Halloween Kills
"I always thought Michael Myers was flesh and blood, just like you and me, but a mortal man could not have survived what he's lived through. The more he kills, the more he transcends into something else impossible to defeat. Fear. People are afraid. That is the true curse of Michael." - Laurie Strode
release year: 2021
genre: horror
viewing setting: theater 10/15/21 (opening night)
synopsis: Michael Myers, having survived the events of the last film, continues his murderous rampage in Haddonfield.
impressions: While the last film was more of a rematch, this one was...something else. There's more going on here than Michael's killing spree - there are subplots involving survivors from 1978 and the dangers of a mob mentality. Michael's a lot more brutal this time (including stabbing an already-dead body extra times, and finishing off a wounded victim) and some of the kills are fairly gruesome. And perhaps strangest of all, we finally find out what would happen if he gets surrounded and beat down by an angry mob. The ending is a total cliffhanger and sets up the next movie. And finally, this might be the point where series filmmakers finally acknowledge that Michael Myers is something more than human.
acting: Jamie Lee Curtis spends most of the movie in the hospital, wounded (along with Will Patton.) Judy Greer is her daughter, and Andi Matichak is her granddaughter; both contribute to the hunt for Michael. Anthony Michael Hall and Kyle Richards are the grown-up kids who Michael menaced in 1978. Charles Cyphers and Nancy Stephens return as other survivors, though both are much older. Omar Dorset is perhaps the most useless Sheriff ever elected in a town.
final word: Good sequel to a sequel that we never expected; one wonders how far they will go with this.
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