Movie Review: Halloween Ends

After the disappointment that was Halloween Kills in 2022, I really wanted this final entry in the new trilogy to correct it's course and deliver a more competent story. The sad reality though is Halloween Ends isn't just as bad a film as Kills, it's actually way worse. It's probably the worst film I've seen all year and was the only film this year that tempted me to leave halfway through my screening.

Halloween Ends was directed by the director of the previous two films, David Gordon Green; who also happens to share a writing credit along with Danny McBride, Paul Brad Logan and Chris Bernier. That right there should be the clear first signal that this film was in for a very bad run with having four credited writers working on it's screenplay. You can see all too easily through this film's runtime how many different ideas these four people wanted to execute in this film and the end result is something so shoddily set up with little to no thought given to it. 

Halloween Ends story follows directly on from the events of Halloween Kills, with Laurie Strode and her granddaughter Allyson trying to move on from the horrifying events of Michael Myers return in 2018. After his numerous slaughters, Michael disappeared from Haddonfield but his legend lives on to inspire fear and paranoia in the residents of the town. One victim of his reputation is Corey Cunningham, who has been made a pariah by the town after a child he was babysitting died tragically. Despite Michaels absence from these peoples lives for so long, Corey soon comes across Michael on the eve of Halloween. Deciding to spare Corey, we soon learn that the young man finds some relatability with him and get's inspired to become the killer the town is so convinced he is. 

This plot on a conceptual level isn't half bad. I think the idea of Michael being the inspiration for a new killer is a interesting twist from the standard Halloween formula. The issue with the narrative though is in it's execution. The way this story is written and executed is all kinds of dumb and I found myself getting increasingly frustrated by the sheer stupidity layered throughout all of it. Characters and plot arcs set up in this film feel so poorly established and there's no natural progression from the cause and effect between all these events. It's actually quite insulting too how this film seems to ignore a lot of the development the prior two films set out too. I know Halloween Kills was bad but it feels like this film actively disregards all the important arcs and plot points from that film in an attempt to focus on Corey's narrative. The worst part for me though is Corey. I have nothing against Rohan Campbell, who plays him but this character is just so badly written and the way the film focuses so much of it's screen time on him just further magnifies the poor quality of this film's stupid plot.

In terms of pacing and tone, again this is another terrible element of the film. As the film wants to show Corey's development into a Michael Myers wannabe, the film gives nearly a full hour to his development and relationship with these characters. You spent more time in this film watching Corey pull snarky faces than actually seeing some credible kills. Even the kills in this film are just mediocre. Halloween Kills plot was terrible but I noted when Michael was on screen doing his thing, it made the film less tedious. Michael barely lifts a finger in this film and that's the actual problem. When he does turn up near the end it actually feels like a commendable confrontation between him and Laurie, but that will never be enough to save us from the other stupid elements of this film

Halloween Ends is a really disappointing ending to this trilogy. When I watched Halloween in 2018 I believed this franchise had the capability to come back to the modern day in a fun and compelling way. Halloween Kills was the warning sign that that prospect was not going to happen and then Halloween Ends was just the nail in the coffin.  This film failed before it even started, with so many ideas at conflict with one another, this doesn't feel like a fun or engaging film in the slightest. I honestly wish they had just left it at Halloween (2018), it would have given this new iteration way more credibility; instead we're just left with a bitter mark on the history of this franchise.