The Halloween franchise has been successful since 1978. No one can forget about the pinnacle of the horror scene, the iconic spine chilling serial killer Michael Myers. Though he is the face of the Halloween movies, it is also hard to forget Jamie Lee Curtis. She starred in the first Halloween movie (1978) as Laurie Strode, and she has reprised her role in seven of the Halloween movies. The movies are littered with familiar faces from Hollywood including an unexpected one, Kyle Richards from Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. The Halloween franchise as a whole has grossed $700 million at the box office, with the newest addition, Halloween Kills, securing a total of over $130 million at the box office with a budget of only $20 million, according to IMDbPro. 

The actors in the movie are many of the recognizable faces from the first movie. We see the return of Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, Charles Cypher as Sheriff Leigh Brackett, Nick Castle as Michael Myers, and many appearances from actors who played more minor roles: Kyle Richards as Lindsey Wallace, Nancy Stephens as nurse Marion Chambers, and many more. The acting was as good as to be expected from a horror flick. Many people are simply hired to be killed on screen so their acting doesn’t have to be the best. The return of many characters gave a nice “full circle” to the movie even if not everything went as plannedThe horror of Michael Myers has been experienced by this town for almost 60 years, with the brutal murder of his sister beginning his love of killing. Halloween Kills starts off where the last Halloween movie ends. The whole recurring idea of the movie is “evil dies tonight,” in reference to ending the long reign of Michael Myers. The town finds that Michael’s murders are not the only thing that infects them, but it is the fear of him and what the fear does to the people of Haddonfield that is what truly corrupts them. They realize that turning on each other and going crazy is what Michael wants. Though their revelation takes away some of Michael’s power, that is not enough to stop him.

I am a fan of horror movies and have always enjoyed the Halloween franchise. That said, I feel that the idea of an unstoppable killer is predictable. It gives the movies a sense of tiredness and very little build up since we all expect him to get up from every blow. The plot was the same as every other Halloween movie, and that is to stop Michael Myers. To make up for lack of new ideas, they overload the film with unnecessary gore, which in my opinion is a cheap way to fill up screen time. A testament to that statement is that in the first Halloween movie there was no blood. 

The movies have been going since 1978, and though they are enjoyable to watch, they are not very well planned out. I feel that if they would have stopped the movies after the first flick, it would have been a better story. Him walking off to his unforgettable music gives an eerie cliff hanger. Would he kill again? Would he have come back for Laurie Strode? We wouldnt know and that would be the utter fear the movies now lack.

* Photo from IMDB.com