10 More Horror Movie Sequels That Were Just Too Cruel

Halloween Kills certainly lived up to the implied savagery of its title with by far the biggest body count of any Halloween movie. 

Yet as entertaining as it was seeing Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney) brutally dismantle his victims by the dozen, there was also a more pronounced air of sadism to many of the kills - especially the climactic one.

Halloween Kills has a far greater emphasis on suffering, perhaps best evidenced by Michael forcing a woman to watch her husband be repeatedly stabbed to death with various knives, Michael seemingly testing them out to find the sharpest one.

Then there's the rather muddled subplot in which an innocent mental patient is mistaken for Michael and goaded by the local mob into killing himself.

And finally, we have the closing death of Laurie Strode's daughter Karen (Judy Greer). It's a devastating bait-and-switch which basically makes this the Empire Strikes Back-esque, downbeat middle chapter of David Gordon Green's new trilogy.

Some might argue that the cruelty was very much the point here, though for some the mob subplot and bleak final twist left something of a sour taste.