The name of the sequel is ‘Halloween Ends’, but I’m sure you’ll forgive me if skepticism seeps in. The horror genre, after all, has delivered chapters in certain freak out franchises with sub-titles such as ‘The Final Chapter’, ‘The Final Friday’, ‘The Final Nightmare’, etc., etc.
In other words, these things are never really over until the accountants SAY they are.
But there’s a different feel to ‘Halloween Ends’ – and for that matter, there’s BEEN that feeling this entire ‘legacy’ trilogy; nostalgia. Good (2018’s ‘Halloween’) or bad (2021’s ‘Halloween Kills’, although I didn’t think it was THAT bad), it’s tough to argue that this batch of flicks doesn’t give uber respect to John Carpenter’s now-classic original. The entire point of bringing back the maniacal Michael Myers for one last stab at Jamie Lee Curtis’s Laurie Strode was to bring closure to a tale that began waaaaay back in 1978. The team here, led by director and co-writer David Gordon Green, wanted to wrap this up well.
Whether or not they succeeded is subjective. Overly passionate fans will likely debate the finished result, but I kinda liked it. Certainly didn’t love it. But I did like it.
Set four years after the all-out slaughter in ‘Halloween Kills’, this chapter begins with Strode, now living with her granddaughter Allyson (Anti Matichak), trying desperately to find normalcy. The last two ‘Halloween’ episodes, she has carried an obsession with seeking revenge on Michael Myers and how the ‘shape’ has ruined her life – now, with her daughter gone…one of the many victims of the killer…she has made the hard decision to move on, to not let her past trauma destroy what’s left of her life.
Unfortunately, a certain mask-clad boogeyman has other ideas.
While Myers hasn’t been seen for four years, the townsfolk of Haddonfield haven’t forgot about him. They’re edgy, and it’s clear they blame Laurie to a point about the tragedy that occured. One of the locals, a young man named Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell), is bullied locally for one especially dark chapter in his life. Understanding his struggle, Strode, helps him out, even introduces him to her granddaughter. It’s only a matter of time that the kid’s curiosity about Myers kicks in, and……well, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that an inevitable collision is coming.
Here’s the unfortunate hook, gang; ‘Halloween Ends’ DOES have a lot to say about grief and unresolved pain, but it’s too concentrated on giving its audience what it’s begging for – the culminating showdown between Laurie Strode and Michael Myers – that it sort of whiffs on the finale. But hey, that’s one guy’s opinion. I’ve watched this creepy bugger hack up teenagers for….oy, is it 14 movies now?? I know, I know….a lot of those sequels were forgotten in this universe, as 2018’s ‘Halloween’ was a direct sequel to Carpenter’s original, but still – I was looking forward to a little solid storytelling to go with the stabbing, and thought I was gonna get it.
SO…..long story short….for what it is, ‘Halloween Ends’ isn’t bad. I just can’t help but feel it could’ve been a lot more.
