Samhain Project #13: "Halloween Kills"

     

     Since 1980, I've grown up with Halloween being part of my October rituals as evidenced by this and this.   I wasn't terribly skeptical when 2 years ago, I saw David Gordon Green's 40 years later direct sequel, because I trust him as a filmmaker going way back.  He is a true renaissance man in filmmaking respect.  And it turns out I couldn't have been more right as he and Danny McBride, the gents behind scripting and directing the revival, have shown they have nothing but love and respect for the original. 

     This one picks up where the last one left off, Halloween, 2018.  The story grows from there, with Green and McBride bringing in elements of the 1978 original straight into the story with some more performers from the original to play their characters 40 years later.  Green and McBride show guts even going back to 1978's timeline on screen and flawlessly, using modern technology and seamless casting.   As my kid told me this morning, (You can check out the youngster's writing here, here, and here, for opinions on everything from George A. Romero, to Billy Jack, to the criminally underrated Midnight Movie) McBride said they'd pay homage to the sequels while skipping over them, and so far they've held to that in both films, in a way that will bring grins to a true Halloween fanatic's face.

     Of course this was executive produced by John Carpenter, the genius behind the original, along with Debra Hill, and he is the composer along with his son Cody, and Daniel Davies.  It feels like home to have the maestro involved.  The score is one of the films many strong points, to boot.  Green and McBride lay down a possible story sword so that it can be wielded more strongly in the finale of the trilogy, but bring out homages to Frankenstein and as my kid mentioned, 1989's Halloween 4 as they do so.  

     Halloween Kills joins its many partners in the series as one to be referred to this time of the year for spookytime viewing, but for my bottom dollar, you can't beat starting with the original, and then cutting to 2018's sequel, and then Kills, until Halloween Ends comes out next fall to drop the final bomb.