Halloween Ends: The Most Confusing of the Trilogy

So I just finished watching Halloween Ends, and, I’m completely at a loss for words. On one hand, the ending was something that I was happy to see, and on the other hand, it’s full of bad character choices and…good gore? I’m not sure exactly what to say, so, let me just use this opportunity to blurt out any and everything about my impressions of this film.

Firstly, one of the more interesting parts about Halloween Ends is that we have a new, sort of main character—Corey. His story starts at the very beginning of the film, and I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll just say that we follow him on his journey of…self-discovery. Of course, we have Laurie, Hawkins, Lindsey Wallace, and Allyson all returning, and, for the most part, I don’t find too much wrong with these characters except for a few moments of absolute pure annoyance with Allyson.

I find the focus on Corey starts out pretty okay and sort of innocent enough, but then it just takes a weird turn that is just bad choice after bad choice until the character I thought I might like due to his circumstances turned out to be 100% loathed by the end. And that very well might have been the point of it, but just as I’ve said about some of Rob Zombie’s decisions in his Halloween movies, that doesn’t make it good. Let me state again that just because something is intentional, doesn’t mean that it’s immune to being disliked. Next, Laurie’s really the one that shines the most out of everybody to me. It’s been four years since the events of Halloween (2018) and Kills, and she’s found some solace and is living a seemingly more normal, healthier life. Halloween Ends at the very least felt like a decent exploration of trauma, coping, and how others perceive traumatic events.

There really are a lot of bold choices made, and while I do respect the absolute gall it takes to make these decisions, some of them are better off being somewhat benign and within the scope of the classic story of ‘good vs evil.’ Adding complexity to an otherwise simple story can muddy the waters and come off as quite pedantic given the original scope.

Now, let’s just get straight up and talk positives and negatives, shall we? On the positive side, I did like the kills and the gore. There are some great practical effects at play here that really give off an 80s Tom Savini-type of vibe that really warms my heart for such a big production. There aren’t as many (I don’t think) kills in Ends as there were in Kills, but it’ll still satisfy that craving at the very least. There is also some good camera work and lighting that make some scares pop that otherwise would be pretty vanilla, so I appreciate them going the extra mile to make those feel a little more lively.

The acting is also top-notch for me. Although I disliked the character of Corey, the acting done here by Rohan Campbell is nothing short of incredible. Jamie Lee Curtis and Andi Matichak also kill it as Laurie and Allyson, respectively. There’s really nothing wrong with any of the acting, pretty much everybody did their thing.

Now, the negatives. As I said before, some character choices made felt the opposite of what I felt made sense. I’m also not a very big fan of how they treated Michael for the first…hundred or so minutes. I get that he’s just a man, blah blah blah, grounded this, grounded that. I’m sorry, but anybody that can just up and walk away from what happened at the end of Kills isn’t ‘just a man’ anymore. You also get a small glimpse of that supernaturalness when Michael stabs somebody for the first time in Ends. I won’t say anything more about that, but you’ll notice it when it happens. I’m just not sure if I liked this movie, loved it, hated it, disliked it, or am completely on the fence about it. Right now, I’d say I’m leaning toward disliking it. It’s divisive for sure, though. I do know that I will be watching it again, and who knows, maybe those decisions that I thought were bad will soften on me and I’ll be more willing to accept them. The one thing that I know for sure is that no Halloween movie has made me feel this strongly about it, in any way, shape, or form, since Rob Zombie’s Halloween II. That brings me to say this: I respect the hell out of David Gordon Green for following through with his vision for these characters—it’s not an easy thing to do.

That being said, at times, Halloween Ends feels completely disjointed from the last two installments, and even sometimes the whole franchise’s identity. I’m not sure if they meant to, but they might have taken some inspiration from Friday the 13th Part V, and if you know, you know. I feel like, after watching this movie, all of the pieces to a puzzle have been dumped into my brain and I have to piece them together to fully understand how I feel about this movie.

I also think that works as a way to look at the approach of Halloween Ends. This movie sort of feels as if somebody just dumped puzzle pieces in front of themselves and smashed them together without caring for their actual placement in the bigger picture.

In some parts I found myself enjoying while in other parts I wanted to just turn the movie off and go to bed. It’s the most perplexing mixed bag I’ve ever encountered because, is it really a mixed bag? Maybe it’s a normal, good bag, but I just need to take some time and let it digest.

Either way, Halloween Ends did what it wanted to do—it ended Halloween. I think that’s one thing we can all agree on. Whether you think this is a heaping bag of sh*t, you loved it, or you’re like me and have no idea what the hell just happened, they really did end Halloween.

That being said…how about a legacy sequel with Danielle Harris returning as Jamie Lloyd? Too soon? Either way, I have ideas. Blumhouse, call me!