Halloween Kills wants to be a horror movie about a town rising up against a monster. Instead, it mostly plays like a chase sequence stretched across two hours, with the townspeople spending most of the runtime hiding or dying in predictable ways. The film follows Laurie Strode, her daughter Karen, and her granddaughter Allyson as they try to stop Michael Myers from resuming his ritual killings after he breaks free from Laurie’s trap. The tagline promises that evil dies tonight. It doesn’t.
The film is the second installment in the Halloween franchise, a direct sequel to the 2018 reboot. It was directed by David Gordon Green and co-written with Danny McBride and Scott Teems. It stars Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, Judy Greer as Karen, Andi Matichak as Allyson, and James Jude Courtney as Michael Myers. The film also brings back Will Patton as Officer Hawkins, Thomas Mann as Young Hawkins, Jim Cummings as Pete McCabe, Dylan Arnold as Cameron Elam, Robert Longstreet as Lonnie Elam, and Anthony Michael Hall as Tommy Doyle.
Trailer, via Universal Pictures.
The Town Rises Up
The premise is simple. Laurie traps Michael at the end of the previous film. He breaks free, and the townspeople of Haddonfield, Illinois, learn he is still alive. Karen and Allyson join Tommy Doyle and other survivors from the 1978 events in hunting Michael down. The film spends a lot of time on their plans and conversations, less time on actual confrontation.
The problem is that the film treats the townspeople as a mass rather than individuals. They are described as a mob of vengeful residents, but few of them get lines or moments that make them feel distinct. The result is a series of scenes where Michael walks through a street and kills everyone in it, one after another, until the screen goes dark and the next scene starts.
A Long Chase With Little Payoff
The film runs 105 minutes, and the pacing is uneven. The middle stretch drags as the characters circle around Michael, waiting for him to make his move. When he does, the violence is brutal but repetitive. Michael kills firefighters, neighbors, and random passersby with tools he finds on hand. The film leans heavily on gore, but it rarely builds tension or surprise.
The film also suffers from a lack of stakes. Because the townspeople are treated as interchangeable, their deaths carry little weight. The audience is meant to care about Laurie, Karen, and Allyson, but the film does not give the other victims enough time to matter. That leaves the final act feeling hollow, a series of killings that add up to nothing.
The Familiar Ground
The film borrows heavily from the 1978 Halloween, with flashbacks showing Officer Hawkins shooting his partner and preventing Dr. Loomis from executing Michael. It also brings back characters like Marion Chambers, Lindsey Wallace, and Lonnie Elam, played by Kyle Richards, Nancy Stephens, and Robert Longstreet. These callbacks are fine on their own, but they are dropped into the story without much context or payoff.
The film also introduces a young version of Michael, played by Christian Michael Pates, as seen in Karen’s imagination. This is a clever touch, but it is used sparingly and feels like a costume piece rather than a narrative device. The film is at its best when it focuses on Laurie, Karen, and Allyson, and at its worst when it wanders off into side stories about the town.
What Works
The film is not a complete failure. Jamie Lee Curtis gives a strong performance as Laurie, playing a woman who is still recovering from the last encounter and trying to protect her family. Judy Greer and Andi Matichak hold their own, and the chemistry between the three generations is the film’s best asset. The film also benefits from a solid score by John Carpenter, his son Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies, which gives the film a sense of dread even when the script fails to deliver it.
The film also gets points for its production design. The town of Haddonfield is rendered with a sense of decay and dread, and the houses where Michael hides and attacks look lived-in and dangerous. The practical effects, especially the gore, are well done. None of this saves the film from its structural problems, but it shows that the filmmakers know how to create a world that feels scary.
The Verdict
Halloween Kills is a film that knows how to scare but not how to build a story around that scare. It is too long, too repetitive, and too willing to treat its victims as ciphers. The performances by Curtis, Greer, and Matichak are the only reason the film is watchable at all. Without them, the film would collapse entirely.
The film is a missed opportunity. It had a chance to explore the idea of a town rising up against a monster, but it chose to play it safe, repeating the same chase sequences and killings that the franchise has used for decades. The film is not terrible, but it is not memorable either. It is a competent, sometimes exciting entry in a franchise that deserves better.
Key Facts Box
- Director: David Gordon Green
- Writers: David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, Scott Teems
- Runtime: 105 minutes
- Release Year: 2021
- Tagline: “Evil dies tonight”
- Score: 4.2/10
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