genre: horror, slasher, thriller
Halloween (2018) successfully revived the franchise, and after all this time it was very welcome. But with Halloween Kills, things went downhill superfast. I had hope they would realize their mistakes and improve upon that crappy film. And you know what? The opening sequence did show promise.
Unfortunately, after that scene, the film goes into a territory that is too far removed from what Halloween is supposed to be. Let me explain. The original film was never a deep psychological film. It never actually delved into Michael Myers' psyche that much. Dr. Loomis stated that he was evil, pure and simple. That is all you needed to know. Every event after involving Michael was an expression of that. Whenever he showed up, you knew things were going to end badly for the people there. This alone was surprisingly effective. Sometimes he just stood there, not saying or doing a thing. That silence was deafening, as it sold the terror. With the previous film and this one, I guess they were trying to be clever and sell Michael as some sort of virus. He would infect all the people of the town and make them go crazy. While I must admit that I like that concept, it ultimately detracts from Michael as a horror icon. I mean, this would also imply that maybe, just maybe, Michael could be innocent and that everyone can be cured as long as he is defeated and annihilated. It's a very ignorant perspective on humans and their psychology. People are complex beings. They can be good and evil. There is no such thing as pure evil and pure good. People can be both. But yes, Michael being an anomaly and personification of evil worked.
It is therefore a mystery to me why they wanted to diminish that. But they did and the result is that Michael Myers, the horror icon, is barely in this film. It's because for the most part they are trying to confuse you with an idea that follows the Michael Myers is a virus premise. And one character in particular is infected with it. I tried my hardest to embrace the premise, only I couldn't. It's just too stupid. I tried the same for the Psycho angle. It could have worked. Only they demolish that possibility in the last part of the film. At one point, I was even rooting for the Bonnie and Clyde approach. This also doesn't go anywhere. Then the end. Well, as a conclusion to this trilogy it was decent I guess. But was it satisfying? No! I think after twenty minutes or so, I kept shaking my head in disbelief. This still is Halloween, right? What the hell am I watching?
Some kills were good enough, but just because they were messy and gory. Like in Halloween Kills, there was zero tension or suspense. A good slasher film should be built on that. But this is the problem. Halloween Ends, is not a slasher. It's a pretentious political film without the substance to back that up. The heavily flawed Purge films did it much better in that regard. Overall, Halloween Ends is a disappointment. A little better than the previous film, but honestly, that is not saying much since that one was super crappy. Avoid!
No comments:
Post a Comment