Rating: 3/5
Hooptober 2.0 | 3/31 | Franchise 3/5
Haddonfield, Illinois, Halloween Night 2019 Corey Cunningham fills in at the last minute as a babysitter for prank-obsessed Jeremy Allen. Despite Jeremy’s parents’ request, Corey shows Jeremy The Thing. They joke with each other about how Michael Myers is still out there. Jeremy plays an elaborate prank on Corey. He locks Corey in the attic. Panicking, Corey kicks the door open, sending Jeremy flying over the banister and down two stories to his death. Jeremy’s parents walk in just before Jeremy hits the ground.
Four years after the events of Halloween Kills, Michael Myers vanished. In the grief and paranoia, every accident became intentional, and every murder not immediately explained was blamed on Michael. Laurie moved out of her compound and into a home she shares with her granddaughter, Allyson. Still, she appears at every crime scene, wondering if evil has returned.
Corey works for his dad at a junkyard. Otherwise, he lives a quiet life. After a run-in with some teens, Laurie helps Corey out. They slash the teens’ tire. Laurie brings Corey to the doctor where Allyson works. Their lives become entangled as we learn how deep Corey’s trauma and problems go.
You have to ask yourself, "Am I in control, or do the elements control me? Life or death. Suicide or cherry blossoms."
I don’t understand everyone’s animosity towards Laurie. They act like she controls Michael or that he wouldn’t kill if not for her. Corey’s mother believes that Corey became the boogeyman of the town when Michael disappeared. And she blames that on Laure.
It feels like a flimsy parallel they want to draw between Laurie and Allyson. As Allyson falls for Corey, Laurie recognizes something in him that worries her. Allyson stays with Laurie because she is Laurie’s only ally. Corey awakens the anger in her — the desire to burn it all to the ground.
Help me. Show me how to do it.
Moving Michael to the background does wonders for the screenwriters. When they don’t have the weight of the franchise on their shoulders, they put together some compelling ideas.
Still, they stretch out the movie with unbearable recapitulation of the same ideas. It’s like the writers don’t trust themselves to deliver on subtext.
Still, this is the best of the trilogy by far. This movie isn’t a massive improvement, but it’s much better than the direction Halloween Kills went. Also, a Diana Prince cameo!