Halloween Kills

 

I am a horror fan. But I am a very select horror fan. I do not like the zombie sub-genre, except for a handful of very select films; I abhor torture porn in any form; I hate gore and violence for the sake of gore and violence without any plot or character development; and I loathe the horror remake, reboot, and sequel aspect of the genre itself, unless it can be done in an intelligent way with a fresh perspective.

In 2018, David Gordon Green did just that with the Halloween franchise. He rebooted it, with a fresh perspective, a true fan’s perspective, and an intelligent way that I enjoyed tremendously. His perspective was that only the original Halloween film exists, and the rest don’t, complete junk. I agree with him. I enjoyed Halloween II, also created, and done by the wonderful and witty John Carpenter, but for me it if had ended there, I would have been happy. I don’t fault John Carpenter for this though. The third film, which was silly and the sequels which brought nothing to the story with zero intelligence and don’t get me started on Rob Zombie’s atrocious remakes of the first two film, which added nothing to the story of Michael Myers, and in fact, I agree with John Carpenter himself, when he said in a recent interview, that not knowing everything about Michael is what makes the saga itself so terrifying. That just pure evil does exist in this world. Like Hitchcock’s classic, “The Birds” where we never find out why the birds start attacking the public in the first place, it’s good to leave some questions unanswered, which in the horror genre, in my humble opinion, makes it even more horrifying.

David Gordon Green, along with John Carpenter and the wonderful Jamie Lee Curtis, the original Laurie in the first Halloween film and its sequel, team together to tell the tale of Michael, forty years after the events of the first film. A very intelligent and terrifying film which I enjoyed immensely. Now we pick up immediately after the end of the 2018 film. And wow, what a bloodbath and carnage ensue. Michael is in high gear in this film and it’s horrifying to watch at times. I gave this film a 9/10-star rating on IMDB because the second murder scene, for me, was a bit too much. It bordered on torture porn, and I really wish David Gordon Green had pulled back a bit, like he did with the other murder scenes. But, despite this, I enjoyed the film and was on the edge of my seat throughout the entire motion picture. The entire cast was great, and this film was very poignant and had a lot to say about society in general. I applaud everyone involved. The cinematography was very different than the 2018 installment, and the look and feel was very unsettling and terrifying. This was a real roller coaster ride and I highly recommend this film to any Halloween fan and horror fans in general. Intelligent, gripping, thrilling and emotionally draining. All things that make a good horror film in my humble opinion. But I do forewarn any viewers who are sensitive to graphic violence, this film is not for you.

I am so excited to see the final installment, “Halloween Ends” next Halloween!