Film Review

Halloween Kills (2021) — a repetitive, stupid, depressing continuation

With Michael Myers back on the prowl across Haddonfield after surviving a basement attack, the townsfolk come together to stop him.

After successfully redoing what Halloween: H20 (1998) did two decades earlier, only now also erasing Halloween II (1981) from continuity, David Gordon Green’s Halloween (2018) was a sequel most fans of John Carpenter’s classic Halloween (1978) enjoyed. It was a slasher movie that newcomers could jump into fresh, but then feel compelled to watch the original to learn more about the backstory of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) when she was a young babysitter who survived a home invasion by Michael Myers.

Presented as a one-off sequel (even franchise stalwart Curtis thought this was a one-and-done deal), Halloween’s critical and commercial success rejuvenated the original pitch of making a trilogy. Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends were quickly put into back-to-back production, slated for release in October 2020 and 2021, although the dates have slipped by a year due to the…