Whether you are a Halloween movie series fan or just like a lot of horror, then this sequel Halloween Kills should be your cup of blood. Totally a killing machine, Michael Meyers is back after causing a lot of havoc in the 2018 sequel Halloween: Meet Your Fate. Continuing with the saga following the burning of Meyers, survivors Jamie Lee Curtis, Kyle Richards, Nancy Stephens, and even a cameo of Donald Pleasence as Dr. Loomis are featured along with a lot of newcomers who were unaware that Meyers had lived. Fun seekers will enjoy the jump scares, but hopefully are immune to the brutal blood squirting, head smashing and explicit carnage that delivers the mayhem.
Its Halloween night 2018 in Haddonfield where we find Officer Frank Hawkins (Will Patton) lying on the ground injured with a neck wound. A young man comes by and Hawkins tells the man that “He Needs to Die”. Flash back to 1978 and we see Hawkins and several other police on the pursuit of Michael Meyers. After a terrible mistake by Hawkins, we return to 2018 where the town still has kids and adults enjoying the celebration of the Allhallows Eve.
At the end of Halloween 2018 Meyers was supposed to have been burned alive, but the fire department intercedes. Wounded by Meyers, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis)
is being rushed to the hospital along with her daughter Karen Strode Pierce (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson Pierce (Andi Matichak). It’s the same hospital where Frank Hawkins is recovering from his wound. Haddonfield has been under assault by Meyers and the town’s people are in fear of being his next victim. Director David Gordon Green puts the evil story into overdrive with deaths every few minutes. While most of the many kills being committed are similar to those shown in previous chapters of the Halloween franchise, it never gets old seeing the terror coming from the eyes of the masked stone-faced killer.
The special effects and make-up have improved over the years and realism has become the norm in most all the horror flicks being released these days. With the knife being Michael Meyers’ weapon of choice in all the Halloweens, in this film however, the way he slices his victims becomes the only “new” addition to the scripts. Gordon Green doesn’t hold back anything showing buckets of blood, gory close-ups of the stabbings and in some cases an assaults with a fluorescent light tube and other inventive ways to butcher his prey.
For the record, the franchise that has included Jamie Lee Curtis in the role of Laurie Strode in: Halloween Kills (2021), Halloween (2018), Halloween Resurrection (2002), Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), Halloween III: Season of The Witch (1982), Halloween II (1981), and the original Halloween: The Night He Came Home! (1978). Already in post-production for next year is Halloween Ends (2022). Rumors have it that they will finally say goodbye to Michael Myers, so get your fix on this chapter as prep for next year.
Hollywood Kills has been rated R by the MPAA for strong bloody violence throughout, grisly images, language and some drug use. It also has a scene with a sexual remark made to some young trick or treaters. The film is now playing in local theaters everywhere. (3 out of 5 Stars)
Specifications and additional video information:
Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Anthony Michael Hall, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, Thomas Mann, Kyle Richards
Directed by: David Gordon Green
Written by: Based on a story by John Carpenter
Genre: Horror, Thriller
MPAA Rating: R for strong bloody violence throughout, grisly images, language and some drug use.
Running Time: 1 hr. 46 min.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Released in: Theaters
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
