He’s back and still not dead. The last time audiences saw Michael Myers was in 2018 in the movie Halloween. Forty years after the night of the original 1978 movie, Laurie Strode defends herself from Michael  after he escapes from an institution.  At the movie’s end, Myers was trapped in the basement of Strode’s home, surrounded in flames.

Halloween Kills came out October 15, and the story takes place the same night as the 2018 movie–continuing as Laurie Strode is on her way to the hospital.

The movie brought back many actors from the first Michael Myers movies Halloween in 1978 and Halloween II in 1981 including Tommy, the little boy that Laurie was babysitting as a teenager, the young girl whose babysitter was killed, and one of the nurses who survived in Halloween II.  Through flashbacks, characters relive Michaels’s killings, and they all made a plan to kill him once and for all.

Rotten Tomatoes’ audience score was 67%. Some talked about how they loved how all of the movies connected. Some claimed that the movie was not scary at all, just gory. A lot of people found the beginning of the movie confusing because of the use of multiple flashbacks, but after the movie actually started they started to understand it. Some also said how they liked this movie more than 2018 one.

The common criticism was about the movie’s ending. People said that the characters’ failure to, again, defeat Michael is not only frustrating but unbelievable. Michael Myers is supposed to be human, but his ability to withstand multiple injuries seems to suggest that he has superhuman strength. And the characters’ inability to strike a final life-ending blow when Michael is incapacitated seems unlikely.

Eighth-grade teacher Mrs.Saunders is a horror movie fanatic the loves the entire Halloween series–especially the early ones from the 70s and 80s. She says this movie had more creative kills than the last movie. She says for the most part it was fine and entertaining but she would have loved a better ending. Saunders also states that the movie lacked the suspense of the previous films and relied on gore for its scare factor. Saunders wished Laurie Strode played a bigger part in the movie and would like to see a satisfying end to the series rather than dragging it out again and again.

The movie made $131.6 million at the box office. That’s half of what Halloween made in 2018.  Covid fears likely play a role in the lower earnings, but are people getting tired of the franchise? Is it time to wrap it up?  Allegedly, Halloween Ends is in the works, slotted to come out next October.  Maybe audiences will finally get and ending between Laurie and Michael once and for all.