Halloween Kills (2021)

Where did it all go wrong? The Halloween films have been an uneven mess since John Carpenter forsook his creation back in the 1980s. Much like the Nightmare on Elm Street series, nothing quite touches the original. Halloween Kills is the 2nd film in the newest Halloween trilogy (its 3rd reboot no less), which will culminate in the finale Halloween Ends next year. All the right elements are in place here: Curtis is back, horror maestro Jason Blum is producing, Carpenter and son are making music, indie journeyman David Gordan Greene is at the helm with Danny McBride scribing.  The first film was a huge hit and the 2nd best performing slasher film ever at the box office. Why then is this sequel such a god-awful mess? Almost everything goes wrong in this textbook case of sequelitis. Completely forgetting the strong emotional narrative of the first film, Halloween Kills lists from zany to brooding until it capsizes in a preachy mob violence scene. The only joy to be had from this shipwreck of a film is figuring out what caused the disaster by piecing together its creative debris.