Book Review // Halloween Kills: The Official Movie Novelization by Tim Waggoner

Hot on the heels of Halloween (see yesterday adventurers!), we're jumping straight into Halloween Kills!

And with Halloween Ends coming up next, you can probably guess what's happening here…Yep. There's at least one more Halloween review coming your way this month!

The Details

Title: Halloween Kills: The Official Movie Novelization
Author: Tim Waggoner
Format: Kindle

The Blurb

Minutes after Laurie Strode, her daughter Karen and granddaughter Allyson leave Michael Myers trapped and burning in Laurie's basement, Laurie is rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries, believing she has finally killed her lifelong tormentor.

But Michael isn't finished. Once he escapes Laurie's trap, the bloodbath begins again.

As Laurie fights through her injuries and prepares to face Michael once more, the people of Haddonfield decide they've had enough. Survivors of Michael's original rampage join forces and form a vigilante mob determined to hunt down the monster.

Evil dies tonight. Or so they think…

The Review

I seem to be reading quite a lot of Tim Waggoner at the moment, and I've got to say, I'm really enjoying his work. Of course, this is another movie novelization, so Waggoner doesn't exactly have a blank canvas to work with. Halloween Kills is already a relatively short film, so there's only so much material to expand upon. But that's actually where the novelization works really well.

I bloody love the Halloween franchise. Yes, I even enjoy the wonderfully bizarre Halloween III: Season of the Witch. You know what's coming with these films. You know Michael is going to appear. You know people are going to make terrible decisions. And you know you're going to sit there shouting at the screen: “DON'T GO IN THERE!”

Would I survive a confrontation with Michael Myers? I'd like to think so. But realistically? Absolutely bloody not. I’d be the fool searching a dark shed at night after seeing a man in a mask entering it. But that’s the point, this is a slasher movie, and part of the fun is watching characters make one terrible decision after another while Michael casually wanders after them, and I mean real casually. I genuinely believe Michael Myers may be the fastest walker and stealthiest man ever to exist.

What I really enjoyed about Waggoner's novelization is the extra character development. The movie has to keep moving. You've got a limited runtime, so there isn't always time to stop and explore what everyone is thinking or feeling. The book doesn't have that problem. We get more insight into the people of Haddonfield, their lives and their experiences with Michael. That extra information makes their decisions feel a little more understandable.

Well…Somewhat understandable. They're still making terrible choices. But at least now I know why they're making them!

It also gives more weight to the people Michael encounters. They're not simply random bodies appearing throughout the movie. We get to know more about them, which makes what happens to them hit a little harder.

Once again, we also get some insight into Michael Myers himself, and I continue to enjoy this. It's a tricky thing to pull off because you don't want to turn Michael into some cliché movie killer who suddenly has a massive tragic backstory explaining everything. He's more interesting when he's simply… Michael. Waggoner gives us some insight into his thoughts and motivations without completely destroying the mystery surrounding him. It adds another layer without turning him into a completely different character, and let's be honest, there's something fascinating about getting inside the head of the bloody boogeyman.

A Quick Read

This is definitely a quick read, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's October. It's Halloween season. Sometimes you just want something creepy, violent and entertaining that you can tear through without needing to invest weeks of your life into it, and Halloween Kills delivers exactly that. I also have to admit I'm particularly interested in the next book.

Final Thoughts

Halloween Kills is another enjoyable horror novelization from Tim Waggoner. It doesn't reinvent the movie, but it doesn't need to. Instead, it expands the characters, gives us more insight into the victims and offers another glimpse inside the mind of Michael Myers. It's a quick, bloody and a very entertaining Halloween read. Now I'm officially looking forward to the final part of the trilogy.

Halloween Ends… here we come! Who else here loves some Halloween movie goodness?

Happy October!