Well, evil didn't die tonight.
And yet, that's all we kept hearing for two months. The trailers chanted the phrase. So naturally, audiences that didn't know about Halloween Ends were a little peeved at Halloween Kills' ending. How many lives could The Shape possibly have? The answer is ... infinite. But the avid Halloween fans already knew this was a sequel trilogy, understanding Michael Myers wouldn't die just yet (if ever).
Halloween Kills brought two new themes to the franchise—empathy and self-reflection. So let's recap.
As expected, Halloween Kills takes place immediately after the Strode women (Laurie, her daughter Karen, and granddaughter Allyson) left Michael to die in a fiery trap. In Halloween 2018, we reveled in Laurie's short, powerful farewell to Michael. Unfortunately, she spoke too soon as we heard his hollow breathing in the end.
Aside from the Strodes, Halloween Kills introduces a different take on that fateful night in 1978. We meet a young Officer Hawkins, who Doctor Sartain slashes in Halloween 2018. On Oct. 31, 1978, Hawkins is a rookie cop who enters Michael's childhood home after The Shape murdered Laurie's classmates. Hawkins' partner reveals he knew the young Michael before he stabbed his sister Judith in 1963. And all a Halloween fan could think of was, "Michael Myers had a friend?" It's a cruel thought, but he mercilessly butchered Judith for no apparent reason. So, what Hawkins unravels adds more layers of humanity to an otherwise inhumane story.
Forty years in the future, Hawkins tells Laurie he had the chance to kill Michael in '78; The film cuts back to the moment as several cops corner the masked murderer at his home's front door. As Loomis is about to shoot, Hawkins intercepts and stops the kill. He admits to Laurie he could only think about how Michael was "somebody's son." This is exactly the challenge that Halloween Kills carves out—empathy is necessary, but it can also be a weakness (at least in this case).
Michael is the "essence of evil." Yet no one recognized that in '78 except Loomis and Laurie. Now that Michael's back to hack, saw, bludgeon, and slash the town, Haddonfield learned there is nothing human about him. And at the same time, the community becomes just as monstrous after chasing an innocent patient to his death. Thanks to Tommy Doyle, the "evil dies tonight" crowd doesn't think twice when they think they've got Michael trapped.
The head-splattering fall isn't as shocking as it was intended to be. Modern audiences are smart. They can keep up with fast-paced changes. As a result, many of us weren't that surprised when the bloodthirsty mob killed an innocent. It's clear that Halloween Kills wants to scare us with a taste of our own medicine. Human beings are just as killer-bound as someone like Michael Myers.
Karen, on the other hand, symbolizes awareness as she recognizes the inherent issue. She defends the patient until his demise, doing anything she can to protect him. Her only problem is she thinks the law enforcement "system" can beat Michael. Meanwhile, it didn't, as Laurie conveniently says, "Well the system failed." However, Karen leads Haddonfield with a noteworthy point—to not dwell on the wrongdoings but to move forward with the right actions. Let’s admit it, Judy Greer delivered and kicked ass.
It’s just a shame that our scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis is sidelined for the entire flick. Sure, we see a few moments between her and Karen, and with Officer Hawkins. But nevertheless, Laurie should have had more screen time instead of her brief hospital moments and ending zoom-out of her face, as if she knows what happened to Karen.
Halloween Kills checks off all the boxes in its focus on human empathy and ethics. It clarifies our flaws when we drown in anger. Yet the film simultaneously teases us with the whole "Can you blame me?" victim POV. If we can't understand why evil does what it does, we can understand why we're so uncontrollably infuriated by it.
The only complaint is how hard the film tries to convey that message—how people can let grief, fear, and anger overpower us. When Tommy starts assembling his army, some viewers cringed at how cliche it seemed. It's almost too easy for him to start an uprising. Then again, a movie only gets a certain timeframe.
Now, onto the reflection bit. Halloween Kills fixates on Michael's childhood home window. In '78, Hawkins' partner recalls how Michael would just stare outside his window, unaware of what he was looking at. Next, he visits this spot under the new homeowners' roof. And we still don't know what Michael's looking at. Even when Karen approaches it, we only see her looking out of it.
The question is, what is this window obsession? Why is it so important to discover what Michael's looking at?
This was tough for some viewers to absorb, at least for their first viewing. Some don't understand what's up with the window. The film doesn't make it clear enough. However, this might have been the objective—to leave it up to our discretion. Perhaps Michael was always looking at his own reflection? Maybe he is still frustrated with what he sees in himself. And there is that scene when, before he obliterates the elderly couple, he shatters a mirror before killing. What if he can't stand what his reflection shows of who he is inside? (Thanks Pocahontas)
And this takes us back to the mask. In Halloween 2018, the news reporters try to tempt Michael with it. After all, he had to live without it for 40 years. So is the mask Michael's effort to conceal himself, even from his own reflection? The ending of Halloween Kills might emphasize this since we don't technically see Michael's full face. After all, he pursues Karen when she takes his mask. Then he puts it back on before taking a swing at the army of angry Haddonfielders. It's as if Michael can't kill without it. Whatever the case is, hopefully, Halloween Ends will clear this up for us.
Overall, Halloween Kills attempts to grip us, to hold up a mirror to society. And it does the job. But maybe it could have gradually built up to its "evil dies tonight" theme. Perhaps the film could have gradually unraveled the phrase (i.e at the bar), rather than stab us with it in the hospital.