KYMM'S 365 DAY MOVIE CHALLENGE #40-#41: HALLOWEEN (2018) & HALLOWEEN KILLS (2021)
Halloween (2018)/Halloween Kills (2021)“
Michael Myers killed five people, and he’s a ‘human being’ we need to ‘understand.’ I’m twice divorced, and I’m a ‘basket case?’”
We’re in the homestretch. Two more, and Jamie Lee Curtis is back from the dead. Again. Please, please be good.
Miramax still existed in 2018? The worm had yet to turn, huh.
It starts out in Smith’s Grove Sanitarium, with Michael Myers having been there for forty years, and…they are about to transfer him, having not learned the main big lesson of the ten previous Halloween films, never ever transfer Michael Myers.
But if he has been there for forty years…does that mean that they again retconned everything after the first Halloween II? The great H20 never happened? This is crazy. But, open mind, open mind, let’s try to jam that mind open.
So, these journalists or researchers or something come to Smith’s Grove to meet with Michael’s doctor, Dr. Sartain (Haluk Bilginer) and Michael himself. Dr. Sartain studied under Dr. Loomis, so he still existed at least.
Interestingly, Michael is billed as The Shape, as in the original film, and also, of the two people who play him, one is Nick Castle, the original Michael/Shape! This is actually promising. Like they are whispering in our ears “This won’t be garbage, have faith.”
The journalists, or possibly podcasters(?), wave Michael’s mask at him and all the other inmates start howling, and I’m starting to think that Dr. Sartian is as poor a doctor as Dr. Loomis for letting this weirdness happen. Ha! They are podcasters. As typically 2018 as the reality TV on the Internet trope from Halloween: Resurrection was in 2002.
Laurie had a daughter in Halloweens 4 and 5, though Laurie was dead. In H20 she had a son instead, and was alive. Then she died again, and now she is alive again, with a daughter named Karen. Because math is fun, Karen and former son John would be the same age, both born in 1981, but Jamie, the first daughter, would have been born in 1979. So this way, Laurie wasn’t getting pregnant basically the day after almost getting killed.
Okay, this first scene with Jamie Lee Curtis and the podcasters is probably the best dialogue scene in any Halloween movie. The heavens are opening before me. This is going to be wonderful.
O wait, didn’t realize they actually retconned back to the first movie, and Halloween II didn’t even happen. The first clue was that Laurie said he killed five people, but he killed way more than that in that understaffed hospital, but then Laurie’s granddaughter is talking to her friend and he asks if Michael was Laurie’s brother, and she says no, that was just a rumour. Okay then!
Laurie, twice divorced, is estranged from her daughter (played by the great Judy Greer), because she was so focused on Michael Myers and keeping the family safe and locked down, that the state took her away from Laurie. She does have a relationship with the granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak, who gets the introducing credit), but everybody wishes that Laurie would just realize that what happened 40 years before is in the past and she doesn’t have to worry about it anymore. They have clearly not read the script.
Laurie in this movie is Ripley in Aliens, or Sarah Conners in Terminator 2, the woman who knows the horrors possible, and will never, ever be unprepared again.
And then. It turns out she was right all along.
Did I say that Halloween H20 was a corker? Well, Halloween 2018 is even corkier. I would almost put it above Halloween 1978, except that would be blasphemy.
Eleven movies down, and three of the eleven are truly great. This is not a bad ratio, considering just how hard it is to make a truly great film.
One more. One film more.
“Evil dies tonight!”
OK, so here’s the thing. The first Halloween movie was perfect, and was followed by the mediocre Halloween II. The next terrific one was Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, the seventh film, followed by the almost entirely terrible Halloween: Resurrection. Now, we just had the third great one, Halloween (2018), will the tradition continue? IT! WILL! NOT!
Like Halloween/Halloween II (the first ones), Halloween/Halloween Kills both take place entirely on the same night. Both times, quite a night.
Of course, Michael Myers survives what looks like Certain Death in the last film, which is hardly a spoiler, since this film exists and it’s not all about how Michael is dead and life in Haddonfield is looking pretty sweet. Laurie was badly hurt, so they take her to the hospital, which is generally way more crowded than hospitals are in previous Halloween films.
Meanwhile, at a talent show in a bar, cast members from the very first film gather, presumably so that they can tempt fate after living through that movie. There’s Nurse Marion Chambers (Nancy Stephens) who was in the car with Loomis at the beginning, there’s formerly little Lindsay Wallace (Kyle Richards), Laurie’s babysitting charge that fateful night, and Tommy Doyle, who Annie was babysitting.
Now, Tommy Doyle was marvelously portrayed by Paul Rudd in his film debut, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, but I think he might be a little distracting now, if he played that role. Brian Andrews, the original Tommy, doesn’t seem to have done much acting since the 1980s, so they cast Anthony Michael Hall, who has aged into a really strong character actor.
Tommy tells the story about the first movie, then the TV tells them that there was a bunch of murder that night, and it was kind of, well, Michael Myers, and Tommy decides that this is some bullsh*t right here, and, see quote above, evil dies tonight! So he whips up the crowd into a frenzy, and they all go off into the night to kill Michael, which is a very very terrible idea all around.Laurie’s granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak), and her boyfriend, Cameron (Dylan Arnold), join the hunt. Allyson and Cameron broke up in the last movie after Cameron got drunk and kissed another girl at the party, but Allyson decided that there are priorities after almost getting killed, and a little smooch isn’t much in the Michael Myers scheme of things.
The mob attacks the hospital, and things really don’t go particularly well, as the lesson the film is trying to teach is not “Mob Justice: Awesome Sauce!” Laurie doesn’t have such a central role in the plot, what with the fact that she has a giant knife wound and frankly, the mob doesn’t help in that regard. But she does have some wonderful scenes, and is the heart of the movie. This is no Halloween: Resurrection where she is gone after fifteen minutes.
This movie, though not as transcendent as Halloween 2018, is just great. This is because Jamie Lee Curtis’ presence drags everything up, as far as quality goes. The direction, the script, the camera work, the other actors, everything has to meet her on her level, and absolutely does, beautifully.
I am very much looking forward to Halloween Ends next year, though I know that title is probably not true, and there will be more Halloween movies of varying quality afterwards, but I don’t have to watch them this month, so it’s okay by me.And that’s it! Twelve movies, and I don’t regret it thanks to the big jump in quality here at the end. It did get a little ropey in the middle, i will admit, but I persevered! Looking forward to my parade.
Here is my list of the films, in star rating order:
Halloween (1978) ****
Halloween (2018) ****
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later ****
Halloween Kills *** 1/2
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers *** 1/2
Halloween II (1981) ***
Halloween 4 *** (extra half star for the denouement)
Halloween 5 ** 1/2 (lost half a star for the dumb ending)
Halloween II (2009) **
Halloween: Resurrection ** (one star for Jamie Lee Curtis, one star for Busta Rhymes)
Halloween III: Season of the Witch 1h 38m * 1/2
Halloween (2007) *
Kymm Zuckert is an actor/writer/native Angelino. When Kymm was a child, her parents would take her to see anything, which means that sometimes she will see a film today and say, “I saw that when I was eight, I don’t remember any of that inappropriate sex stuff!” Check out her entire 365 day blog @ https://365filmsin365days.movie.blog