Stuck in a Moment: Halloween Kills

“Halloween Kills”
Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, James Jude Courtney, Will Patton
Directed by David Gordon Green
Written by David Gordon Green, Danny McBride and Scott Teems
Rated R for strong bloody violence throughout, grisly images, language and some drug use

Last October, I watched the original “Halloween” for the first time. It was immediately clear why it's considered a classic. On the advice of a couple folks who know more about the franchise than I do, I jumped to the 2018 incarnation. That was also very well done, even though I got hung up on one aspect in particular.

At the same time, the advertising blitz for “Halloween Kills” was underway. I was curious, but not curious enough to sign up for Peacock or go to the theater. I just requested it from the library and figured I would get to it when I got to it.

Eventually I got to it, and I finished it perturbed. I was going to chalk it up to me just not being a horror guy (or at least a slasher subgenre guy), but eventually it became apparent that my main problem was getting stuck in a moment, again.

There will definitely be spoilers here, including the worst kind: the ending. So if you haven't seen “Halloween Kills” and want a completely fresh viewing experience, click away now. Might I suggest my series on IDW's “Napoleon Dynamite” sequel? Or, if you're still feeling Halloween-ish here in March (or whenever you found this), my epic CapWolf read-through?

Also, fair warning, I'm going to spoil part of Zack Snyder's “Dawn of the Dead” remake too. That's one of my longest standing cases of getting stuck in a moment, only I'm not willing to watch it again to write an entire post with a fresh perspective.

“Halloween Kills” picks up right after the 2018 “Halloween” ends, literally before many of the bodies are even cold, while also flashing back to the aftermath of the original.

The movie broadens the focus from Curtis' Laurie Strode and her family to the town of Haddonfield and how Michael Myers' 1978 killing spree continues to affect the residents, both those who survived and those who lost someone. Again, I'm no horror afficianado, but it seems like the impact of the deaths isn't usually taken into account in these kinds of movies. I appreciate when violence is considered as more than just “cool” kill scenes.

Some residents, including Laurie's grown-up babysitting charge Tommy (Anthony Michael Hall), develop a thirst for vengeance when they realize not only has Michael escaped to kill again, but he's still at large. Rather than perish in the conflagration that ended the last film, Michael escapes when a group of firefighters show up to do their jobs, unwittingly doubling (or more) his body count from the previous movie.

“Halloween Kills” looks at vengeance and mob mentality as Michael (Courtney and original “Shape” Nick Castle) mercilessly mows through more Haddonfieldians. The supposedly righteously angry townsfolk pursue another insane asylum inmate who escaped with Michael and it's not until he jumps to his death that they realize he isn't the man they're after.

Some see this as reflecting mistrust of authority prevalent in society today. Of course there's validity to that, although, just like in the last movie, the sheriff does little to earn their trust.

Finally, Laurie's granddaughter Allyson (Matichak), her boyfriend Cameron (Dylan Arnold) and his dad Lonnie (Robert Longstreet) track Michael back to his old house. Allyson is the last one sort of standing when her mom, Karen (Greer), arrives and lures Michael a block over, where the mob awaits.

It's an interesting scene, because on the one hand, makeshift-weapon-wielding mobs are rightly frowned upon. On the other, this is Michael Myers, who is at least a peak human killing machine, if not an outright supernatural one, and the law enforcers in this movie have no clue what they're doing. After Karen drives Michael's knife into his spine, Tommy assures her they'll finish the job.

And here's where things started to fall apart for me.

As they look over should-be-dead-or-close-to-it Michael, the killer yoinks the knife out of his neck and starts wiping out the mob members – who continue to attack him one at a time. I know, looking for logical behavior in horror movies is a fool's errand, but come on. You're a mob. Ganging up is kind of the point.

Of course, I'm also assuming Michael is indeed supernatural, which I understand has been a source of debate and shifting explanations in the various films. Once again, characters theorize about Michael's endurance – is he feeding on fear? Can he not die while Laurie lives? And Officer Hawkins (Patton, always a pleasure) muses about Michael's motivations. There's also a scene where Michael curiously keeps jamming knives into an obviously dead victim, which made me wonder if somehow he didn't truly understand what he was doing, despite being so disturbingly good at it.

I thought we might get some kind of explanation. Or at least a start. But even then, I was relatively satisfied with the movie experience.

Then, Karen looks up at the window out of which Michael stared as a boy and in '78. This window and what he saw had been a point of pontification also. In the window, Karen sees a figure – young Michael? His sister? That witch from the third Halloween, the only thing about which I know is that it's separate from the rest of the series? I'm not sure.

Karen goes up and looks out the window. And just when I think we're about to get, if not some answers, a cliffhanging clue setting up this year's “Halloween Ends,” Michael appears. And kills Karen. And the movie ends with him looking out that blasted window.

Nooooooooooooo!

As I was trying to make heads or tails of the ending, I read something pointing out she might not be dead. That's certainly possible.

But we're supposed to think she is, and that makes me wonder why the heck I spent an hour and 45 minutes (which seemed like longer) just to get here. I'm a supporter of the good guys not always winning, if for no other reason than to preserve the element of suspense so we can't always be assured of how things will turn out.

But what was the point? The look at mob mentality was effective, except the mob was right more often than not in this one. Chasing that one guy was terrible, but we never saw the police doing anything except going, “Um, hey, folks, calm down. We're the police.” Maybe they were policing off camera. If there was an example of competence, I missed it.

The mob came closer to taking Michael out than anyone else. But they didn't. Because...?

I don't need to have it all explained. I had no trouble with Michael just vanishing at the end of the original, despite being shot in the chest and falling from the second story. The story was told.

Karen saving Allyson and then leading Michael to his not-doom wrapped up the story for me. Laurie and her family were protected, though not without terrible cost and certainly only temporarily. Killing Karen – aside from feeling wrong because isn't Judy Greer basically a national treasure? – undid that.

It made me flash back to “Dawn of the Dead,” where some of the characters managed to escape and get a temporary reprieve – until the mid-credits scene where they arrived at an island and were immediately charged by a pack of fast zombies. Their deaths weren't shown, but it didn't seem like there was any way they could be avoided. I felt like I'd wasted my time watching the rest of the movie.

“Halloween Kills” feels like the middle of a story. Sure it's the middle part of a trilogy, but it doesn't feel like it stands on its own. I chalk almost all of that up to Michael winning by killing Karen and then just standing there.

Again, logic is a rare commodity in horror movies, but the crowd of first-responders and gawkers at the old Myers place didn't hear any commotion as Michael slaughtered a dozen or so people a block away? And assuming he shuffled into the house without being seen, nobody heard Karen scream as he stabbed her over and over? And nobody looked up at the window or went to look for her as the not-exactly-nimble Mr. Myers just stood there?

So that's where I'm stuck. Despite the atmosphere and the treating of deaths and violence as more than just statistics and spectacles, I was pretty unsatisfied with “Halloween Kills.”

Not unsatisfied enough to skip “Halloween Ends” though.