The Halloween franchise has been going for so long, that there are far more questionable or bad entries than there are good ones. Sure, the original is an all-time masterpiece, and there is plenty to love about some of the sequels, but like many slasher franchises, its track record is marked with half-baked ideas, convoluted plots, and a rotating cast of forgettable characters. The franchise was semi-rebooted in 2018 with a high-quality direct sequel to John Carpenter's original, and it boded well for future entries in the franchise. Now, with Halloween Ends bringing the current trilogy of films to a close, the spotty track record for the series has taken yet another hit.
The latest Halloween arrives in theaters and streaming on Peacock on October 14, wrapping up this current film series. And if the current press tour has anything to say about it, Jamie Lee Curtis' time as Laurie Strode has come to an end (though this isn't the first time she's bowed out of the series). However, instead of going out on top, the Halloween franchise once again finds itself with a sloppy chapter that provides little satisfaction in its ending.
Halloween Ends is set four years after the events of Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills (2021), finding Laurie and her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) living together, attempting to reassemble their lives after the path of destruction Michael Myers carved on Halloween night in 2018, which left a number of Haddonfield residents murdered--including Laurie's own daughter (Judy Greer). Michael has since disappeared, and we are told through news clips and sound bites that things in Haddonfield are worse than ever as the curse of Michael Myers has led to deaths (via both murder and suicide) that cast a large shadow over the small town.
That's about all the exposition you're going to get on the last four years in the lives of these characters, though. Missing from Ends is any substantial coming to terms with the loss of Laurie's daughter and Allyson's mother. Instead, you get Laurie writing a book vaguely about her experiences and an edgier Allyson who is now a full-blown adult with a job and a messy love life, which features a new love interest with a tragic past named Corey (Rohan Campbell).
This is where one of the first big faults in Halloween Ends can be found. Although this is, in theory, Laurie's final curtain call in the franchise, most of the film centers around Allyson and her new outcast boyfriend. After everything she's been through, you'd assume she'd see the numerous red flags Corey is throwing up at every turn, but that simply isn't the case. Instead, she's blinded by her new feelings for this obviously damaged young man, which doesn't exactly make sense for the character.
At least she has a story, though. Though Curtis is top-billed in the movie, Laurie feels like a secondary character throughout. It doesn't help that there's also not a ton of Michael Myers in Halloween Ends, either. She's clearly trying to move on with her life and put Michael behind her, but that's before actually facing off with the devil she's been tormented by most of her life.
When we first see Laurie again in Halloween (2018), we see a woman who's been preparing for Michael's escape from a mental institution. She's ready to fight. In Halloween Ends, though, she's put that behind her in an attempt at some kind of normalcy, even though it's made very clear that nobody knows what became of The Shape after Halloween Kills. Given the chaos that Michael's being on the loose caused for Haddonfield, and Laurie herself, in that film, this change in character makes very little sense.
Then there's Michael himself. As previously mentioned, this isn't like the previous two films--which are stuffed to the gills with Michael walking around and hacking up anybody in his way. He has some moments, but the movie also makes it clear how much he's aged in the previous four years. Although that could be an interesting avenue to explore, Halloween Ends instead introduces some vaguely supernatural elements to sidestep any issues. Though he's hobbling and seemingly barely able to hold himself up at one point, killing someone gives him power for some reason. He goes from hunched over to standing tall, ready to continue his spree.
This isn't the first time the Halloween franchise has dabbled in the supernatural, but it feels oddly out of place in this trilogy, which reverted back to a more grounded and realistic approach to the story, showcasing Michael as a deranged and ridiculously strong man hunting and killing those who stand in his way and Laurie as a woman still dealing with the intense trauma that comes with fending him off when she was a teenager. To now introduce elements to the Michael character that can be construed as supernatural--along with some that can't be mentioned here as they would be massive spoilers--it feels like a major departure from this trilogy of movies. What's more, none of these elements land well enough to make them worthwhile.
If there is something satisfying about this movie, it's the wildly gory climax to the film, featuring the showdown between Michael and Laurie that was desperately missing from Halloween Kills. All fans of this series want are these two battling to the death, but they didn't even share a single frame of film in the last movie. While they certainly share fewer scenes in Halloween Ends than they did in Halloween (2018), their fight in this film is a meaty one, but also rather surprising in how it plays out.
The rest of the cast of characters are fine. Campbell's Corey vacillates between a wounded puppy dog in search of acceptance and a potential maniac on the brink of total breakdown. Kyle Richards, who reprised her role as Lindsay from the original Halloween film, returned in Halloween Kills and again here in Ends. However, she's wildly underused. Her role is barely more than a cameo in the film, which is rather disappointing given her longstanding connection to the franchise.
In all, Halloween Ends ends up being another very lackluster chapter in a franchise filled with lackluster chapters. It's not as bad as, say, Halloween: Resurrection starring Busta Rhymes, but it's not that much better. When Danny McBride and David Gordon Green announced they were bringing back Halloween, it was an exciting idea. Then, with Halloween (2018), the hope that Laurie would get a fitting end to her decades-long story with Michael peaked. Now, though, four years later, Curtis is left with another disappointing ending for the character that made her a star. And maybe that's the true Halloween legacy: An incredible start with the 1978 original film has led to a massive franchise of movies that have never reached those same creative heights.
Regardless, chances are this won't be the last Halloween movie, which is almost comforting. Where to go from here is tricky, though. Surely, they could find a way to continue the story that wraps up with Halloween Ends, but it might be better if they didn't. Instead, take a cue from the aftermath of Resurrection and have somebody start fresh. After 42 years, it might finally be time to put this original version of Myers and Halloween to rest.
