Review of Halloween Kills (2021) by Luciusmcgibbon — 21 Oct 2021

Initial viewing: as a Halloween fanatic, everything about Kills is doubled-edged. The first half of this movie is a total wet dream while the second half is just a tad up its own ass with lofty, unfocused plot direction.

The 1978 expansion scene is amazing—although now it will surely give birth to some misguided hope that we would get more of that old charm re-jiggered on-screen again in the future. The firefighting scene was excellent, but for a moment The Shape essentially turns into Bruce Lee swinging sharp things.

There are some very worthy “good old Michael” kills, mixed in with a new tendency for crowd melees that is hit (i.e. the firefighter scene) or miss (the final confrontation.) The new brutal Michael contrasts with the younger "strangle-happy" Michael to tell a hidden tale of a psychopath's murderous ways maturing as he gets older and more pissed off.

.. but the overall shift towards blood splatter and visceral kills is another reminder of where this series has been going wrong since the original—even in the most well-meaning hands. I still had great fun with this movie and instantly have it in my top 5, but I also have to recognize that McBride & Green's plans Michael Myers are not as locked into true north as they seemed to be after 2018.