In the same vein as 1981’s Halloween II, Halloween Kills takes place right after its predecessor, the 40th anniversary Halloween film.
The film opens with Cameron Elam (Dylan Arnold) discovering an injured Officer Hawkins (Will Patton), who is revealed to have survived his encounter with Michael Myers’ doctor, Sartain. The story then flashes back to 1978 and follows a young Officer Hawkins (Thomas Mann) as he works to apprehend Michael Myers (the young character portrayed by Airon Armstrong).
Back in 2018, several legacy characters have gathered at a bar to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1978 attack. These include Tommy Doyle (Anthony Michael Hall), Lindsey Wallace (Kyle Richards), Marion Chambers (Nancy Stephens) and Cameron’s father, Lonnie Elam (Robert Longstreet). Tommy toasts Laurie Strode and remembers the night he and Lindsey were attacked and Lonnie came face-to-face with Michael.
Meanwhile, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) are being rushed to the hospital following their encounter and entrapment of Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney and Nick Castle) at Laurie’s compound. They are horrified when they see firefighters rushing to the compound, with Laurie shouting that they “Let it Burn!”
Laurie falls unconscious before reaching the hospital and medical staff work to save her life. She then spends the rest of the movie in the hospital recovering, similar to her role in Halloween II in 1981. She does, however, bond with Officer Hawkins over a flirting incident from years’ prior. It’s even hinted that maybe their flirting went beyond that and that maybe Hawkins is Karen’s father.
The 1978 survivors hear news about the murders committed by Michael. Tommy gathers a small posse who chase after a man they presume is Michael, but is actually the Umbrella Man from the previous film.
At the hospital, Tommy and the former Sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers) incite a mob to fight against Michael (“Evil dies tonight!”). When the Umbrella Man arrives, the mob confuses him for Michael and the chase is on.
Meanwhile, Michael is on a rampage in his hometown. He goes around town, killing indiscriminately and violently. He massacres the firefighters who arrive at Laurie’s compound and kills anyone else who gets in his way. All the while, Lonnie, Cameron and Allyson deduce Michael is going home, seeing the trail of his killings leads straight to his home, now owned by Big John (Scott MacArthur) and Little John (Michael McDonald), the film’s gay couple who know of the Myers’ home’s history.
While it’s great to see the legacy characters return, their appearance is hampered by the film’s over-reliance on blood and gore. The film certainly follows the rules of a sequel established by Scream 2 in 1997: The body count is certainly bigger and death scenes are much more elaborate, with much more blood and gore than previous entries. In one such scene, Michael kills a couple and then spends the next few moments stabbing about half a dozen knives into the husband. Now is that really necessary?
The film also suffers in a way as it serves as the bridge between the 2018 film and its sequel Halloween Ends, due out Oct. 14, 2022. It is obvious during several moments of the film that it is setting up the next film, including with Laurie and Hawkins discussing that Michael cannot be defeated by brute force. The film succeeds here in declaring The Shape as a supernatural force.
The ending may also be a red herring. In the final moments, there is one last blood bath, but it seems unlikely that all of the nearby characters wouldn’t hear what was happening in these moments. It’s possible this was a vision of sorts experienced by one of the characters.
Halloween Kills is in theatres and streaming on Peacock.
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