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Similar to most sequels within excessively long movie franchises, however, Halloween Kills didn’t quite live up to its predecessors. It seems as if less effort and potentially even time were put in to produce this mediocre horror flick. Once a series becomes a household name and gains a sizable following, the later movie additions tend to be of less quality. Hollywood expects for the film to profit well regardless, so the demand to change things up with fresh and unique ideas dwindles. This is a common pattern throughout all genres of cinema and evidently applies to Halloween Kills.

Not only is the dialogue cliche and difficult to take seriously in numerous scenes, but some of the actors butcher what could have been interesting or at least tolerable characters. Many of the line deliveries are over-exaggerated and frankly amateur, which isn’t a good combination with the script already being corny in itself.

While the plot was already expected to be a bit shaky, considering writers can typically only conjure up so much creativity past the fourth film, it somehow manages to be even more underwhelming. The primary settings are hardly any different from what’s appeared in the recent Halloween movies and the horror genre in general. Overall, the writing and plot feels like a regurgitation of the past movies purely so that Michael Myers can somehow continue his laughably endless rampage.

Despite these flaws, an almost redeeming quality the movie had is its scare factor. The iconic horror franchise maintains its legacy of shocking jumpscares; however, there are moments when the suspense feels a bit cheesy and overly forced. The almost deafening heavy breathing and violent shaking of the character who’s about to meet their demise is only effective the first couple times.

While the suspense progression lost its luster earlier on in the movie, the jumpscares themselves retain an exciting kick to them. The split second right before Michael strikes always seems predictable, but somehow still manages to catch the audience off guard. All things considered, it’s relatively difficult not to be startled by a giant man sporting what looks to be a partially mangled Party City mask.

There’s only so much an intimidating antagonist can do, especially when paired with substandard death scenes. With the Halloween series including a grand total of twelve movies, it’s no shocker that there isn’t much new brought to the table in terms of the chase and kill portions. Although these particular scenes in the movie are filmed and directed fairly well, they collectively feel repetitive and almost mundane when compared to other horror franchises, like Chucky, who have done a phenomenal job with creativity for murder methods.

The most common and enduring theme throughout the movie is the chase and sneakattack segments occurring in either a neighborhood or specifically inside a house. While this aspect definitely has a monotonous feel to it, the director’s choice to keep those locations consistent brings a sense of nostalgia for more dedicated Halloween fans, especially those biased to the earlier movies. This effect also applies to Michael’s unimaginative but arguably iconic weapon of choice: a kitchen knife. The lack of variety in the atmosphere and kill approach, however, ultimately causes the film to fall short.

While die-hard lovers of the franchise might appreciate Halloween Kills for all of its nostalgic dramatics, slasher scenes and most importantly Michael Myers, the remainder of viewers probably wouldn’t be able to overlook the awkward writing, comical acting and unremarkable character deaths.

Student Opinions

62% = YES 38% = NO

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