Oh Lawd, he comin'! Again! The reports of Michael Meyers' demise were greatly exaggerated. As if anyone really believed a burning building would stop the Shape. Halloween Kills is a direct sequel to 2018's reboot/sequel Halloween (wait, does that make Kills a sequel or a threequel?). The movie picks up immediately after where the last one ended, with Michael surviving his attempted murder and continuing his rampage through Haddonfield.
Halloween Kills is directed by David Gordon Green, who co-wrote the script with Danny McBride and Scott Teems. The slasher horror flick stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, and Anthony Michael Hall, with James Jude Courtney and Nick Castle as Michael Meyers / The Shape. The new movie features a mix of old and new characters, with the people of Haddonfield finally uniting to take the fight to Michael. And leading the charge are the Strode women, Laurie (Curtis), Karen (Greer), and Allyson (Matichak).
Considering how successful the 2018 movie was, it does look like Halloween Kills is all set to make a killing at the box office. It might have taken a little longer than expected to arrive but now that it's finally coming out, we've put together this handy guide that'll answer every question you have about how to watch Halloween Kills, whether it's on streaming, and when it will be arriving in theaters.
Is Halloween Kills Streaming Online?
Yes, Halloween Kills is set to stream online on NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock starting on October 15, 2021. (Here is exactly why Blumhouse and Universal went this route.) You can use this link to visit the movie’s landing page on the service so you can bookmark it and prepare for the coming release. In case you're more interested in watching movies on the go, the streaming service is currently also available as a handy mobile app, which you can get on Roku, Apple TV, and pretty much all the major mobile and smart TV platforms.
So in short, you can watch Halloween Kills from the safety and comfort of your own home. After all, the only thing scarier than the Shape is COVID-19. However, the movie won't be available on Peacock forever as there is a limited window during which fans will be able to catch Halloween Kills online.
When Does Halloween Kills Leave Peacock?
Once the movie premieres, you'll have 60 days to watch it on the streaming service. So if you were planning on waiting till Halloween night to watch the film, you do have the option. Halloween Kills will leave Peacock on December 14, 2021. That said, it's not like the movie won't ever come back to streaming, it's just that it will probably take some time to get there.
Do You Need Peacock Premium to Watch Halloween Kills?
Well, yes. If you are a Premium subscriber, you won't have to pay anything extra to watch Halloween Kills on Peacock. But if you don't have the subscription yet, you will need to get either Peacock Premium or Peacock Plus to watch the movie. Premium costs $4.99 a month while Peacock Plus costs $5.99 monthly.
Is Halloween Kills in Movie Theaters?
Yes, Halloween Kills will be coming to US theaters on October 15, 2021. In fact, the film was originally supposed to have a theatrical-only release. The rise in COVID-19 variants and concerns about public safety (as well as the subsequent drop in people actually going to the theaters) led to the decision to also give the movie a day-and-date streaming release.
If you are planning to watch the movie on the big screen, do make sure to take every precaution and check your state's most recent safety guidelines before you get your tickets. As for the tickets themselves, you can use this link to head to the movie's website and check for theaters near you.
Will There Be a Sequel to Halloween Kills?
Yes, the story of the Halloween night that just won't end will be wrapped up in Halloween Ends, currently expected to hit theaters in time for Halloween 2022. Both Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends were announced at the same time and there's already a story in place for the upcoming third (also fourth) movie.
Halloween Ends will be the conclusion of this new trilogy, though we can't guarantee that there won't be any more Halloween films after that. It is a classic horror story after all and we all know how much Hollywood loves to return to the classics. On the bright side, if the pandemic situation finally ends for real by 2022, you might just be able to catch the movie as a theatre-exclusive.
Are the Previous Halloween Movies on Peacock Right Now?
There are a lot of Halloween movies, and we really do mean a lot. And by a staggering coincidence, none of them are on Peacock. Yes, it's a shame. No, there's nothing we can do about it.
Now we're not going to get into all the 11 Halloween movies that preceded Halloween Kills. Mostly because their viewing order and chronology are so hard to keep a track of that we have a whole other guide just to explain all the conflicting timelines. In the immediate context of Halloween Kills, the only movies you need to watch to get the full story are 1978's Halloween and 2018's Halloween, in that order. Here's what you need to know about them:
Halloween (1978): This is the one, the mother lode, the genre-defining classic that helped write the rules for what a slasher movie should be like. Directed by John Carpenter and written by Carpenter and Debra Hill, the first Halloween tells the story of Michael Meyers's first big rampage through Haddonfield. The 1978 film starred Nick Castle as Michael Meyers, Donald Pleasence as Dr. Sam Loomis, and Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, setting up most of the franchise's lore. This movie is the touchstone and benchmark for all the other Halloween installments that followed and is widely considered to be one of the greatest horror movies of all time. You can rent it on Amazon or stream it with a Shudder subscription.
Halloween (2018): The movie directly before Halloween Kills, the 2018 Halloween picks up 40 years after the original movie, with an older Laurie Strode, her daughter Karen, and granddaughter Allyson serving as the primary characters. Halloween (the 2018 one) had the same director and writers as Halloween Kills and both movies are essentially chapters in a single story. The movie shows Laurie as a harrowed woman living with PTSD as a result of her 1978 encounter with the Shape. It's a pretty well-written and utterly terrifying story that does justice to the original while still working pretty well on its own. You can rent it on Amazon.