Halloween Ends

Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak, James Jude Courtney, Will Patton, Rohan Campbell, Jesse C. Boyd, Michael Barbieri, Destiny Mone, Joey Harris, Marteen, Joanne Baron, Rick Morse
Directed by: David Gordon Green
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Thriller
2022

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Haddonfield faces new threats as they work to move past the horrors inflicted by Michael Myers.

Review:

Tim: I'm still not quite sure what was going on with this film. So many bizarre choices were made in the script and so few of them panned out. I understand that this movie faced great challenges- this is the 13th film in the franchise and we've been just about everywhere you could take these characters and these settings. This also concludes the "new" trilogy of films that started back in 2018. While this film is far from the worst entry in the franchise, it's the low point of the new trilogy.

Honestly, I'm not even sure what the story needed to be, for a film called Halloween Ends. You'd think a final confrontation between Laurie Strode and Michael- which we get. However, that feels like it's happened numerous times before. I believe this is the 7th film where we get Laurie vs. Michael. So, even that feels played out. The script veers off into a bizarre, unexpected direction. We get the character of Corey as one of the main focal points. We're told he's not a bad kid, got a terrible break in life when a tragic accident caused him to inadvertently kill a boy he was babysitting. The rest of the film follows his path, SPOILER ALERT as he unexpectedly becomes friends (I think?) with Michael Myers. That seems so odd, but it's the best way I can describe it. I guess the film was trying to comment on how Michael's evil leached itself into the community and influenced susceptible people? I don't know, to be honest, none of it made a ton of sense. At first, I was intrigued by this new direction. Corey was unexpected, but his story was tragic. As the film progresses, though, we quickly lose interest in this character. He wasn't interesting enough to hold our attention. I didn't like his story enough to account for him taking up so much screen time, and Michael and Laurie relegated to the sidelines. The character of Allyson is elevated here, and I suppose one of the big takeaways here is that she's reliving her grandmother's story in a way, but not exactly. It simply doesn't hold up to scrutiny in any meaningful way. Look, I get the conundrum here. If the film delivered a straight Michael vs. Laurie and Allyson, that would have felt completely generic. We've seen this many times before. I know the writers needed to try something different, to shift it up some. This wasn't the solution, too. And, you might claim, "Well, they were damned if they do and damned if they don't." What is the path forward, if they can't overuse Michael but also can't underutilize him? To answer that, I'd suggest perhaps we don't need 13 Halloween movies. Maybe it's time to let this iconic franchise go?

I've always been a fan of this franchise, even when it was terrible, so I recognize how difficult it is to accept that. There's just so little to find joy in here. For a long time, I loved seeing Jamie Lee Curtis reprise this iconic role. As I stated above, though, this is the 7th time we have seen Curtis in this role. It's lost any excitement. I couldn't have cared less that Curtis showed up here. It's the third time we've seen her in this role just in this new trilogy. Andi Matichak has been weak the whole trilogy. She's not a great actress and failed to make any meaningful connection with the audience. Once again, Allyson makes a series of just moronic decisions throughout this film. I liked seeing Will Patton, as I always do, but he added nothing worthwhile to the film. Rohan Campbell actually gives a really strong performance as Corey, it's just that his character and arc were so badly written. I missed Judy Greer in this film. The cast wasn't great. I did enjoy the work Rick Moose did in a small supporting role.

What's damning about Halloween Ends is that nothing felt special or important here. In a film that sets out to conclude the trilogy and provide a definite end-point (although the franchise will obviously continue), it seemed like it went through the motions, even with the odd script choices. There's no standout moments. There's no especially memorable kills. Michael himself doesn't show up for nearly 40 minutes. By the time the climax comes, it feels too late, too redundant. This isn't a bad movie, David Gordon Green is a talented director. The script just lets the whole movie down, though. I was never really interested in the events in this film. That's a shame. While 2018's Halloween represented the highest point for the franchise since 1981's first sequel, it's been downhill ever since. Halloween Kills was a step back in terms of story and Halloween Ends is even worse. It's good that Blumhouse is finished with this franchise. Their trilogy was fine, but not any better than those middling films we got throughout the 90s and 00s. My worry is that this will be as good as it gets for awhile. Unless someone can come up with a truly innovative take, Halloween may continue to disappoint us.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Halloween (1978), Halloween (2018), Halloween Kills