The long-running horror series is — yet again — finally coming to an end, and that is a good thing.  After a great beginning there is no question that the Michael Myers saga has run its course.  It’s about damn time.  There is a theory that movies are a reflection of their times; while some films prove to be timeless, many others prove the rule, as does this one.  Our times are messed up and so is this movie.

David Gordon Green’s film (his third in the most recent MM cycle) takes place four years after the bloody finish of Halloween Kills, which I kind of liked.  At least I respected how it attempted to be relevant and inject actual social commentary amongst the mayhem.  This story seems to also search for social relevance, positing that a troubled, abused young man somehow becomes MM’s protegé (kids, look what bullying can do to someone!), and hinting that the town of Haddonfield, Illinois is somehow responsible for its own nightmare.  So on another Halloween night, Haddonfield is subjected to two killers; double the violence, double the blood.

What a crock.  How does this movie reflect the times?  Well, the bullies of Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) are shown the error of their ways — before they are mercilessly slaughtered.  Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) has accepted her destiny (as well as the scorn of Haddonfield) and is writing a preachy memoir.  Laurie’s granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) rebels against her grandmother, embraces her dark side (like a Star Wars antihero) and threatens to burn down everything she hates about the town.  There’s even a loudmouth radio host (Keraun Harris) who pontificates about the nature of evil while slandering many of the town’s citizens on the air.

It’s no wonder Michael Myers keeps returning to this Gomorrah of the Midwest to ply his trade.  But here is where the story goes completely awry.  The town no longer cares about him; it’s almost ancient history.  He’s been missing for four years and nobody is worried about it.  And the Michael that finally reappears is an old man.  He can barely move without toppling over, it seems.  Michael is finally seen without that ugly mask, and it really makes no difference!  He’s just an old dude that still wields a knife, sneaking up on people he kills for no reason, occasionally very similarly to sequences from the first couple of films.  It’s as if this film is echoing the past, hoping to revive memories of better times because it has nothing fresh or important to say about itself.

And then there is the conclusion, which echoes the mob mentality I respected in Halloween Kills, yet without any of the context or relevance which that film generated.  This film hints at possibilities to continue MM’s legacy, yet when all is said and done, Michael Myers proves to be just a man.  Not the boogeyman of everyone’s nightmares, but a real, flesh-and-blood, killable man.  I liked it better when he was the boogeyman.  ☆ 1/2.  24 October 2022.