Michael Myers' latest rampage through Haddonfield in Halloween Kills is brimming with plot holes, headscratchers, and continuity issues for the rebooted franchise. Director David Gordon Green returns with his follow-up to the much-lauded Halloween (2018), which retconned massive swathes of the Halloween lore to champion John Carpenter's 1978 classic. Halloween Kills, however, has opened to a decidedly mixed critical reception, with the film's gratuitous violence not enough to distract from the languishing — and at times nonsensical — plot.
Halloween Kills picks up in the immediate aftermath of Halloween 2018's ending, with Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her progeny being rushed to hospital. While their apparent triumph over evil buoys Laurie's family, unbeknownst to the Strode women, Michael Myers reanimates inside their burning home to cut a swathe of destruction through Haddonfield. Halloween Kills also sees the return of several classic Haddonfield characters, including an admirable performance from Anthony Michael Hall as slasher survivor Tommy Doyle.
Despite being equipped with all the tools to succeed in the rebooted Halloween franchise canon, Halloween Kills falls decidedly flat in the film's potentially decisive moments. Nonsensical character reactions and arcs, coupled with a flimsy premise, conspire to make Halloween Kills a pale imitation of its 2018 predecessor. Here's every plot hole and headscratcher from Halloween Kills.
The Town Rallying Around Laurie Strode
One of the most bizarre plot devices right out of the gate from Halloween Kills is the Haddonfield resident's willingness to support Laurie Strode, with many going out of their way to die for her cause. The town's consensus on Laurie's credibility seems to have flipped on a dime despite less than a day passing between the events of Halloween 2018 and Halloween Kills. In Halloween 2018, Laurie is mocked by the townspeople for her apparent paranoia, with many Haddonfield citizens calling her "the crazy lady." While, admittedly, the police force of Haddonfield may now believe Laurie's stories given their ongoing investigation into Michael, there is simply no reason for a random group of bar patrons to suddenly stand up and proclaim "evil dies tonight" before rushing to the hospital to protect the woman they had laughed at 24 hours prior.
The Stupidity Of Haddonfield's Residents
The idiocy that the vast majority of Haddonfield's citizens display does not end with their changeable feelings towards the Strode family. Incited in Halloween Kills by Tommy Doyle, many of Haddonfield's populace turn from terrified characters into bloodthirsty vigilantes at the drop of a hat, despite very little evidence of Michael's existence to inspire them. To compound matters, Tommy and the other search parties split up into small groups that often run head-first into Michael Myers, setting confrontations that amount to little more than half-baked suicide missions.
Whereas the Haddonfield resident's humanity was one of the shining features of Halloween 2018, Halloween Kills strips its supposed core characters down to brainless fodder as they are picked off at will by Michael Myers. There are several instances where both Haddonfield's firefighters and its Tommy-led-mob could have rushed Myers simultaneously and potentially overpowered him, rather than ludicrously attempting to fight him one at a time. All of these reckless choices lead to a decidedly easy time for an already supernatural and overpowered powered Michael Myers, with the stakes in Halloween Kills feeling very hollow as a result.
Laurie Suddenly Confirms Michael Is Supernatural
While lying in her hospital bed towards the end of Halloween Kills, Laurie recounts a story to former Haddonfield sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers) in which she confirms Michael is not of this world — and is made stronger by the fear and hatred of Haddonfield's townspeople. The timing of this admission is bizarre, given Laurie previously sends Tommy Doyle and the remainder of Haddonfield's willing men to confront and kill Michael. If Laurie had this information all along, then her willingness to allow Tommy to incite a mob seems negligent at best given the ease with which Michael recovers and slaughters them all in Halloween Kills' penultimate scene.
How Laurie has obtained this information on the now confirmed as supernatural Michael Myers is also puzzling and smacks of the sloppy narrative that has quickly come to define Halloween Kills. The best explanation is that Laurie, now aware that Michael survived the house fire, is speculating that he cannot be killed by conventional means. Yet, this still does not answer the question of why she only relays this information to Brackett, especially after sending her surviving friends and family members to their deaths.
Michael Myers' Plot Armor
Even discounting the supernatural elements Michael Myers is imbued with, there are several instances in Halloween Kills where Michael seemingly survives purely because the plot requires him to. The most striking example here is Halloween Kills' climactic confrontation between Michael and the Strode women. As Michael prepares to kill Allyson (Andi Matichak), Karen Nelson (Halloween Kills' Judy Greer) stabs him in the back with a pitchfork, incapacitating Michael and pinning him to the stairs. Yet, rather than going for the killing blow and stabbing their greatest fear incarnate through the head, Allyson and Karen dally and Michael is able to recover from their blitz attack.
This head-scratching element of Halloween Kills is even more disappointing given the compelling and indomitable will of the Strode women in Halloween 2018, in which they showed no remorse as they trapped and burnt Michael in a cleverly conceived plan. However, this time, it seems Michael survives because a 2022 sequel, Halloween Ends, is already confirmed, and the franchise needs its titular antagonist to still be involved. Michael's supernatural potency allows for a certain suspension of disbelief, but seeing his mortal enemies go easy on him in pivotal moments is frustrating for the franchise's audiences.
Tommy (Among Others) Have Forgotten What Michael Looks Like
The strangest plot hole in Halloween Kills arrives courtesy of Haddonfield's collective memory, which falters at every turn. Halloween Kills delights in rehashing old franchise footage in a series of flashbacks designed to show the scars Michael has left on his Illinois town. Tommy Doyle's are the most memorable of these, with his survival as a young boy in Halloween 1978 leaving an indelible mark on his psyche.
Yet, when Tommy mistakes an escaped psychiatric patient for Michael, he seemingly forgets the face (or mask) that has been burned onto his consciousness for over 40 years. In fact, Tommy's apparent amnesia towards the figure that has haunted his dreams extends through the majority of the movie, as Tommy and his mob chase after a random patient who looks nothing like Michael, expending all their energy in the process. Images of Michael's mask are used in news reports across the mess that is Halloween Kills, making the psychiatric patient subplot in the film feel cheap contextually.
