"Halloween kills" follows on directly from the previous entry in this franchise, "Halloween" (2018)...eventually. Maybe it doesn't matter if you haven't seen the 2018 film...or the original 1978 film of the same name but it would make sense to watch the 2018 film first, since this follows on from it.
Unexpectedly, the film draws on moments from the earliest entries in the franchise (I've seen at least the first three entries of the original series, then "H20" and lastly these two most recent entries) as well as adding to them, a bit like seeing something that would exist in a "director's cut" of those original films, even though they don't exist.
Something that I like about this film is that you get a glimpse of inspiration for what the story of inhuman serial killer Michael Myers (for some reason I think that that should be spelled "Meyers"...maybe it was originally spelt that way?) could be. In other words, what is his nature? How did he become what he is? How do you bloody well stop him killing again (glancing at Wikipedia for this franchise, it seems that sequels that I haven't seen have delved into some of this territory)? Another way of saying this is that the film tries to grapple with the nature of its subject. That makes the prospect of seeing the next film in this series something that fills me with anticipation (I probably shouldn't have looked up this film on Wikipedia before seeing it, because it has a 'spoiler' that there will be another film in this franchise out next year). That being said, these 'glimpses of inspiration' for the story might just be teases, an empty promise, that even if delivered on, would underwhelm as any such explanation would necessarily disappoint for being unsatisfactory in some way, shape or form, if you pardon the pun. Of course, one lives in hope that the next instalment could in fact deliver something satisfying on that front, so it would be worth the attempt to come up with something good by the film-makers.
As for the film itself, well, as with the last one, it's not really scary, as far as I remember (I did review the previous film here) but it is gorier. After I watched it, I was thinking that it really should be an R rated film, not the MA 15+ that it is here in Australia. It looks like the film is rated R in the US, which would leave teenagers unable to see it. You can't really say that Michael Myers is revelling in the carnage...I would say that the film-makers are, for the benefit of the implied audience. So, there is an emphasis on extreme horror, as opposed to fear, which isn't really generated here. The carnage can be nasty, cruel and sadistic, with the camera lingering on horrifying situations, unnecessarily so, I'd add. Early on, the murder of two black people in their home had me thinking of Michael Meyers "You monster!"...just because they were not typical of the kind of victims you get in this genre of film.
Also unexpectedly, there is some social commentary to this film, concerning mob violence, which was not something that I saw coming. This element does add some poignancy to proceedings and you could ponder the morality of the ones which bring about this outcome or how they compare and contrast to Michael Myers himself.
Watching this film, I did wonder how much I had forgotten from the original, 1978 film...without looking at Wikipedia, I'm thinking that maybe names have been retrofitted to previously nameless characters but even if that is right, maybe they became more than nameless characters in the sequels that I haven't seen?
Before seeing this film, it was likely, I thought, that I would include in my review of it that I would end my involvement with this franchise here, just because I was bored with it or finding it mindlessly repetitive. As I say, instead this film has whetted my appetite for the sequel. Hopefully that will be final instalment for this franchise. Hopefully it can at least function as a canonical ending to the series...until some producers think that they can make some money resurrecting Michael Myers, which is probably where I will finally have lost interest in seeing any more of these films. There is actually a film in this franchise with the word "resurrection", I see!
My prediction at the end of my review for the previous film as to where I thought the next film would go was dead wrong (I didn't state my predictions but I had some thoughts on where it could go, given the finale of that previous film). Instead, after a strangely long opening credits sequence, this film offered up some more surprises for me (even though in some respects, it necessarily follows in the footsteps of "Halloween II", the sequel to the 1978 film). That's what has lifted my score for this and made me interested in seeing the next instalment. Hopefully it can deliver on some of the promise in this one, perhaps be a bit less gory and wouldn't it be nice if it was scary to boot?
Recommendations:
Halloween (1978). Years ago I learned that this was one of the most successful films of all time, based on box office returns on the production costs.
Halloween II (I'm going on memory here, I saw it a very long time ago on VHS rental but remember liking it).
Hellraiser. This film is the stuff of nightmares and I found it genuinely scary, from memory.
The shining. I came to regard this Stanley Kubrick film as an artistic classic, after initially not finding it as horrific as it was hyped to be by the students in my high school.
The exorcist
Candyman (1992)
Evil dead II (I found this to be a very funny horror film!)
Scream
Showgirls (haven't actually seen this but it's meant to be absolutely frightening!)
Note to self:
Maybe I should watch the Rob Zombie reboot of Halloween films?
Unexpectedly, the film draws on moments from the earliest entries in the franchise (I've seen at least the first three entries of the original series, then "H20" and lastly these two most recent entries) as well as adding to them, a bit like seeing something that would exist in a "director's cut" of those original films, even though they don't exist.
Something that I like about this film is that you get a glimpse of inspiration for what the story of inhuman serial killer Michael Myers (for some reason I think that that should be spelled "Meyers"...maybe it was originally spelt that way?) could be. In other words, what is his nature? How did he become what he is? How do you bloody well stop him killing again (glancing at Wikipedia for this franchise, it seems that sequels that I haven't seen have delved into some of this territory)? Another way of saying this is that the film tries to grapple with the nature of its subject. That makes the prospect of seeing the next film in this series something that fills me with anticipation (I probably shouldn't have looked up this film on Wikipedia before seeing it, because it has a 'spoiler' that there will be another film in this franchise out next year). That being said, these 'glimpses of inspiration' for the story might just be teases, an empty promise, that even if delivered on, would underwhelm as any such explanation would necessarily disappoint for being unsatisfactory in some way, shape or form, if you pardon the pun. Of course, one lives in hope that the next instalment could in fact deliver something satisfying on that front, so it would be worth the attempt to come up with something good by the film-makers.
As for the film itself, well, as with the last one, it's not really scary, as far as I remember (I did review the previous film here) but it is gorier. After I watched it, I was thinking that it really should be an R rated film, not the MA 15+ that it is here in Australia. It looks like the film is rated R in the US, which would leave teenagers unable to see it. You can't really say that Michael Myers is revelling in the carnage...I would say that the film-makers are, for the benefit of the implied audience. So, there is an emphasis on extreme horror, as opposed to fear, which isn't really generated here. The carnage can be nasty, cruel and sadistic, with the camera lingering on horrifying situations, unnecessarily so, I'd add. Early on, the murder of two black people in their home had me thinking of Michael Meyers "You monster!"...just because they were not typical of the kind of victims you get in this genre of film.
Also unexpectedly, there is some social commentary to this film, concerning mob violence, which was not something that I saw coming. This element does add some poignancy to proceedings and you could ponder the morality of the ones which bring about this outcome or how they compare and contrast to Michael Myers himself.
Watching this film, I did wonder how much I had forgotten from the original, 1978 film...without looking at Wikipedia, I'm thinking that maybe names have been retrofitted to previously nameless characters but even if that is right, maybe they became more than nameless characters in the sequels that I haven't seen?
Before seeing this film, it was likely, I thought, that I would include in my review of it that I would end my involvement with this franchise here, just because I was bored with it or finding it mindlessly repetitive. As I say, instead this film has whetted my appetite for the sequel. Hopefully that will be final instalment for this franchise. Hopefully it can at least function as a canonical ending to the series...until some producers think that they can make some money resurrecting Michael Myers, which is probably where I will finally have lost interest in seeing any more of these films. There is actually a film in this franchise with the word "resurrection", I see!
My prediction at the end of my review for the previous film as to where I thought the next film would go was dead wrong (I didn't state my predictions but I had some thoughts on where it could go, given the finale of that previous film). Instead, after a strangely long opening credits sequence, this film offered up some more surprises for me (even though in some respects, it necessarily follows in the footsteps of "Halloween II", the sequel to the 1978 film). That's what has lifted my score for this and made me interested in seeing the next instalment. Hopefully it can deliver on some of the promise in this one, perhaps be a bit less gory and wouldn't it be nice if it was scary to boot?
Recommendations:
Halloween (1978). Years ago I learned that this was one of the most successful films of all time, based on box office returns on the production costs.
Halloween II (I'm going on memory here, I saw it a very long time ago on VHS rental but remember liking it).
Hellraiser. This film is the stuff of nightmares and I found it genuinely scary, from memory.
The shining. I came to regard this Stanley Kubrick film as an artistic classic, after initially not finding it as horrific as it was hyped to be by the students in my high school.
The exorcist
Candyman (1992)
Evil dead II (I found this to be a very funny horror film!)
Scream
Showgirls (haven't actually seen this but it's meant to be absolutely frightening!)
Note to self:
Maybe I should watch the Rob Zombie reboot of Halloween films?