‘Halloween Ends’ Review: More Tricks Than Treats in the Franchise Finale

Universal Pictures

The Halloween franchise has come to an end (for now). At least, regarding the four-decade battle between Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode and the evil incarnate himself, known as Michael Myers. 44 years after John Carpenter’s iconic slasher flick, David Gordon Green has wrapped up his “requel” trilogy with Halloween Ends, and Jamie Lee Curtis herself has signed a contract stating that she is completely done with the beloved character and the franchise. Halloween Ends serves as the sequel to both David Gordon Green’s 2018 sequel to the original film, simply titled Halloween, as well as the 2021 follow-up that was controversial among fans of the franchise, Halloween Kills.

Halloween Ends is written by Paul Brad Logan, Chris Bernier, Danny McBride, and David Gordon Green, and it along with Jamie Lee Curtis, the film starts Andi Matichak, Rohan Campbell, Will Patton, and James Jude Courtney as “The Shape”.

The following review contains spoilers for Halloween Ends, so prepare yourself!

Universal Pictures

At first, Halloween Ends picks up exactly one year after the events of Halloween Kills. The story focuses on Corey, a nerdy high school babysitter left in charge of a young boy while his parents go to a party. After some gruesome events occur, the story fast-forwards another three years, and focuses on Laurie Strode (Curtis), who is now living with her grown granddaughter, Allyson (Matichak), after Allyson’s parents and friends were killed in Halloween Kills.

Laurie and Allyson’s paths seem to be going in different directions, as Laurie is healing after the disappearance of Michael Myers, and Allyson is still grieving and feeling as though her life is in shambles. Laurie meets the now-villainized Corey (Campbell) and decides he might be the friend Allyson needs to break out of her funk. The two hit it off, but while Corey still deals with the demons of his past, Michael Myers re-emerges from hiding to continue what he started, and have his final showdown with Laurie Strode.

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Phew, that’s a lot, right? Let’s start with the story. I was a pretty big fan of Halloween (2018) and Kills (even though it had its issues), and the two films created a growing momentum that set the stage for an ultimate finale between our two beloved characters. Good and evil were finally going to have their battle, and after Myers killed Strode’s daughter at the end of Kills, emotions were set to be high.

Unfortunately, the introduction of Halloween Ends killed off every bit of momentum that the two previous films had built. Laurie Strode might as well be a different character, as she’s completely transformed from a paranoid doomsday prepper to a carefree pie-making granny. Four years is a lot of time to heal and grieve, but this is not Laurie that this trilogy sold its viewers on, and her complete 180-character change made for an awkward and often jarring performance. This is simply a Laurie Strode we have never seen, in any of the Halloween films.

Universal Pictures

Without going into too much detail, the first half of the movie is almost completely focused on Corey and Allyson’s budding relationship, along with the issues that Corey faces after becoming the new “town monster”. It isn’t until almost halfway through the movie that Michael Myers makes an appearance. Turns out, he’s been living rent-free in a sewage drain in the same mask and jumpsuit for four years, eating rats and drinking sewer water (I guess?) after being shot multiple times and almost beaten to death at the end of Halloween Kills.

Corey and Michael meet face-to-face, and the latter seems to transfer his psychopathy to a new host, which comes off as a weirdly-framed message about how the way we’re treated is responsible for the way we act. The two turn Halloween Ends into a buddy slasher movie (think the end of Texas Chainsaw 3D) for a bit, roaming around town to kill random newly-introduced characters, until finally, the last act of the movie brings us to our final showdown between Laurie and Michael. The battle between the two legends is one of the most well-done moments in the trilogy, though very short-lived.

The brightest spot of the film was the stellar score from John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davvies. The trio has created three fantastic scores throughout the trilogy, using inspiration from the main theme to almost create a storytelling synth-metal album. In many ways, Halloween Ends was similar to the new Firestarter film, with the score doing the heavy lifting for the film.

While there were some creative and fun kills in this film, many of them were cut away from, with time instead going to over-dubbed monologues and strangely forced dialogue. Most of the acting was on par with the rest of the trilogy; Danny McBride and David Gordon Green’s signature humor peppered in throughout. I had no real issues there.

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I wish I liked this movie more. A lot of discourse throughout the general audience comes from whether or not a viewer can deal with the wackiness of the story, citing Halloween III: Season of the Witch as inspiration for the de-railing of the other two movies. I have a pretty big problem with that claim.

Halloween III was made because of the general direction the studio wanted to go with the film, with the intent of breaking the franchise off into anthology form. Halloween Ends is the definitive ending of an established trilogy and story. Audiences weren’t exactly expecting Michael Myers to return after being shot in the face and exploded in Halloween II (1982). But here, they were expecting a movie-long showdown that had been built over three movies, and instead, were introduced to a brand-new character, that got almost no development, and a few minutes of Michael vs. Laurie. Halloween Ends didn’t feel like a clever shout-out to Halloween III by diverging from the main storyline, it felt like a slap in the face to those excited for a thrilling conclusion.

It’s possible that I’m expecting too much out of a legacy slasher sequel, and it’s possible that at this point, I’m not the target audience for them. I was a little disappointed with Scream (2022) and more so with Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022). However, I largely understand how movies (and horror especially) are extremely subjective, and there are a ton of people out there that loved Halloween Ends. I will never discourage fans from going and seeing a movie and making the decision for themselves. In fact, I would encourage it.

The Halloween franchise just holds a special place in my big, horror-loving heart, and regardless of my expectations of how the story should have or shouldn’t have gone, I was overall disappointed with the last time we’re going to see Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode on the big screen. Halloween Ends is now in theaters and available to stream on Peacock.


 

REVIEW OVERVIEW
Halloween Ends
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Stephen Rosenberg
Stephen is a massive horror, sci-fi, fantasy and action movie geek. He's an avid horror & sci-fi book/comic reader, musician and podcaster. He co-founded and co-hosts Motion Picture Meltdown (movie-roasting podcast since 2009), which is part of the United Cypher Podcast Network. Stephen is the Editor-at-Large for Horror Geek Life and an Associate Editor and contributing writer for MovieWeb. Feel free to contact him regarding screeners, reviews, press kits, interviews, and more!
halloween-ends-reviewWhile Halloween Ends has a great final act and a stellar score from John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies, the overall film kills all of the momentum set up by the two previous films, introduces new characters to focus on instead of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode, and shifts away from the previously-established intent of the new trilogy. The iconic character of Laurie Strode was almost unrecognizable and made for an awkward and rare uncomfortable performance from Jamie Lee Curtis. I’ll never dissuade someone from watching horror and making their own opinions, but Halloween Ends is my least favorite entry in this new trilogy, and among my least favorites of the entire franchise.

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