As a long-time and unashamed fan of this franchise, Halloween Kills had me at its sumptuously ominous synth pads scored over the opening Universal ident! Like the original Halloween sequel in 1981, this second film in the latest trilogy continues that fateful Halloween night in Haddonfield from the successful 2018 reboot but in a much more expansive way. It is a very smart reimagining of elements from the 1978 and 2018 films with a ludicrously high and brutal body count - this is The Boogeyman with the brakes off - and the much-vaunted exploration of community and collective trauma is really effective in the light of this particularly sadistic rampage of Michael across the town. It is rare to see a commercial horror film display such high-impact emotional stakes as displayed here, and it is a credit to both the screenplay and core actors that it comes across so well (Curtis is great as ever, and Judy Greer is really strong in this film). This is the ultimate in fan-fiction, made by people who love the franchise for people who love the franchise, which means that the deep dive of characters and mythology will probably mean little to the casual viewer, but the seamless call-backs and integration of generations is admirable both on-screen and in the writing, making it a delight to watch for both Halloween fans and horror fans in general. Objectively, the film is a bit messy at times and Jamie Lee Curtis gets worryingly sidelined for part of the film, but it all leads to a humdinger of a final scene that sets up the trilogy-closer - Halloween Ends - in a shocking and personal way.
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