Follow-up to, among other films in the canon, 2018's "Halloween", again directed by David Gordon Green, rather adroitly ties in flashbacks to--and new events from--that film and John Carpenter's original "Halloween" from 1978 (with Donald Pleasence lookalike Tom Jones Jr playing Dr. Loomis). Haddonfield survivors from '78's rampage band together with the 2018 characters to take down boogeyman Michael Myers, who somehow escaped the fire set by Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) in the last installment. But what begins as an interesting concept soon turns into yet another illogical hack-'em-up, with Michael's victims acting like foolish sitting ducks (in a ridiculous sequence, Michael eliminates each member of a firefighting team--one at a time, because that's the way they do things in these movies--leaving the whole crew decimated). Curtis, recovering from surgery at Haddonfield Hospital, consoles a wounded police officer who blames himself for Michael's killing spree (seems he stopped Loomis from shooting Michael in the head in 1978--but, since Myers "isn't flesh and blood like the rest of us", the conversation isn't useful or productive). When an angry mob finally encircles Michael and has him on the ground, one might think executive producers Curtis and Carpenter would be happy to call it a night...not in Haddonfield, it seems, nor in sequel-hungry Hollywood. *1/2 from ****
