I've never been the biggest fan of the Halloween franchise, but at the end of the day, I know what feels like a good movie and even if I don't care for a series, if a movie within the series is good, I will gladly acknowledge it. HALLOWEEN KILLS (2021) is most definitely not that! Just like in any movie, what I want is internal logic and character consistency. People always use the excuse that characters in horror movies are supposed to be dumb and make mistakes, but unless it's some parody or spoof, the decisions that characters make should be internally consistent and for them to be relatable to the viewer, externally as well. The character decisions in this film were mind-bogglingly stupid!
Jamie Lee Curtis was barely in this movie and she's the headliner. Laurie was literally in the hospital for the entire movie while most of the action took place in the streets of Haddonfield. And sadly in the little screen time she got, Laurie sounded like a philosophical rambling lunatic! But she wasn't the only character. For some reason, EVERY character spent the bulk of their time pontificating about evil and Michael Myers and when they actually were face-to-face with him, acted like total dummies.
Where to start? First, the character of Tommy (dubiously played by 80s icon Anthony MIchael Hall) is the worst character in this movie! When he gave that incredibly bland and weird monologue at the bar recounting the events of the 1978 movie, I knew that this film was going to be odd. He spends the entire movie playing a fake tough guy wielding a baseball bat and forming and inciting a town mob to track down Michael Myers. Hall's acting is so 1-dimensionally loud and obnoxious and I didn't buy this character for a second. And there were way too many close-ups of him. He was featured so much that he felt more like the main character than Laurie.
Second, the cops were totally useless. Why is the Sheriff even allowing Tommy and this mob to get so out of hand? He literally gave one order at the aftermath of the fire massacre, telling his cops to set up a perimeter around the town, then spent the remainder of the movie doing nothing. For some reason, none of the police in this movie (and there were a bunch of them) ever did anything to try and stop Michael. It was always armed civilians trying to do their job for them. The cops didn't even try to stop the mob at the hospital and were never roaming the streets looking for this serial killer, who was so easy to spot. You had a perimeter set around a small town for a killer who was leaving a trail of blood easy to follow and you couldn't catch him?
This leads to all the dumb actions of the characters in this movie. Why did no one ever just run away when confronted with Michael? Characters could easily just get away from this guy who was WALKING, but instead they opted to stand there and try to fight him. The group in the car could have just driven away, but nope, let's sit here and battle a crazy killer! The gay couple who lived in Michael's old home were cringe. None of their jokes landed and instead of just leaving the house they decide to stay there. Michael was upstairs and they were safe downstairs, so where do they go? Upstairs, of course, and the one guy just stands there and let's Michael mutilate him. Why did no one use a cell phone to call 911 when they were in danger? It's like writers were confusing the 2018 scenes with the 1978 flashbacks and forgot that the modern day characters actually had cell phones.
Other issues. This movie had really bad editing with weird and untimely scene transitions to the point it felt like scenes were interrupted abruptly. Characters spent a bunch of time rambling about evil dying tonight. Moments that should have been sad and heartfelt were incredibly bland and empty. Michael's kills were all dragged out ad nauseum. Characters were obviously dead yet Michael kept on going for like 2 extra minutes after each kill dragging it out unnecessarily. Also, how on Earth did the old lady at the farm survive Michael shoving that glass light bulb through her neck? He almost took her head off yet somehow she was still alive. How did Michael even get by all those people downstairs to Karen in the end? And where were the cops during all of this? This is a murder scene where 4 people got killed and it's a bunch of civilians, yet again, doing their job for them.
What was that weird scene with the 1978 flashback of the young cop stopping Loomis from shooting Michael? He had just accidentally killed his partner so if anything he should want revenge on Michael for forcing him to do that. Why would Loomis give up just because this rookie cop stopped him one time? Why would he care what this kid thinks when he knows the depths of Michael's evil and menace? What were the other cops doing just standing there? Why didn't any of them stop Loomis? Apparently, they were OK with him killing Michael, so how did the rookie grabbing Loomis' hand one time have any effect? Loomis or the other cops could have easily still finished Michael anyway. Made no sense.
Finally, the dialogue and acting in this movie was so bad. Most of the conversations felt unnatural and the tone was inconsistent. No one talks like the characters in this movie. And there are actually several good actors in this movie, but they couldn't overcome the terrible writing. I actually watched the predecessor Halloween movie from 2018 on the same day before watching this sequel to prepare myself and I honestly thought the 2018 film wasn't very good. But Halloween Kills is so bad that I might re-evaluate my opinion of that movie because at least it had a semblance of decent writing and simplicity that Kills completely lacked. Halloween Kills is a contender for worst movie in the entire franchise and that's saying something as there are some real bad ones in the mix.
Jamie Lee Curtis was barely in this movie and she's the headliner. Laurie was literally in the hospital for the entire movie while most of the action took place in the streets of Haddonfield. And sadly in the little screen time she got, Laurie sounded like a philosophical rambling lunatic! But she wasn't the only character. For some reason, EVERY character spent the bulk of their time pontificating about evil and Michael Myers and when they actually were face-to-face with him, acted like total dummies.
Where to start? First, the character of Tommy (dubiously played by 80s icon Anthony MIchael Hall) is the worst character in this movie! When he gave that incredibly bland and weird monologue at the bar recounting the events of the 1978 movie, I knew that this film was going to be odd. He spends the entire movie playing a fake tough guy wielding a baseball bat and forming and inciting a town mob to track down Michael Myers. Hall's acting is so 1-dimensionally loud and obnoxious and I didn't buy this character for a second. And there were way too many close-ups of him. He was featured so much that he felt more like the main character than Laurie.
Second, the cops were totally useless. Why is the Sheriff even allowing Tommy and this mob to get so out of hand? He literally gave one order at the aftermath of the fire massacre, telling his cops to set up a perimeter around the town, then spent the remainder of the movie doing nothing. For some reason, none of the police in this movie (and there were a bunch of them) ever did anything to try and stop Michael. It was always armed civilians trying to do their job for them. The cops didn't even try to stop the mob at the hospital and were never roaming the streets looking for this serial killer, who was so easy to spot. You had a perimeter set around a small town for a killer who was leaving a trail of blood easy to follow and you couldn't catch him?
This leads to all the dumb actions of the characters in this movie. Why did no one ever just run away when confronted with Michael? Characters could easily just get away from this guy who was WALKING, but instead they opted to stand there and try to fight him. The group in the car could have just driven away, but nope, let's sit here and battle a crazy killer! The gay couple who lived in Michael's old home were cringe. None of their jokes landed and instead of just leaving the house they decide to stay there. Michael was upstairs and they were safe downstairs, so where do they go? Upstairs, of course, and the one guy just stands there and let's Michael mutilate him. Why did no one use a cell phone to call 911 when they were in danger? It's like writers were confusing the 2018 scenes with the 1978 flashbacks and forgot that the modern day characters actually had cell phones.
Other issues. This movie had really bad editing with weird and untimely scene transitions to the point it felt like scenes were interrupted abruptly. Characters spent a bunch of time rambling about evil dying tonight. Moments that should have been sad and heartfelt were incredibly bland and empty. Michael's kills were all dragged out ad nauseum. Characters were obviously dead yet Michael kept on going for like 2 extra minutes after each kill dragging it out unnecessarily. Also, how on Earth did the old lady at the farm survive Michael shoving that glass light bulb through her neck? He almost took her head off yet somehow she was still alive. How did Michael even get by all those people downstairs to Karen in the end? And where were the cops during all of this? This is a murder scene where 4 people got killed and it's a bunch of civilians, yet again, doing their job for them.
What was that weird scene with the 1978 flashback of the young cop stopping Loomis from shooting Michael? He had just accidentally killed his partner so if anything he should want revenge on Michael for forcing him to do that. Why would Loomis give up just because this rookie cop stopped him one time? Why would he care what this kid thinks when he knows the depths of Michael's evil and menace? What were the other cops doing just standing there? Why didn't any of them stop Loomis? Apparently, they were OK with him killing Michael, so how did the rookie grabbing Loomis' hand one time have any effect? Loomis or the other cops could have easily still finished Michael anyway. Made no sense.
Finally, the dialogue and acting in this movie was so bad. Most of the conversations felt unnatural and the tone was inconsistent. No one talks like the characters in this movie. And there are actually several good actors in this movie, but they couldn't overcome the terrible writing. I actually watched the predecessor Halloween movie from 2018 on the same day before watching this sequel to prepare myself and I honestly thought the 2018 film wasn't very good. But Halloween Kills is so bad that I might re-evaluate my opinion of that movie because at least it had a semblance of decent writing and simplicity that Kills completely lacked. Halloween Kills is a contender for worst movie in the entire franchise and that's saying something as there are some real bad ones in the mix.