Halloween Kills, Michael Myers’ newest rampage through Haddonfield, is riddled with plot gaps, puzzles, and continuity concerns for the rebooted franchise. Director David Gordon Green returns with his follow-up to the critically acclaimed Halloween (2018), which retconned large chunks of Halloween tradition in order to promote John Carpenter’s 1978 masterpiece. Halloween Kills, on the other hand, has had a mixed reaction from critics, with the graphic violence unable to distract from the film’s rambling — and at times incoherent — plot.
The Town Rallying Around Laurie Strode
The Haddonfield residents’ readiness to help Laurie Strode straight out of the gate is one of the oddest storey devices in Halloween Kills, with many going out of their way to die for her cause. Despite the fact that less than a day has passed between Halloween 2018 and Halloween Kills, the town’s opinion of Laurie’s reliability appears to have shifted on a dime. Laurie is insulted by the townspeople on Halloween 2018, but there’s no reason for a random bunch of bar patrons to suddenly rise and scream “evil dies tonight” before rushing to the hospital to protect the woman they had laughed at only 24 hours before.
Haddonfield’s Residents’ Irrationality
As Michael Myers picks them down at random, Halloween Kills reduces its supposed key characters to brainless trash. Instead of ludicrously attempting to battle Myers one at a time, Haddonfield’s firefighters and Tommy-led crowd might have rushed him simultaneously and potentially overpowered him. All of these rash decisions result in a relatively easy time for Michael Myers, who is already supernatural and overpowered, and the stakes in Halloween Kills feel hollow as a result.
Lauren Confirms Michael Is Supernatural
Laurie tells former Haddonfield sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers) a storey while lying in her hospital bed near the end of Halloween Kills in which she verifies Michael is not of this earth — and is made stronger by the dread and loathing of Haddonfield’s citizens. Laurie’s method of obtaining this information on Michael Myers, who is now verified to be supernatural, is likewise perplexing and reeks of the shoddy narrative that has come to define Halloween Kills.
Plot Armor of Michael Myers
Even if you ignore Michael Myers’ supernatural abilities, there are multiple scenes in Halloween Kills where Michael appears to survive only for the sake of the plot. The climactic showdown between Michael and the Strode women in Halloween Kills is the most stunning illustration here. Karen Nelson stabs Michael in the back with a pitchfork as he prepares to murder Allyson, knocking him out and pinning him to the stairwell. Nonetheless, rather than striking first and stabbing their greatest fear personified in the brain, Allyson and Karen dally, and Michael recovers from their blitz attack.
Tommy (and others) had lost track of Michael’s appearance
Haddonfield’s collective memory, which falters at every turn, is the strangest plot hole in Halloween Kills. In a sequence of flashbacks, Halloween Kills delights in revisiting earlier franchise footage in order to demonstrate the damage Michael has inflicted on his Illinois town. Tommy Doyle’s storey is the most well-known since his survival as a little boy on Halloween 1978 left an unforgettable impact on his mind.
Tommy’s apparent forgetfulness about the figure who has haunted his nightmares lasts for the majority of the film, as Tommy and his gang pursue down a random patient who looks nothing like Michael, exhausting all of their energy in the process. Images of Michael’s mask appear in news stories throughout the shambles that is Halloween Kills, making the film’s psychiatric patient subplot feel cheap.
