Night #44 of Hooptober IX.

Though I avoided as much as I could going in, the discourse on this one is pretty loud. I debated even writing a review because wading into that pool just makes me exhausted, I just don't want to hear it haha. Anyway, obviously I liked this quite a bit; a little more than Halloween Kills, which was also controversial I guess? While I had some issues with the movie, and it does have that middle film vibe that leaves you with questions, I was always a little baffled at the response. At least this time I get it.

So yeah, the decision to make that movie a lot like the 1981 Halloween II was clearly by design, because this film happily moves in the direction of Halloween III: Season of the Witch. It doesn't abandon the Michael/Laurie plotline entirely (hot take, I think it probably should have) but it does for a substantial amount of time focus elsewhere. The trilogy continues to build upon the ideas of trauma, cycles of violence, mass hysteria, tragedy through the lens of media, and more, while expanding the concept of Haddonfield as a character. A town shaped by an incident, and how a community can come together or fall apart in response.

Does it do any or all these things perfectly? Not at all. Now that I've seen the full trilogy, there are small moments and ideas sprinkled throughout that I'm glad to see were not just throwaways or me over reading, but the weight this film puts into going in a new direction in the first act feels like a huge step away and makes me wonder how much of this they had thought out in the first place. This film almost feels like it could have been a standalone sequel that occurs at any point in the franchise.

I enjoyed all the performances a lot; JLC has some very strong moments, having shifted gears substantially from the more aggressive survivalist to someone trying to return to some form of normalcy, now harried by a community that reacts to her the way she once reacted to them. Newcomer to the franchise Rohan Campbell gives a compelling performance in a surprisingly demanding role for a final film in a trilogy. There are a lot of genuinely sweet, human moments among the characters that add so much tenderness to these damaged characters in a way that slashers typically don't bother.

Of course the score is once again strong, and I enjoyed the visuals; Michael still looks great, there are few good bits of play in the shadow, the gore on display is stellar (though a few cool kills are left obscured this time around). Editing was a little rough though, some scenes feel very abrupt and conversations choppy, and there are a few unintentional bits of confusion I've seen floating around due to certain cuts.

My main complaint now, as hinted earlier, is that the big Michael/Laurie showdown at the end, while enjoyable on its own, feels at arms with the first stretch of the film, and the themes that are being unpacked. Considering the ending of the previous film, the logic just doesn't really check out, and the is he/isn't he supernatural bit just lingers awkwardly after the fact. It's hard to detail what I would've liked to have seen without getting into spoilers (maybe I'd do that in the comments if anyone asks) but I really think the film should've gotten weirder and bolder about the plot direction. They're already pissing people off so you may as well really go for it. A guy in my sadly small audience at the theater yelled "this sucks" shortly after one of the final scenes in the film, so like, why even throw viewers like that a bone, just screw it haha.