Halloween Kills is a 2021 American slasher film directed by David Gordon Green and written by Green, Danny McBride, and Scott Teems. The film is a sequel to 2018's Halloween and the twelfth installment in the Halloween franchise. The film stars Jamie Lee Curtis and James Jude Courtney, who reprise their roles as Laurie Strode and Michael Myers. Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, and Will Patton also reprise their roles from the previous film, with Anthony Michael Hall and Thomas Mann joining the cast. The film, which begins precisely where the previous film ended, sees Strode and her family continuing to fend off Myers, this time with the help of the Haddonfield community.
Jason Blum serves as a producer on the film through his Blumhouse Productions banner, alongside Malek Akkad and Bill Block. Before the release of the 2018 film, McBride in June 2018 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 commenced in September 2019 in Wilmington, North Carolina.
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 will also stream on paid tiers of Peacock for 60 days. The film has grossed $92 million worldwide against a production budget of $20 million, and received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the creative kills and performances, but criticized its screenplay and lack of innovation.
Plot[]
On October 31, 1978, Deputy Frank Hawkins accidentally shoots his partner dead while trying to save him from Michael Myers. He also prevents Dr. Sam Loomis from executing Michael. Forty years later, on October 31, 2018, after being stabbed and left to die by Dr. Ranbir Sartain, Hawkins is found by teenager Cameron Elam, who calls an ambulance. Hawkins regrets not allowing Michael's execution and vows to kill him.
Meanwhile, Tommy Doyle celebrates the 40th anniversary of Michael's imprisonment along with fellow survivors Marion Chambers, Lindsey Wallace, and Cameron's father, Lonnie Elam, all having encountered Michael in 1978. Firefighters responding to Laurie Strode's burning house unknowingly release 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, as Michael murders Laurie's neighbors before making his way back to Haddonfield.
Tommy, Marion, Lindsey, and Lonnie learn of Michael's killing spree through a wireless emergency alert. Bar patron Vanessa supposedly encounters Michael in her car, but the driver crashes and escapes unnoticed. 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. Allyson reconciles with Cameron, her ex-boyfriend, and she joins Tommy's mob to avenge her own father's death. Laurie and Hawkins both awaken in the same room and reminisce about their former relationship.
While warning the Haddonfield community to stay inside their houses, Marion, Vanessa, and her husband 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 Tovoli, a fugitive convict from Smith's Grove Psychiatric Hospital and Vanessa's car driver, 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 a window to his death. Laurie urges Karen to work with Tommy and Brackett to hunt Michael down. Elsewhere, Lonnie heads in alone to Michael's home 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 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 swarm, attack, and seemingly kill him. When the mob disperses, Michael recovers and massacres the entire mob, including Tommy and Brackett. Back at Michael's home, Karen goes upstairs to investigate while Allyson receives medical attention. Michael appears and stabs Karen to death in Judith Myers's old bedroom as Laurie stares out of her hospital room.