Warning: Spoilers Ahead For Halloween Kills
Halloween Kills once again retcons both the origins and motives of Michael Myers - here's how. Halloween Kills is the 12th movie in the overall saga, which began with the 1978 original. John Carpenter's Halloween is a tightly constructed and simply told horror tale of babysitter Laurie Strode and her friends being stalked by an escaped killer named Michael Myers. Despite its ambiguous ending, Halloween was never meant to spawn a sequel, which in the interest of injecting some drama, revealed Laurie was really Michael's sister.
This retcon of Michael Myers' origin and motives was controversial among fans, but also became the basis for most of the follow-ups. Halloween 6 added another major retrofitting of Myers' backstory by revealing he was controlled by an evil cult, and only stalked on Halloween due to a certain star alignment. Rob Zombie made the most radical departure with his Halloween remake duology, which charted Myers' childhood in an abusive home and how he transformed into a mute serial killer.
Halloween Kills sees director David Gordon Green return following his hugely successful legacy sequel, Halloween 2018. That entry took things back to basics, dropping the convoluted mythology the series had built up across decades of sequels, including the Laurie is Michael's sister twist. This made Michael a pure force of nature again, with his motives unknowable. Of course - as the filmmakers behind 1981's Halloween 2 learned - for the sake of telling a story, a sequel needs to add something new. In this case, Halloween Kills establishes Michael Myers' surprisingly relatable motive: he just wants to go home.
Halloween Kills features a lengthy flashback sequence, where a young Deputy Hawkins learns from another officer what Michael Myers was like as a boy. This officer reveals Michael used to just stare out the window of his sister's room all the time when they would play as kids. Cut to present day in the sequel, and that's all Michael wants to do as he carves a bloody path through town. Halloween Kills ending sees him arrive back at his old house - killing the luckless couple who own it - and getting to stare out the window and at his own reflection once more.
While this gives Michael Myers some kind of inner life, having this be his only goal can't help but feel silly. Halloween Kills also shows how he was captured in 1978, with young Hawkins and the other deputy tracking him back to his house. During a standoff where Myers grabs the other policeman and starts strangling him, Hawkins shoots and accidentally hits the other cop in the neck, killing him. Other police arrive alongside Dr. Loomis, but when he tries to shoot Michael Myers to finish him off, Hawkins stops him - an act that returns to haunt the deputy decades later. A piece of this backstory was revealed as part of Halloween 2018 various retcons, though Kills adds new insight into his arrest.
The sequel also hints - via Laurie's ominous monologue - that Michael isn't exactly human anymore, as nobody could withstand the damage he has. In Halloween Kills he is beaten, stabbed and shot but checks coming, and Laurie feels with each kill he "transcends" into something else. Whether this angle will be explored further in the upcoming Halloween Ends has yet to be revealed.