Halloween Kills (2021)

The latest entry in the Halloween saga.

Perhaps no film series has retconned itself as much as the Halloween series. Heck, three of the entries in the series are simply titled Halloween: the 1978 original from John Carpenter that started it all, the 2007 redo by Rob Zombie, and the 2018 version which was made to coincide with the original’s 40th anniversary. Along with the series’s killer Michael Myers, the most prominent figures in the series are Jamie Lee Curtis’s Laurie Strode and Donald Pleasance’s Dr. Sam Loomis. Both of them appeared in the first two films of the series, while neither appeared in the anthology entry Halloween III: Season of the Witch. When the original film turned 10, the series was reborn with Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. Pleasance returned as Loomis, but Curtis was, by this point, making her mark in blockbusters like A Fish Called Wanda and True Lies. This is why the fourth film and the following two sequels focus on Laurie’s daughter Jamie, played by Danielle Harris in parts 4 and 5 (The Revenge of Michael Myers), and by J.C. Brandy in part 6 (The Curse of Michael Myers). Alas, that sixth entry proved less than popular with horror fans (and is even more of a letdown when you consider it was Pleasance’s final film), and the series seemed to be at an end. That is, of course, until the first film turned 20, and Curtis agreed to return to play Laurie in Halloween H20. That film, which was dedicated to Pleasance, was the first retcon of the series: it ignored all but the first two entries (à la Superman Returns) and erased Laurie’s daughter, replacing her with a son named John played by Josh Hartnett. The success of H20 was followed by the less-than-stellar Halloween: Resurrection in 2002. Rob Zombie’s reboot came five years later, and cleverly cast Danielle Harris as Laurie’s best friend Annie. I must confess, the only Zombie film I’ve enjoyed is his first House of 1,000 Corpses. Basically, all of his others simply go through the horror movie motions without being fun to watch as well. This applies to his 2007 entry in the Halloween series, which actually has more in common with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre than Halloween. But it was successful enough to allow him to direct a follow up, 2009’s Halloween II, which proceeded to get its ass kicked by Final Destination 4 in 3-D at the box office. Still, I wasn’t really surprised when the original turned 40 and another Halloween came out. This one saw Curtis return and with Carpenter as a producer, and it went even further than H20 by erasing 1981’s Halloween II from its narrative as well. Which means that the Star Wars-esque aspect of Laurie’s relationship with Michael that became a defining trait of the series (for good and for bad) was now gone. Here, Laurie has a daughter again, but this one is named Karen, played by Judy Greer. Laurie is also a grandmother as well to Allyson, played by Andi Matichak. This entry became the highest grossing in the series and naturally led to the current entry, Halloween Kills, which saw its release delayed for a year due to the pandemic. Like the original Halloween II, this movie picks up at the end of the previous entry. The three Strode women are being taken to a hospital after they trap Michael in Laurie’s burning home.

At the same time, Cameron, who broke up with Allyson in the last film by cheating on her, comes across the body of Deputy Hawkins, who was wounded and left for dead in the previous film. We then see a flashback of how Michael was captured after the ending of the original film. Hawkins was one of the cops who cornered Michael in his old house, but before Michael is surrounded by Dr. Loomis and the police, Hawkins fatally shoots his partner while Michael has him at knife point. After the title sequence, we’re back in the present at a local bar, where we learn that a few alumni of the original film—Loomis’s colleague Marion Chambers, Cameron’s father Lonnie, and the kids Laurie used to babysit, Lindsey (Kyle Richards) and Tommy (Anthony Michael-Hall)—are toasting Laurie. Firemen arrive at Laurie’s home and surprise, surprise, soon find Michael in the burning building. He proceeds to rip them all to pieces with their firefighting gear before making his way over to Laurie’s neighbors, where he kills them and obtains a knife.

Michael’s escape quickly makes the news, and one of the bar’s patrons is spooked when she believes Michael is in her car. Tommy, Lindsey, and Marion lead everyone else to the parking lot, only for the car to drive off and quickly crash. The driver is nowhere to be found, but this prompts Tommy to form a mob to hunt him down, while Lonnie goes to get Cameron.

At the hospital, Karen and Allyson learn that Michael is still alive. This leads to Allyson going to Cameron and his dad to hunt down Michael, which is championed by Sheriff Brackett, who still wishes he had killed Michael for murdering his daughter Annie in the original. We then learn that Michael’s home is now owned by a couple who go by Big John (Scott MacArthur) and Little John (Michael McDonald). They manage to scare off a trio of annoying kids before Michael forcefully takes his home back from them. As Laurie and Hawkins recover, Lindsey and Marion, along with Vanessa and Marcus, the couple who lost their car, find those kids at a playground. The kids say they aren’t scared, but quickly dart off when they realize that Michael has killed their friend. Michael quickly dispatches Marion, Vanessa, and Marcus, although Lindsey manages to hide. Allyson, Tommy, Cameron, and Lonnie find the bodies and recover Lindsey. While she recovers at the hospital, Tommy’s mob arrives and becomes more angered and panicky. So much so that they mistake Lance, another inmate from Michael’s sanitarium, who also managed to escape in the previous film, for Michael. Laurie and Karen deduce that this isn’t Michael, but that doesn’t stop Tommy and most everyone else in the hospital from chasing poor Lance through the corridors.

Laurie is injured in the ruckus, but Karen manages to protect Lance from the mob by locking him in a hallway. Alas, all this leads to is Lance throwing himself out of a window while the mob smashes through the doors. Karen agrees to hunt down Michael with Tommy, and they deduce that he’ll return to his home after he kills, just as he did in 1978. But Allyson, Lonnie, and Cameron arrive there first, with Lonnie telling them to stay put while berating himself for involving them in this hunt. A few moments later, gunshots are heard, which prompt Allyson and Cameron to follow his dad inside. They soon find the bodies of Cameron, Big John, and Little John. Michael quickly pops up and breaks Allyson’s leg as she falls down the staircase, and breaks Cameron’s neck. Allyson dares Michael to kill her before her mom rescues her by shoving a pitchfork into Michael’s back. Karen snatches his mask and leads Michael into an ambush headed by Tommy and Brackett. After retrieving his mask, Michael gets his ass kicked by the mob, culminating with Karen thrusting Michael’s own knife into his back.

But as she returns to comfort Allyson, Michael revives and picks off the mob, including Tommy and Brackett. The film ends with Laurie pondering how Michael represents evil while Karen wanders into Michael’s old bedroom—only to be stabbed to death by him. Like the previous entry, this film certainly has some nice nods that fans will appreciate. I especially liked the Halloween masks that resembled the ones in the aforementioned Season of the Witch. Kudos also should go to the makeup job on Tom Jones Jr., to make him look like Pleasance in the flashbacks, which is as nice a tribute to him as Rouge One was to Peter Cushing’s Tarkin.

But the film is weakened by its focus on the lynch mob, with its constant chanting of “Evil dies tonight.” The sequence with the mob hunting down Lance doesn’t really add anything. I also didn’t like how Karen was dispatched at the last minute. It would’ve been much more moving if she sacrificed herself for her mom and/or her daughter. Still, there’s a nice atmosphere to the movie, and I appreciate that it explains just how Michael was taken back into custody after the end of the original film, whereas the previous movie just left that unexplained. The scenes between the three Strode women are also nicely done. Overall, the film is much like its immediate predecessor. It’s pretty routine with some nice moments. It’s those moments that will make me want to see the next film, Halloween Ends, which is due out next year.

Visiting Hours (1982)

This is a film that's grown on me over the years.

It’s not surprising that there are countless film trailers that prove to be more exciting than the movies they’re advertising. The same can be said for movie posters. Visiting Hours is a case in point, as its cool poster of hospital lights forming a skull is one of two things that, for me, made this stand out from the other slasher films that were made during the ’80s. The other aspect making it stand out is that none other than William Shatner appears in it, just before he made Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. This film begins with news anchor Deborah Ballin (Lee Grant) interviewing a lawyer about a recent case he won, in which he convinced a jury that an abused housewife did not kill her husband out of self-defense as she claims. But Deborah proceeds to rip her guest a new one, giving a strong argument that said housewife was indeed protecting herself. Deborah adds that the lady in question has a new lawyer and is prepared to open the case again, with Deborah’s support.

Her arguments are cheered by her colleagues backstage, although her boss Gary Baylor (Shatner) is flabbergasted, telling Deborah that she must remain neutral when discussing such topics on the air.

One of the studio’s maintenance workers, Colt Hawker (Michael Ironside), is also backstage in a separate room hearing Deborah’s on-air takedown. He shows he’s downright pissed off by squeezing a stress ball before yanking the cord out of a TV set that he was watching. Gary’s put-downs cause Deborah to be pissed off herself as she heads back to her house. She sees that her home is in some disarray, and thinks it’s because of her recent houseguest. But Deborah soon finds the real cause when Colt pops out of nowhere wearing her jewelry. Hey, if you’re going to assault someone, you might as well look flashy, right? He slashes her with his huge switchblade, but she manages to briefly hide in her bedroom and yells out of the window for help from a couple next door. She then heads for her dumbwaiter, which she uses to lower herself to her home’s ground floor. But Colt makes that trip faster by using his blade to cut the cords on the thing. Deborah hits the ground and slowly moves again, until she sees her neighbor entering. I guess Colt just bolted without us knowing, because we next see Deborah being admitted to County General Hospital. The nurse assigned to her, Sheila Munroe (Linda Purl), makes her comfortable, while Gary delivers flowers. Colt enters the hospital pretending to be a florist and gets access to the floor Deborah is recuperating on. As he stalks his way to her room, he overhears Sheila badmouthing him over the phone. He gets into one of the rooms and uses his switchblade to cut the oxygen tube of a patient, thinking it’s Deborah. Alas, it turns out to be another woman. For some reason though, Colt decides that this is the time to take pictures of the poor lady as she’s gasping for air. She manages to press her help button, summoning Sheila and one of her colleagues. Sheila goes to another patient requesting help, while her co-worker goes into the dying victim’s room and is quickly killed by Colt. Shelia enters shortly afterward and finds both bodies. Startled, she sees Colt leaving and calls for him to help. But the elevator he’s now in closes its doors before she can get too close to him and his switchblade. After explaining everything to the police, Sheila goes home, preoccupied with what’s happened. Colt clandestinely follows her to her home, where she kisses her two sleeping children before getting into her sleepwear. Her babysitter/friend Denise asks if everything’s okay, and Sheila tells her no. I’m assuming Denise is also Sheila’s girlfriend, since she plops into bed next to Sheila wearing only a towel.

Colt later returns to his apartment. Not long after, he picks up a girl named Lisa at a restaurant. At his place, she notes the hate letters he has posted on his walls, which are targeted at women and minorities. This soon leads to Colt brutalizing her.

After Deborah gives the press an update on her recovery, she becomes alarmed when she learns of the two people Colt has killed. Both Sheila and Gary try to reassure her that there’s nothing to worry about, but Deborah is convinced that Colt is going to keep coming after her. Her fear only increases when they learn that Colt killed another patient and a police officer before he bolted again. However, she needs surgery in order to conduct an upcoming interview, so Sheila sedates her. We next see Colt keeping his father company at a nursing home. It’s here that we learn that his hatred of women comes from his abused mother throwing hot water in his dad’s face when Colt was a kid. He continues to stalk Sheila, even taking pictures of her, as she goes to her second job at a nearby clinic. As luck would have it, she meets Lisa there, who tells her the story behind her recent injuries. They shoot the breeze, with Sheila telling her that she also works at the hospital. Colt later returns to his place to find it ransacked. There are also lewd messages on his walls written in what looks like blood. But what really draws his attention is that the pics he took of Sheila and his hospital victim have been removed from the collage of pics on his closet wall. The collage now resembles the skull used in the ads. At the hospital, Gary keeps reassuring Deborah with increased security. Sheila is surprised to see Lisa in the lobby. The latter says that she and her friends ransacked Colt’s place (which apparently involved mutilating themselves with the blood there?) and Lisa produces the pics she took. But before Sheila can take them to the cops, she gets a phone call. All she hears on the other end are the noises her daughter’s doll makes. Frantically, she tells Lisa to give Gary the pics, and getting no help from the cops, heads off to her place. After arriving, Sheila quietly enters and arms herself with one of her kitchen knives. Reaching her living room, she sees one of her little girl’s dolls is sitting decapitated on the sofa. She makes her way upstairs and quietly tells Denise to wake her daughter Bridget and sit tight. Sheila goes back downstairs and calls Deborah. But before she can talk, Colt stabs her in the gut from beneath a table. He places the receiver next to her and snaps away while she moans in pain. Before departing, Colt takes her knife and places it in front of Denise and Bridget as they stand at the top of the staircase. I guess the guy has a soft spot for kids. Sheila’s cries send the police and Gary, along with the photos, to her place. Colt, meanwhile, returns to his place and downs some pills with beer. He then smashes the bottle on his arm, leaving a nice, bloody mess. As both Sheila and Colt are admitted to the hospital, Gary and the cops are at Colt’s place. As they look over his pics, Colt’s landlady informs them that he was injured and sent to the hospital. As Sheila is prepped for surgery, Colt gets bandaged up and soon after starts his prowling. He finds and begins to chase Deborah after killing the policeman guarding her hospital room door. At one point, he manages to grope her before she tosses alcohol in his face. During their chase, he loses his switchblade while he tries to get in an elevator. Soon, Deborah finds herself in a room where Sheila is waiting to be wheeled away for her surgery. Deborah calls Colt to her location before managing to stick his switchblade into his gut. Being this is a slasher film, Colt grabs her foot as she walks away but dies before he can do anything else.

Lee Grant would go on to say she was less than satisfied with Visiting Hours. This is understandable, as some could interpret the movie as misogynist. I will say, though, that the Deborah/Sheila scenes are pleasant. While Colt comes across as an idiot in some scenes (why would he take the time to kill random people and risk capture if killing Deborah is his sole objective?), the film manages to have unsettling moments. I also must give the film credit for having Lisa, one of Colt’s victims, produce the evidence that incriminates him, as well as Deborah herself being the one who takes the villain down in the climax. Visiting Hours is certainly flawed. Shatner is clearly just here for a paycheck (anyone expecting to see Kirk take down the heavy from Total Recall will be disappointed), and the finale isn’t as lively as the one in the previous year’s Halloween II, another slasher film that takes place mostly in a hospital. Despite all that, I can’t help but give the film points for its good intentions.