Halloween Kills: Here’s what to expect when Michael Myers returns to Edinburgh cinemas on Friday

Let us know what you think and join the conversation at the bottom of this article

Halloween Kills, the twelfth movie in the franchise created by John Carpenter, has opened in cinemas across the Capital and initial reviews suggest it’s not for the squeamish.The action continues directly from where the 2018 film left off; Freeing himself from Laurie's trap, Michael Myers resumes his ritual bloodbath. As Laurie - Jamie Lee Curtis again returning to the role she created in 1978 - fights her pain and prepares to defend herself, she inspires all of Haddonfield to rise up against their unstoppable monster.One person who has seen Halloween Kills ahead of its release is former Evening News writer Darren Scott, who is now editor of SFX, the World's No 1 Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror Magazine', which dedicated the front page of its current issue to the iconic slasher.

So what can cinema-goers expect from the latest film in the series?

"It's a big movie, ambitious, with probably the largest cast of any Halloween movie. It's angry and it's relentless," he says, adding, "When I interviewed Jamie Lee Curtis, the one thing she kept saying was that it is a brutal movie. I agree, there were a lot of moments when even I turned away from the screen."

He continues, "And it's eerily prescient. Shot in 2019, ahead of the global unrest and everything that happened in America, it reflects a mood that has come about since it was made.

"For a Halloween fan, it is a nostalgia-soaked slice of autumnal Americana, all pumpkins and picket fences. Exactly what fans would want and if the script is lacking in places, well, it's a slasher movie and I loved it. It's up there in my Top 5 Halloween films."

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Scott was just two when the original Halloween changed the face of horror films forever.

"As a teenager I watched an alarming amount of horror I probably shouldn't have seen. Halloween would have been among that. As I got older, I became aware of the impact it had on the horror genre. Seminal, it’s now thought of as the classic. It wasn't the first stalk and slash movie but it was the first mainstream film of that nature, the one that crossed over and made studios realise there was a market for it. It definitely made horror movies a completely different thing to what they had been."

Of course, Halloween Kills' star Jamie Lee Curtis was there at the very start and interviewing her was a 'pinch me' moment for Scott.

"I've have so many pinch me moments still. Some 20 years on from writing for the News it has been a series of pinch me moments and getting to celebrate Halloween Kills was such a big thing for me. Jamie Lee Curtis was very funny with a wicked sense of humour and really up for all kinds of nerdy questions about Halloween - you can read that interview in the current SFX. She really is on board with this new trilogy and is really excited for Halloween Ends, which brings it to a close next year.”

Halloween Kills: Vue Ocean Terminal 10.50am/5.30pm/6.45pm/7.30pm/9.15pm/10.05pm/11.15pm

Cineworld Fountain Park: 11am/1.30pm/4pm/6.30pm/7.40pm/9.10pm/10.15pm

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Halloween Kills: Here’s what to expect when Michael Myers returns to Edinburgh cinemas on Friday

Let us know what you think and join the conversation at the bottom of this article

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