Halloween Ends (Film Review)
2022 Universal Pictures
Directed by: David Gordon Green; Written by: Paul Brad Logan, Chris Bernier, Danny McBride, and David Gordon Green
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak, Rohan Campbell, Will Patton, Kyle Richards, and James Jude Courtney
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 111 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 6/10
40 years after murdering a bunch of teenagers in Haddonfield, Illinois, Michael Myers busted out of jail and murdered even more people. Myers eventually finds himself surrounded by dozens of angry, weapons-wielding residents in the street, and despite the fact that he's stabbed and shot, Myers brutally kills them all and escapes...then disappears. Four years later, Haddonfield attempts to return to normal. Laurie Strode, the only person to escape Michael's wrath in 1978, and again in 2018, has gone to therapy, gotten sober, and now lives with her granddaughter, Allyson. Meanwhile, college-aged Corey Cunningham is moving on less successfully. In 2019, a spooked Corey was locked in an attic by a kid he was babysitting. Corey kicked the door open, but the mischievous kid standing behind it was knocked to their death, making Corey a town pariah. When a violent attack by local teenagers in present day lands Corey in the ER, he meets nurse, Allyson, and the two outcasts strike up a bond that grows romantic. However, there's something dark in Corey that Laurie doesn't like...and her concern is warranted. Turns out, after the local teens assaulted Corey a second time, he ended up in the town sewer...where he was discovered by a hiding Michael Myers. Michael has taken an interest in Corey, and soon the two become brothers in murder. Corey begins to take out the local bullies who've caused him grief, with Michael at his side. Michael is also telling Allyson he wants to run away together...but Laurie stands in his way. Can Laurie...and Haddonfield face the wrath of this new killer and a revitalized Michael Myers? Will evil finally die tonight?
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I'll get this out of the way first: While I don't hate David Gordon Green's Halloween trilogy--in which 2022's Halloween Ends is the capper--I don't think it's great, either. I think the first 2018 film is a lot of fun, but 2021's Halloween Kills has some serious issues, and Halloween Ends has them, as well. At the same time, as a fan of this now 13-slasher film franchise, I'm glad Green's trilogy exists. Even with the trilogy's considerable flaws, it at least tries to do something different, and even succeeds at times. Perhaps the greatest departure of Green's trilogy, which retcons every Halloween film but the first, is that it is more about the town of Haddonfield than it is Michael Myers or Laurie Strode.
In that spirit, Ends' focus on the seemingly random 20-something Corey isn't a total shocker. Corey's story isn't always constructed with a firm hand, but the direct line of Michael's evil to the burgeoning evil in Corey is an interesting central focus. Halloween Ends also looks great (all three of Green's Halloween films do), and features plenty of gushing viscera for gore hounds, particularly in its final act, when Michael and Corey break off the leash.
I'll get this out of the way first: While I don't hate David Gordon Green's Halloween trilogy--in which 2022's Halloween Ends is the capper--I don't think it's great, either. I think the first 2018 film is a lot of fun, but 2021's Halloween Kills has some serious issues, and Halloween Ends has them, as well. At the same time, as a fan of this now 13-slasher film franchise, I'm glad Green's trilogy exists. Even with the trilogy's considerable flaws, it at least tries to do something different, and even succeeds at times. Perhaps the greatest departure of Green's trilogy, which retcons every Halloween film but the first, is that it is more about the town of Haddonfield than it is Michael Myers or Laurie Strode.
In that spirit, Ends' focus on the seemingly random 20-something Corey isn't a total shocker. Corey's story isn't always constructed with a firm hand, but the direct line of Michael's evil to the burgeoning evil in Corey is an interesting central focus. Halloween Ends also looks great (all three of Green's Halloween films do), and features plenty of gushing viscera for gore hounds, particularly in its final act, when Michael and Corey break off the leash.
As previously said, though, the film does have its issues. Logically, what is Michael doing just hanging out in the sewer like a psychotic Master Splinter? Why did he give up on murdering Laurie, but then suddenly get back on the Stab the Strodes train in the last 20 minutes? There's a significant portion of the narrative that doesn't make total logical sense. I also suspect that many viewers won't like how Laurie is more on the periphery, at least until she comes into heavy focus in the last act, but this precedent was already set in central film, Kills, where Laurie does nothing but lie in a hospital bed. Thankfully, when Laurie does come into central focus, she kicks as much ass as she ever has in a way that feels true to the character Jamie Lee Curtis originated in 1978. And speaking of Curtis, she's predictably great.
I also appreciate, and I'll both readily admit this is personal bias, and also that I don't care that it is personal bias, that Halloween Ends has an opportunity to fully embrace nihilism in its final ten minutes, and instead fully rejects it TWICE. The latter instance feels quite earned in how the nihilism is subverted, considering the Laurie Strode of 1978's Halloween was a protector of children.
I also appreciate, and I'll both readily admit this is personal bias, and also that I don't care that it is personal bias, that Halloween Ends has an opportunity to fully embrace nihilism in its final ten minutes, and instead fully rejects it TWICE. The latter instance feels quite earned in how the nihilism is subverted, considering the Laurie Strode of 1978's Halloween was a protector of children.
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