more than the Rob Zombie films.) The atmosphere is well executed, Meyers is as intimidating and deadly as he was in the original and I appreciate that there is a kind of explanation (kind of) as to why the fucker just won't die. And there's so many nods and Easter eggs from the original in this that diehard fans are sure to get a kick out of.

-Also, whoever was in charge of color grading/editing the flashback sequences deserve all the applause because it fits with the footage of the first film so damn well. *Chef's kiss*. Also, as always the score by John Carpenter was rad as hell and gave so much soul to every scene. I also like how the town or more specifically, the community of Haddonfield was given more of a role in this and made the scope of this story feel bigger and the danger of Michael feels all the more daunting.

-I like that we get the chance to know the people of Haddonfield enough where you do worry and care when Michael shows up. So much modern horror seems to forget that if your characters are unlikable or unrelatable, then we aren't going to care when they're in danger or going to die and it makes the story drag, no matter how creative your kills or gore may be.

Things I didn't like:

I felt certain plot elements and themes they touched on aren't really explored in a way that's satisfying (to me at least) considering the role and frequency they come up in the narrative.

*****MILD SEMI SPOILERS*****

Like I appreciate it wanted to comment on mob mentality, but it doesn't really amount to much. Especially in the final act when certain characters who were very much against it and there's a huge sequence proving why it's wrong and vindicating their stance, decides to just do it anyway. It all sort of undercuts whatever message they were trying to have, especially at the end and it made it all feel pointless to bring it up at all. There are other character decisions that leave me puzzled and a bit disappointed, which I know, writers have people in slashers make dumb decisions all the time in these things but that's not what I'm talking about.

Upon reflection, one story/character decision I’m really disappointed about is how Lori Strode is in the hospital for the whole movie, she doesn't get to do anything. There's some really sweet character moments, yes, but it's at the expense of taking away the agency of her character. Like she doesn't get to lead the charge against Michael or anything, which is so crappy considering how what made her character such an enduring icon is the agency she took over her situation in order to survive. Still, even that wouldn't be so bad if either Karen and granddaughter (Allyson) did anything of value to the story that wasn't rock stupid and ultimately pointless.

Instead, they chose to make all the Strode's way less capable, competent and fridging one of them for what I will assume is to motivate Lori and her granddaughter to fight back, as if there wasn't enough motivation to do so already without sniffing out the story potential that character could have brought but now we will never know.

*****full spoilers*****

I mentioned that enjoyment on this movie may depended on how you feel about the ending, I also mentioned that it's sort of a toss up if huge fans of the original would react to how they treat the majority of the returning characters. I won't go into what specifically happens, but I will say that to me, killing the majority of them makes surviving what they went through in the original, feel hollow. It's just a crappy sentiment they brought back the majority of the returning survivors of the original just to die in the 2nd installment. Adding insult to that injury, outside of Tommy Doyle, neither the actions nor deaths of those characters had much impact in the story.

So the ending...

Overall I was pretty turned off by the ending. I am not against bleak endings, but I'm on the fence whether I found it fitting to kill of Lori's daughter Karen. Considering the brutal and ruthless tone, I understand the decision of having an important, established character get killed. That said, I still couldn't help but feel the murder of Karen Strode was earned. Or, at least I felt as though she was the wrong choice to have die. Admittedly though, it was just another example of potential future stories and character development that could have been used in future instalments, was wasted for shock value.

What's worse, it totally upends the beautiful themes of family healing and overcoming generational trauma together that was set up in the previous film. It was a dynamic I haven't really seen utilized or explored the way the previous film had done. It was so beautiful watching these damaged, flawed, women who love, but hurt each other, forgiving and healing while getting to brutalize the personification and origin of said trauma, Michael Myers. Its Rage and Revenge and I LOVE IT. And then, it gets obliterated in favor of focusing on whatever themes "Halloween Ends" was about and I have even less kind words to say for that one.

I felt Karen had potential for a much more interesting arc and narrative that could have been carried onto the next film. I know it's unfair to judge a story for not meeting my wants or feelings. So let's set aside my feelings about that lost potential and narrative waste. I guess the other thing that's deeply disappointing about it is at how boring a choice it was to kill Karen. How boring and safe to kill the middle age woman instead of the young blood or the OG last girl herself, Lori. The former I think would have made the ending far stronger.

It would have also been more fitting seeing how Myers is not above killing children and him killing the child of the main trio would have been fitting of that ruthless brutality. I think it would have tied more strongly to the themes and ideas of the past and obsession consuming Lori's last descendant and the one family member left she had any kind of good relationship with. The symbolism of him slaying essentially the final girl of the Strode line alone would be a devastating and haunting thought upon revisiting the film. But killing Karen, it wasn't effecting, it didn't elevate the film to the likes of "The Empire Strikes Back", no, to me... to me it was just flat. Thudding and flopping like a wet towel on a concrete floor.

Another factor that hurt this film for me was how it wanted to cover too many themes that just didn't really mesh together. There's this whole commentary on mob mentality and I think conspiracy theories proliferating out of control. Meanwhile it's fighting for attention over the other themes of intergenerational trauma and then a serial killer shows up and man I sure feel tired all of a sudden. It's not that all these ideas and themes can't coexist in the same story, however I feel it wasn't balanced, nor explored enough beyond "hey, becoming a mob and lynching people is a bad thing". It's not the unsubtlety that really kills me, its more they have nothing to add or contribute. I want more. But this film simply won't deliver.