The saga of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode comes to a spine-chilling climax in this trilogy’s final installment.
John Carpenter’s original “Halloween” is a horror classic. While Part II was a direct follow-up, it was not as well received as its predecessor, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. “Halloween III: Season of the Witch” went off in a completely different direction and had nothing to do with Michael Myers or Laurie Strode; only when “Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers” was released in 1988 did the story revert to Michael again, but with every passing iteration, the films became more and more outlandish, even going so far as to say Michael was part of a mysterious and sinister cult.
In 2018, director David Gordon Green released “Halloween,” which erased every sequel after the first one, stating that his new vision was a direct sequel to Carpenter’s original. It garnered decent reviews and made over $255 million worldwide, cementing its status as one of the longest-running horror franchises in history. Its sequel, “Halloween Kills,” was an unmitigated disaster, and while it was a financial success, personally, it was the worst entry in the entire franchise; you can read my review of it here. So it only made sense when “Halloween Ends” came around, I was very hesitant to see it, but I figured since I’d seen the first two, why not complete the trilogy? And I did. Was it better than its predecessor? Surprisingly, yes, but not by much.
“Halloween Ends” picks up four years after the events of Michael Myers’ last killing spree, and he has supposedly disappeared, with no new sightings of him having been reported. When a young man, Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell), accidentally kills a young boy he was babysitting, the town of Haddonfield erupts into anger and labels him a monster. At the same time, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) have moved into a new house where they plan on living an idyllic life now that Michael is no longer in the picture. When Laurie witnesses a gang of high school kids picking on Corey, she intervenes only to find he has cut his hand on broken glass and proceeds to take him to the hospital, where Allyson works as a nurse, setting them up. Because of their past trauma, they form an extraordinary bond, but when Corey is pushed over a ledge by the same bullies on his way home one night, he is knocked unconscious.
When he wakes up, he is in an underground sewer system and comes face to face with Michael Myers. Because of Michael’s weakened condition, he doesn’t kill him; instead, he passes his energy onto Corey, and in return, he uses it to track down victims so Michael can kill them, slowly regaining his strength. Laurie begins to feel uncomfortable whenever Corey comes by to see Allyson, convinced he has the same dark evil within him that Michael has. She tries to warn Allyson, but she won’t listen, convinced she wants to break them up, but when she packs her bags and leaves, determined to be with Corey, Laurie, now alone for the first time in a long time, feels a familiar presence in the house and readies herself for what is to come.
I genuinely had no expectations going into “Halloween Kills,” but it goes off in a dramatically different trajectory, and that’s not necessarily a good thing. Michael passing his powers onto Corey is a horror trope that was popular in the ’80s and ’90s with such films as “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge” and “Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday”; the antagonist possesses the protagonist, so they have a more extensive berth in which to kill, but while it may have worked back then, in this day and age, where audiences are more intelligent and typically always one step ahead of the film, it just doesn’t work. It feels unnatural and entirely out of place, mainly because the previous films relied more on logical, physical existence than supernatural entities and abilities. Although one could say Michael’s return from the dead in every preceding entry could be supernatural, that element was never expanded upon, so it hung in the background, a question that was never answered as it kept Michael’s identity and existence a mystery. And so it is with “Halloween Ends,” but instead of it lurking in the background, it is put on full display, reality be damned.
The overall look of the movie is impressive. Cinematographer Michael Simmonds keeps Carpenter’s original aspect ratio of 2.39: 1 so that it syncs up with the original and very rarely allows his camerawork to follow in the footsteps of other more recent horror films and their reliance on the dreaded shaky-cam approach (“The Blair Witch Project,” “Paranormal Activity”), choosing instead to present the film in glorious, majestic widescreen. The cast do well with their respective roles, but sadly, they are not given much to do except run, scream, look perplexed, look frightened, and then die. This is most certainly the end of the franchise, considering how the movie ends, but I figure at some point down the road, Universal will reboot the series, just as they’re doing with “The Exorcist” franchise, and start from scratch. After all, you can’t keep a good maniacal serial killer down.
Now available on Digital HD and on 4K Ultra HD™, Blu-ray™, & DVD December 27th
