Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, James Jude Courtney, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, Rohan Campbell, and Kyle Richards

Directed by David Gordon Green

Blumhouse, out now (and on Peacock)

 

The saga of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode comes to its conclusion.

After last year’s disappointing Halloween Kills, it was hoped that director and co-writer David Gordon Green could pull something out of the bag to finish his new trilogy on a high. Sadly, it looks like his 2018 Halloween was a fluke.

Written by Paul Brad Logan, Chris Bernier, Danny McBride and Green, we flash back to new character Corey (Rohan Campbell) who is babysitting for young Jeremy on Halloween night. They’re watching John Carpenter’s The Thing on TV (ho ho) but tragedy follows and Corey accidentally kills Jeremy in a freak accident. It’s a ballsy move introducing a major new character to the series at this late point, but sadly this is a misstep.

Instead of focusing on Laurie Strode and Michael Myers, too much time is spent on Corey becoming the town’s outcast, picked on by bullies and turning bad. The transformation is completed when he’s left for dead in a drain, where Michael takes him under his wing and the two become a serial killing tag team. At the same time, Laurie’s granddaughter gets involved with Corey because she clearly loves a bad boy.

Thus follows a series of gory but not that inventive murders as Michael and Cory pick off the locals, reliably scored by John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies. Laurie spends most of the movie cooking, knitting or writing her memoir – Stalkers, Saviors and Samhain – getting abuse from townsfolk or flirting with Officer Hawkins. When Michael and Laurie finally meet up, there’s under 20 minutes to go, and that includes the closing credits.

Verdict: As bad as any Halloween knock-off, instead of focusing on what the fans really wanted, Green and co have tried something different, but it’s a fatal flaw. 3/10

Nick Joy