Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Halloween Kills - Just a So So Sequel in the Halloween Series

I was planning to see this movie with my wife last weekend at one of the cinemas, but the urge to spend my weekend at home was stronger then. So I ended up watching other movies through online streaming. Last night though, we felt it was a good time to see this movie. OK, let's get to it then.

Brief Story Line

Right after the incidents in Halloween, Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis - Knives Out, My Girl etc) who was hurt badly together with her daughter Karen (Judy Greer - Jurassic World etc) and grand daughter Allyson (Andi Matichak), went to the hospital thinking that Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney and Nick Castle) was already dead. Meanwhile Deputy Frank Hawkins (Will Patton - Swamp Thing TV series, The Forever Purge etc) was also brought to the same hospital.

When news that Michael Myers came back to Haddonfield, some of the survivors from the 1978 attack such as Tommy Doyle (Anthony Michael Hall - Edward Scissorhands etc), Lonnie Elam (Robert Longstreet) and few others wanted to kill Michael to end his killing spree.

So what would happen to all of them? Find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

After watching this sequel, I really felt that I should have probably re-watch the 2018 movie and the original one, because there were quite a lot of references to both those films. I only remember vaguely on the 2018 movie but worse was that first 1978 movie because some parts in here were connected to the events back then. There were even brief scenes showing few of the characters from that movie. Sadly though, because I was not familiar with them, they just passed me by and did not provide me the supposed excited effect.

Unlike the 2018 film, this one did not take too long to build the tension, because the events happened directly after Laurie and her family thought they have killed Michael Myers. This resulted to our antagonist managed to kill more people in this sequel. And in this area, he actually quite excelled because the killings were still very brutal which could be overwhelming to audience (including to my wife) due to its graphic violence. A reminder that this is rated R in the US and 17+ in Indonesia, so better not bring your kids to see this one, even if children are now allowed to enter the cinemas.

The one thing that I did not personally really like in here was the part in the hospital. The movie makers seemed to want to show some humanist aspect which I thought seemed out of place. This film also felt to be focusing more on other characters, as opposed to the usual ones, especially Laurie. With all due respect to the rest of the cast, I think they did not really have the star power like Jamie Lee Curtis, and it resulted the film did not feel to be captivating enough. In fact, I think this movie felt a bit like filler for the likely ultimate sequel in 2022 titled Halloween Ends. Yes, you got it, there is indeed going to be the next Halloween movie which would explain the ending. Btw, there was no mid or post end credit scene, in case you are wondering.

Aside from those shortcomings to my personal opinion, the specific characteristics are still apparent in this film, like the killing spree by Michael Myers, the obvious violence, some jump scare scenes (which successfully surprised me and/or my wife), and the intensity of waiting if the people can survive the attacks. The cast here were a lot compared to the previous films, but as I said above none of them were really impressive. In fact, I probably would not really remember them in the years to come.

Overall, this to me is just a so so sequel of the Halloween series. It did not have something spectacular, plus with the focus shifted from the final girl Laurie, it just did not feel too strong. So if you are fans of Halloween movies, maybe you would still enjoy this film, especially having almost all the elements from previous ones. Reminder though that if you are uncomfortable with lots of bloody violence, better skip this one. The choice is yours.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars

No comments:

Post a Comment