Halloween Kills is the second film in the modern Halloween trilogy, and it delivered on packing a gut-punch of horror and emotion. While some of it seemed a little lore-heavy for someone like me, who somehow hadn't seen the original film before watching this one, it wasn't so lore-heavy that I suffered Continuity Lockout. Knowing the original film enhances the experience a lot, though- watching it after Halloween Kills allowed me to catch so many references I'd have missed otherwise. It's a treat to see how the new film parallels some of the events of the first without it being so blatant it becomes nostalgia pandering.
Michael was creepy as always. His ability to shrug off any form of damage might be a little silly, but it works to make him all the more threatening and inhuman. He was smart, powerful, and made sure to make sure all his victims were definitely dead- something the protagonists notably failed to do whenever it came to him.
The scariest moment of the film for me, though, wasn't Michael at all. It was the hospital scene, where the panic and mob-mentality drove an entire hospital of otherwise good people to hunt down a completely innocent man. The moment where he was trapped in the hallway and seeing the mob slowly break through the glass, forcing him to jump out the window, was the one real moment in the film where I simply couldn't watch. It was scarier than anything Michael could've done- you expect such cruelty to Michael, but not from ordinary people in the hospital. And the moment when they all realized they'd chased an innocent man to his death hit like a brick.
If I had a complaint, it was that the film might've been a little too fast-paced and jam-packed. There was a lot of things happening all at once, with many subplots and characters to keep track of. It didn't ruin the experience at all, but it did get a little confusing at times. All the subplots were important and the characters deserved the screentime they got- it was just a lot of stuff shoved into the film.
All in all, a solid 8.5/10. It's not a perfect film, but I really enjoyed it.
Film A fast-paced, chilling experience. (Spoilers!)
Halloween Kills is the second film in the modern Halloween trilogy, and it delivered on packing a gut-punch of horror and emotion. While some of it seemed a little lore-heavy for someone like me, who somehow hadn't seen the original film before watching this one, it wasn't so lore-heavy that I suffered Continuity Lockout. Knowing the original film enhances the experience a lot, though- watching it after Halloween Kills allowed me to catch so many references I'd have missed otherwise. It's a treat to see how the new film parallels some of the events of the first without it being so blatant it becomes nostalgia pandering.
Michael was creepy as always. His ability to shrug off any form of damage might be a little silly, but it works to make him all the more threatening and inhuman. He was smart, powerful, and made sure to make sure all his victims were definitely dead- something the protagonists notably failed to do whenever it came to him.
The scariest moment of the film for me, though, wasn't Michael at all. It was the hospital scene, where the panic and mob-mentality drove an entire hospital of otherwise good people to hunt down a completely innocent man. The moment where he was trapped in the hallway and seeing the mob slowly break through the glass, forcing him to jump out the window, was the one real moment in the film where I simply couldn't watch. It was scarier than anything Michael could've done- you expect such cruelty to Michael, but not from ordinary people in the hospital. And the moment when they all realized they'd chased an innocent man to his death hit like a brick.
If I had a complaint, it was that the film might've been a little too fast-paced and jam-packed. There was a lot of things happening all at once, with many subplots and characters to keep track of. It didn't ruin the experience at all, but it did get a little confusing at times. All the subplots were important and the characters deserved the screentime they got- it was just a lot of stuff shoved into the film.
All in all, a solid 8.5/10. It's not a perfect film, but I really enjoyed it.