“Halloween Kills,” released Oct. 15, picks up right where the 2018 film “Halloween” left off, showing Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, facing off with Michael Myers after he escaped from the mental institution. 

In “Halloween Kills,” the audience  travels back in time to 1978, when it all began. Here, we see a young Deputy Hawkins, played by Thomas Mann, who accidentally shoots his partner dead while encountering Michael in the house he killed his sister in. 

The backstory of Michael was weak since audiences knew the history from previous “Halloween” movies. It does provide insight as to why Officer Hawkins is full of guilt and wants to be the one to kill Michael, but other than that, it wasn’t needed.

Back in the present day, the action starts, but it happens too fast for a movie that’s an hour and 45 minutes long. The film’s downfall was trying to fit too many characters, scenes and different plot points into the time limit and not focusing on fleshing out characters enough.

Back again as Laurie, Curtis delivers a strong performance but is overshadowed by her other, younger castmates. The actress who outshines is Allyson, played by Andi Matichak, who was first seen in 2018’s “Halloween.”

Allyson is shown in the hospital grieving over her father and wishing well for her grandmother when she gets the news that Michael is still alive. After making her mother, Karen, believe that she was staying in the room with her grandmother, she sneaks out with her boyfriend, Cameron, to help kill Michael.

She knows that with Michael dead, she and her family will be able to grieve and heal properly, so she makes it her mission to take him out. Her passion for killing is just as strong as Tommy Doyle’s, played by Anthony Michael Hall.

Tommy had an encounter with Michael in the past, and ever since has made it his duty to see him dead. That chance comes when he is at the bar, along with Lindsey, Marion, and Lonnie and they are notified of Michael’s recent killings.

Also, Doyle starts the chant, which is echoed throughout the entire movie, “Evil dies tonight,” which causes a chaotic rampage in the hospital and sets off the overall mission of the movie.

What “Halloween Kills” lacks in screenwriting and plot, it makes up for in the gore and bloody nature of Michael’s kills. Most of his kills were violent and quite honestly overkill, but he was the star of the movie nonetheless. 

For a sequel where the story is already set up and the writers needed to add more, it was the weakest point of the movie. There wasn’t interesting dialogue, lines were repetitive, and the story became predictable. Overall, There was no shock value and audiences were left feeling unsatisfied. 

With a slate of October 2022, the final film in the modern “Halloween,” trilogy, comes “Halloween Ends” with the same writers, director, and most of the cast returning.