Halloween Kills

It is the sequel to 2018’s Halloween and the twelfth installment in the Halloween franchise. The film stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, and Will Patton. The film begins on the same night where the previous film ended with James Jude Courtney reprising his role as Michael Myers whose presence has become apparent to the residents of Haddonfield.

Jason Blum served as a producer on the film through his Blumhouse Productions banner, alongside Malek Akkad and Bill Block. Executive producers include Jamie Lee Curtis and John Carpenter with Carpenter also returning to compose the score with his son Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies.

Before the release of the film, McBride confirmed that he and Green were originally intending to pitch two films that would be shot back-to-back and then decided against it, waiting to see the reaction to the first film. Following the critical and commercial success of the 2018 film, development on the sequel promptly began as early as October 2018.

By February 2019, Teems was hired to co-write the script. The film’s title was officially announced in July 2019, along with its sequel. Principal photography began in September 2019 in Wilmington, North Carolina, and concluded in November in the same year.

Following a year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Halloween Kills had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on September 8, 2021, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 15, 2021, by Universal Pictures. It also streamed simultaneously on paid tiers of Peacock for 60 days.

The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the film’s brutality, creative kills, score, cinematography and the performances of the cast (particularly Curtis, Greer and Matichak), but criticized its screenplay, direction, and plot. Despite this, it was a box office success, grossing over $133 million worldwide. A sequel, Halloween Ends, was released on October 14, 2022.

Hawkins also prevents Dr. Samuel Loomis from executing Michael who had surrendered to police outside of his home. Forty years later, on October 31, 2018, after being stabbed and left to die by Dr. Ranbir Sartain, Hawkins is found by Cameron Elam, who calls an ambulance. Hawkins regrets allowing Michael to live and vows to kill him.

Meanwhile, Tommy Doyle commemorates the 40th anniversary of Michael’s capture along with fellow survivors Marion Chambers, Lindsey Wallace, and Cameron’s father, Lonnie Elam, having each survived an encounter with Michael in 1978. Firefighters responding to Laurie Strode’s burning house encounter Michael, who slaughters them with their own equipment.

Laurie, her daughter Karen, and her granddaughter Allyson are taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, where Laurie undergoes emergency surgery, while Michael attacks Laurie’s neighbors before walking back to Haddonfield.

Tommy, Marion, Lindsey, and Lonnie learn of Michael’s killing spree through an emergency alert. Tommy forms a mob of vengeful Haddonfield residents to hunt down and kill Michael. Karen is informed that Michael is still alive and withholds that information from Laurie to allow her to recover, while Allyson reconciles with Cameron, her ex-boyfriend, and joins Tommy’s mob to avenge her own father’s death.

While warning the Haddonfield community to stay inside their houses, Marion and bar patrons Vanessa and Marcus are killed by Michael. Lindsey escapes and is found alive by Tommy, Lonnie, Allyson, and Cameron. The group map out Michael’s path and his victims’ location and deduce that he is heading towards his childhood home.

Tommy takes Lindsey to the hospital and reunites with former Haddonfield sheriff Leigh Brackett, whose daughter Annie was killed in 1978, and informs Laurie about Michael’s survival. Across town, Michael murders the current owners of his home as Laurie prepares to leave the hospital.

Lance Tivoli, a fugitive convict from Smith’s Grove Psychiatric Hospital, who escaped alongside Michael when their bus crashed, arrives and is mistaken for Michael. Tommy’s mob pursue him through the hospital before Karen realizes that he is not Michael. Despite her attempts to calm the mob and help Lance, he jumps out of a window to his death.

Laurie urges Karen to work with Tommy and Brackett to hunt Michael down. Elsewhere, Lonnie enters Michael’s home alone and is killed. Allyson and Cameron rush inside and find his corpse before being attacked by Michael, who murders Cameron.

As Michael prepares to kill Allyson, Karen appears and stabs him in the back with a pitchfork, steals his mask, and taunts him to follow her. She leads Michael into Tommy’s mob, who seemingly kill him. When the mob disperses, Michael awakens and massacres the entire mob, including Tommy and Brackett.

Back at the Myers house, Karen sees a vision of a young Michael in Judith Myers’s old bedroom and goes upstairs to investigate. Michael appears and stabs Karen to death as Laurie stares out of her hospital room.