Halloween Ends; Grade: C
Halloween Ends is the “epic conclusion” towards the Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney) franchise and the epic conclusion to the David Gordon Green trilogy as well. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) although has moved on with her life the past couple years, there is always a slight notion that Michael Myers shall come at any time, as when he does… Laurie is most certainly ready to put an end to this chaotic madness once and for all!
So the synopsis given is what the trailers had advertised towards the general audience, that this is going to be one wild conclusion that on Halloween night, Michael Myers and Laurie are basically going to fight to the death! I can understand fans being genuinely excited given that notion at hand, their beloved franchise they’ve loved for years, is “finally” coming to a close, as there will be a great deal of bloodshed between two iconic figures in horror right?! Turns out…. Oh boy, we have a great deal of false advertisement on our hands!!
Now surely there is an epic clash between Laurie and Michael, however… That really only comes the last fifteen or so minutes of the movie, as Michael’s presence is barely involved in this film, as it’s more so forced in if anything. You can understand why fans of this franchise are outraged, to the point where they’ve organized a petition to reshoot the entire movie all over again… Y I K E S! I mean you can’t blame them: They were lied to thinking this is going to be a Michael Myers film when it’s completely the opposite of that.
The film is mostly centered around a young adult by the name of Corey (Rohan Campbell), who was involved in a horrific accident while babysitting a young child that was tragically killed while pulling a prank on Corey. Because of this incident: With Michael out of the way, Corey is now the new victim that the town can bully nonstop. While things are looking up for Corey as Laurie introduced him to her grand daughter Allyson (Andi Matichak)... Corey is driven off the edge by bullying, to the point where he makes an odd acquaintance with Michael Myers in a sewer, causing Corey to go dark and turning into a mass murdering machine.
So the story comes to show that when you non stop bullying and being abusive to someone whether it be physically/mentally… Eventually they’ll get to their breaking point, causing them to be a psychopath. This town could’ve been nicer to Corey as he actually was a sweet innocent young man whom was unfortunately involved with a tragic accident, but since the town has nothing to complain about… They direct their complaints on him.
Story on it’s own isn’t half bad, it’s not original as we’ve seen films used in the past like Joker that use this similar theme, but it’s a fairly done concept. The opening while was goofy in terms of dialogue and performances especially… It however was a fairly done opening, as it caught me off guard by the end of it all. Considering this was the “epic conclusion” and all, I thought it was setting up a surprise sequence involving Michael Myers coming out of nowhere and killing Corey on sight, starting up the beginning of extreme bloodshed. But turns out… NOPE, as I actually liked the unexpected surprise as it came out of nowhere.
Film also has quite a few entertaining death sequences at hand as well. I thought the whole radio station death sequence easily my favorite moment of the film, as the way the masked menace handled that victim had a nice pun to it as well.
The main flaw with this film has to be the forced Halloween elements of the film. Story alone with Corey can easily make a nice recommendable average film on our hands, but because we’re involved with the Halloween universe and fans are expecting Michael Myers… WE JUST HAVE TO ADD MICHAEL, EVEN IF IT DOESN’T WORK!!
I would’ve prefer Corey was just imagining Michael was there, as he gets acquainted with his mask in the sewer, as he just evolves in becoming the new boogeyman and all. But of course we can’t have that and because of that those sequences between him and Michael come off extremely goofy. Not to mention the entire finale between Michael and Laurie felt like a major big waste of time, as why couldn’t they just left him dead in the last film?! Feels like a poor excuse to just provide another film to make way of Michael Myers to the franchise, even though he’s barely present in this film in the first place.
Sure fans were going to be pissed off regardless: But with all due respect, I feel the film would be better off without Michael as a whole completely. Just let it be a Halloween story featuring a kid being driven off the edge, inspiring him to become the next masked murderer on the block, helmed by neglect and abuse from the town… It’s not an epic conclusion fans want, but at least it’s a fair concept that works in theme and style.
Overall, Halloween Ends was ok. I recommend checking this film out when it hits rental via streaming, it’s really not that bad of a movie if you disregard the last fifteen minutes. A mediocre trilogy I will say as a whole for David Gordon Green… To think you Halloween fans earlier picked on Rob Zombie for his Halloween film, meanwhile that first Halloween film of his is better than all of these films. -Mitch Smietana