Where to watch Halloween Kills
2 Stars
The saga of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode comes to a spine-chilling climax in the final installment of this trilogy.
Halloween Ends is a competently made and utterly unnecessary supposed final chapter in David Gordon Green’s revisionist trilogy. Things got off to a promising start with 2018’s Halloween. The sequel, Halloween Kills in 2021, was a violent, rage-filled, brilliant follow-up that ranked on my yearly top ten best lists. Which makes this latest entry so disappointing. Green and his collaborators cannot bring the trilogy to a satisfying conclusion. Their story, while well-executed, doesn’t fit into the franchise or world that has been previously set up in the earlier films.
While the story is a letdown, the craftsmanship is still high. This is a well-told and well-photographed tale. It’s ambitious to break with the earlier sequels. But it stretches itself to the point of confusion. Would you believe for an instant that Laurie’s granddaughter could be attracted to a serial killer? Is the town of Haddonfield cursed? These are interesting elements that add subtly to a franchise known for brutality, not subtext. Then why is the film such a bore? I believe it’s because the story was wrong-headed to begin with. Focusing on a new character and leaving the series’ biggest star, not you, Jaime Lee Curtis, absent for the majority of the picture turns out to be a critical error.
Directed by: David Gordon Green
Written by: John Carpenter, Debra Hill, Paul Brad Logan
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak, James Jude Courtney