Now you see why I covered Halloween Kills days before October 1^st and a over a year after it came out. To conclude this year’s Halloween I of course had to cover the conclusion to the recent Halloween trilogy. Or tetralogy.

Halloween Ends offers a good and original Halloween story that may’ve worked better as a standalone film than the final part of a trilogy. Ends essentially tells two stories; one original tale concerning a babysitter accused of murder, the other the actual conclusion to the saga of Laurie Strode and Michael Myers. The marriage of these two plots is bumpy, making the mixed reception the film has received not too surprising.

Four years have passed since Michael Myers’ rampage in 2018. That night, after claiming his final kill, the Shape vanished without a trace and is yet to be found. Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her granddaughter Alyson (Andi Matichak) seemed to have moved on with Laurie penning a memoir and Alyson working at the local hospital. Meanwhile, a young man called Corey (Rohan Campbell), unable to endure being an outcast any longer, is seduced by a mysterious faceless evil and before Haddonfield knows it, the curse of Michael Myers resumes.

The Characters

I think one of the biggest issues with Halloween Ends is its lack of focus. The film clearly wants to have its cake and eat it too; conclude the trilogy and tell an original story. While the writing does make an effort to fuse these two narratives, giving the original story, which just happens to be the most interesting of the two, more time and development ruins the balance.

At the beginning of the film we learn that in October of 2019, Corey was babysitting a young boy. That night, the boy played an elaborate prank on Corey. Its execution led Corey to accidently killing the child.

In the present, Corey is seen as a monster by the locals. The film does a great job of getting you on Corey’s side and feeling his rage as countless townsfolk bully and harass him. In Michael’s absence, the locals need a victim for their collective trauma and Corey is the perfect candidate.

I know Halloween Kills wasn’t that well received but I admired the themes it was trying to express and I was happy to see them expanded on in Halloween Ends.

Laurie befriends Corey and introduces him to Alyson. Apart from his father, these two women are the only people who see Corey as he is. A relationship develops between him and Alyson, Corey finally begins to feel loved and accepted.

If you’ve seen the film or heard the spoilers then you know where this goes. Towards the end the focus shifts more on Laurie and Alyson as they confront Michael. This is where the ‘Conclusion to the Halloween Saga’ really takes flight, what most people were wanting to see.

The Laurie and Alyson we see fight, scream and bleed feel like characters from the third act of a different film. A film totally focused on their war against Michael, without Corey. It’s great, some parts actually gave me goosebumps, but as much as I loved the Corey character, it left me wishing that we had seen more of this story and this story only.

The Horror

The comic relief that polluted the first film, had a lesser presence in the second is completely absent here. Smart move.

The horror in Ends is a sort of happy medium between the mythic, jumpscare laden chills of the 2018 film and the jaw-dropping gore of Kills. The suspense leaves you tense with anticipation for Michael’s appearance, the jumpscare obviously startles you and the gore either repulses you or wows you. Of the three films, I believe Ends is technically the scariest.

Overall, it’s difficult to determine whether Halloween Ends failed its audience by not giving them what they wanted or it served them by giving them what they needed. I will stand by my criticism of its lack of focus but I will also praise Halloween Ends for creating a discussion. Even if that discussion mostly concerns what it got wrong. At least the film wasn’t standard or ‘meh,’ it could’ve easily been that and I’m glad it wasn’t.

I have no doubt my opinion will change as I view the film again and again but for now, in its time of release, I give Halloween Ends a provocative 8 out of 10.

Well. There we go. Another Halloween on Duffhood done. I’m happy I didn’t cover another franchise this year, especially after doing all the Friday The 13^ths and Hellraisers. As I said in my first review, I wanted to do something more old school.

The question now is, what do I review next year? Another franchise? If so, which one? All the big ones have been covered a gazillion times by countless critics, bloggers and YouTubers. Is there a series, or a theme even, I can cover that’s more original? That’ll get more attention during the month of October?

The good news is that I have a whole year to ponder on the issue. The bad news is I’m pretty sure I won’t actually tackle it until a week or so before October 1^st.

Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. Happy Halloween everyone, thanks for reading.