Halloween Kills is the 12th film in the Halloween series. Here is a small tip: if a series is on its 12th movie and is not a cinematic universe of some kind, it generally has gone on too long. Halloween Kills is a good example of this.

For those who do not know, Halloween is a series of horror – more specifically slasher – films chronicling one of the original slashers, Michael Myers. The series has gone through so many different continuities and retroactive changes that untangling them all into a coherent explanation would require a dedicated article. This one follows the 2018 film, Halloween, which rebooted the series to pick up after the end of the 1978 original. Significant retroactive changes and multiple continuities are also a sign that a series is being kept alive when it should be left to die. And trust me, Michael Myers does need to die.

The 2018 movie did its best, leaving Michael trapped in the basement of a burning house. This film picks up immediately after, with Michael being rescued by a squad of firefighters whom he promptly murders before setting off on another killing spree. So far, so standard for a slasher. The unique spin this film attempts is that, rather than acting as terrified prey for the killer, the citizens of the town form a mob to hunt Michael down. This premise was pushed heavily in a number of trailers with the line, “Evil dies tonight.”

This is an idea that has promise – turning a slasher film on its head to make the slasher into prey rather than the almost omnipotent hunter is an interesting, if somewhat basic, inversion of the norm. While a nuanced examination of mob justice was likely beyond the capacity of this film, the concept left me hoping for something of a modern day western with ordinary people gathering together to put down a threat to their community. That was not what this film delivered. Instead we have a half-hearted attempt at nuance, a number of failed attempts at dark comedy and, most importantly, an unsatisfying conclusion. On the positive side, the scoring is well done and the kills impressively executed. If you are just looking for a reasonably gory hour and 45 minutes, you will be satisfied. If you are looking for anything more, you will be disappointed.

All in all, 2 out of 5

Do not waste your money