‘Halloween Ends’ Is Surprising, Satisfying Epilogue To Michael Myers Saga

Halloween Ends (2022)

_{Blumhouse/rated R/111 minutes}

_{Directed by David Gordon Green}

_{Written by Paul Bra Logan, Chris Bernier, Danny McBride and David Gordon Green}

_{Produced by Malek Akkad, Jason Blum and Bill Block}

_{Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak, James Jude Courtney, Will Patton Rohan Campbell and Kyle Richards}

_{Cinematography by Michael Simmonds}

_{Editing by Tim Alverson}

_{Music by John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies}

_{Opening theatrically and on Peacock courtesy of Universal on October 14}

Opening in theaters and debuting on Peacock tomorrow, Halloween Ends is the best film of the Blumhouse-produced Michael Myers trilogy. 2018 Halloween wanted to shamelessly play in the Force Awakens playground while hoping that audiences and pundits would conveniently ignore the existence of Halloween: H20. Halloween Kills wanted to play ‘hold my bear’ with the nihilism of Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake while also being a loose remake of Halloween II and The Return of Michael Myers. Halloween Ends tries a different approach, namely making an original horror drama set in a dying industrial town that happens to be a Halloween sequel. More than either of the earlier two films, Halloween Ends looks and feels, especially for its first half, like a movie from the man who helmed George Washington and Snow Angels that also happens to feature Michael Myers.

Opening a year after Halloween Kills, the picture offers a ghoulishly funny and seemingly disconnected prologue involving a young boy tormenting his Halloween night babysitter. Slight spoiler, but the night doesn’t end well, and we skip forward to the present day where the once-promising young man (Rohan Campbell) is an outcast scraping by as a mostly reclusive mechanic. Meanwhile, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) has bought a (normal) home and is trying desperately to offer a normal, non-traumatic existence for her granddaughter (Andi Matichak). Grandma is writing her memoirs (cue the usual naval-gazing voiceover) and really ought to go on a date with Deputy Frank Hawkins (Will Patton). Still, she least tries to set up her lonely grandkid with the cute (in that Edward Scissorhands-kinda way) outcast. Can these two damaged souls find young love in a town consumed by fear?

The first act works as a compelling and engrossing character drama. It plays off the best idea in the heavily compromised The Curse of Michael Myers, namely that Haddonfield has become so wiped out by the damage done by Michael Myers that the surviving residents are glorified zombies. In this case, the horrors of the earlier two Halloween films (during which Michael killed 45 people in a single night) have only worsened the rot already present in previously industrial towns and/or previously thriving suburbia, with the populace giving into fears and prejudice and expecting the worst out of their neighbors. Considering the retroactive nostalgia for the stereotypically wholesome small towns personified by the first Halloween, it is almost subversive to show the extent to which such places are now mirages. Sure, you get déjà vu to Stephen King’s It, but the slice of life drama works.

So does the core romance, as Allyson throws herself at the damaged and obviously troubled Corey. They both relish the notion of finding conventional happiness in a town with few prospects and little else worth waking up for. Yes, Corey calls Allyson out on treating him like an “I can fix him and save him” project, and there are certainly moments when maybe she should back away, but what else do they have to live for now? Yes, Michael Myers does eventually play a role in this story, and (as shown in the previews) the film eventually gives in and gives the fans what they came for. Like Jurassic World Dominion, Halloween Ends becomes less compelling as it becomes a more conventional franchise-specific installment. Still, I’m guessing it was a ‘check these boxes, and we’ll otherwise let you do whatever you want’ compromise.

Director David Gordon Green is having fun this time out, having already made two blockbuster sequels and now able and willing to play in this sandbox and make something that feels closer in spirit to his earlier small-scale character dramas. This is closer to what I hoped for when the guy who directed All the Real Girls signed on to make a Halloween movie, even if his overall filmography (Our Brand Is Crisis, Your Highness, Stronger, Pineapple Express, etc.) challenges Ang Lee for ‘blind dart-throwing’ randomness. This is a surprisingly large-scale, in terms of varied locations and multiple big-deal characters, horror sequel and the over/under $30 million budget is on the (IMAX) screen. The tone and focus are such that the bloody murders are almost beside the point, as is the question of how Michael Myers does or doesn’t factor into it.

Halloween Ends works as a mournful and somber epilogue for the Michael Myers/Laurie Strode franchise. It’s almost a dare to folks complaining that Halloween and Halloween Kills were just the same old thing and/or just Michael killing people for 100 minutes, offering up a Halloween sequel that works (at least initially) as a drama first and a slasher second. We still eventually get the more conventional horror tropes. Laurie does eventually give in to her paranoia, even if it gives us at least one great character beat. There are several violent deaths in the second half, which plays like a mix of It and Hellraiser. But the film is refreshing in that it gives audiences what they need before it (theoretically) gives them what they want. It’s a fairly good movie, and it’s pretty great for what is essentially Halloween 13.