Halloween Ends

Director - David Gordon Green (The Righteous Gemstones, Your Highness)

Starring - Andi Matichak (Halloween Kills, 666 Park Avenue), Rohan Campbell (iZombie, Supernatural), and Will Patton (The Mothman Prophecies, Armageddon)

Release Date - 2022

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "The night she sent him home"

Format - Streaming (Peacock)

Rating (out of 5):

     The Halloween franchise is one of my first loves not only in horror but in cinema in general. The entire franchise has never let me down until recent years. Hell, I even enjoy H20 and Resurrection. However, Halloween and Halloween Kills are abysmal to watch. The kills are gnarly but the story is exhausted at this point. I knew 2018’s Halloween was the first film in a new trilogy but I wasn’t expecting it to become so stretched out and overdone. Regardless, my love for the original series and their continuity errors made me watch them as they were released. As disappointed as I am in the first two film I still went into Halloween Ends with hopes that it would right the wrongs the first two films created… and it didn’t. 

      The film picks up some time after with Halloween Kills with Laurie’s granddaughter living with her after the death of her mother. Laurie recently defended a young man who is ostracized by the town in a similar way she is after a child he was babysitting was accidentally killed. She inadvertently introduces him to her granddaughter and they hit it off. Over time she starts to suspect that the years of emotional and physical abuse from the locals has damaged him in the same way her brother Michael was and she was right. He begins killing those that wronged him while she tries to break them up. It doesn’t work and only pushes her granddaughter further away until he goes to stand his ground with her and we see the return of Michael. 

      Halloween Ends introduces an interesting idea that I don’t think has been introduced before. However, it doesn’t follow through with it and what we are left with is a film of characters we don’t like, the lack of the character we wanted to see, and a story that was so predictable my six year old could have called it. I seriously wanted to like it, just as much as I wanted to like the previous two films, but this was pure fan fair at it’s laziest. The acting in this one is fairly decent. I really liked Rohan Campbell as the young Corey that was pushed too far. His character has so many layers and he absolutely killed it. I also liked that Will Patton was in the film even though it was for such a short time. With that being said, Jamie Lee Curtis just wasn’t doing it for me. Her performance in these last three films were very underwhelming especially if you go back and watch her intensity in other installments. I think by this point Halloween pays the bills and she is only cashing in paychecks. The story for this one really threw viewers for a loop with the introduction of Corey and his murderous side. Fans, myself included, are sick of the old survivalist Laurie angle and this really did give us something very unique if it was further explored. Instead, the film has to go back to it’s old tricks and the only promising aspect of the film is taken from us with Michael’s broke ass and his lackluster appearance. So much more could have been done with this story instead of the tired and played out Laurie and Michael nonsense. Finally, the film does deliver some impressive kills that once again show why the Halloween name is synonymous with horror. The effects are fucking fantastic and the kills do not shy away from the blood. I was hoping for a little more gore but it didn’t disappoint in this regard. Overall, Halloween Ends doesn’t redeem the trilogy but it fits right in with these poorly written and dull flicks that do very little aside from pandering to horror fans. Skip it.