Halloween Ends is the end of the David Gordon Green Trilogy. It is supposed to serve as the end of this franchise forever. So it needs to have a conclusion that satisfies everybody, hardcore fans, and critics alike. As a big fan of this franchise myself, I can say this film is the conclusion I’ve been waiting for ever since this franchise was rebooted. It’s everything I could have wanted in a Halloween film and film in general. Who knew a Halloween film could be smart and use themes that are so prevalent in society today?
Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is living a good life in Haddonfield four years after Michael Myers came back to torment the citizens of this small-town community. She is writing a book about her experiences. She’s living with her granddaughter Allyson Nelson (Andi Matichak) After a teen, Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) is accused of the murder of a small boy and tormented by the townspeople she decides to befriend him and help him reacclimate into society. IIts harder than they think. This helps to reignite some underlying issues that are still permeating the surface in Haddonfield.
David Gordan Green infuses this final installment in the Halloween franchise with a sense of psychological trauma that is an overlying story beat. This causes a lot of the final sequences in the movie to be as definitive as they ended up being. Which makes it all the better. These characters get through their trauma together and the viewers should be satisfied by how this all plays out.
Along with the dramatic beats of the film, there is an underlying layer of humor that creeps its head up once in a while. Without giving anything away fans were laughing at key moments in the movie because things were said at the exact right moment to get those reactions. This is a fans fan film despite being a horror film and a Halloween film. There are other awkward sequences with Curtis’s character and Will Patton’s character that are humorous as well. The mix of humor and dramatic sequences worked well together.
One of the things that make the Halloween films great are the kills. And this film has some great kills. Without spoiling them there are some classic kills by several characters and then there are a few brutal kills that are pretty crazy. If you torment the wrong person in this movie you better look out because you’re going to get your comeuppance. A weird thing is that a group of band kids are bullies in the film and that is a little different than usual. Don’t worry though, they get punished. Anybody who’s anybody in this cast that says anything or does anything to the wrong person might get whacked. It’s just par for the course in these types of films.
The three films in this franchise are distinctly different from one another in unique ways and that’s what makes each of them their own entity within this trilogy. This one has an empathy for the pain and suffering of a specific character that helps determine the outcome of a lot of people in the movie. Caring is something that is a gift from God but it doesn’t mean you stop understanding and or thinking either. One character, in particular, has to differentiate from the empathy she has if this person she cares about has actually gone over the edge entirely. The audience is with her on these types of decisions and the reactions prove that if it is wrong or right.
Part of what makes the Halloween franchise great is the score by John Carpenter. Way back when he first made this movie he did the score as well. This score has become one of the most iconic film scores in history. When people hear that music they instantly know it’s from Halloween. This new film in the franchise uses the iconic score but also uses other sounds of beating drums and more ominous sounds in the score that differentiate it from the original but also show love for the music of this franchise.
Obviously, a film series about a serial killer shouldn’t be something that people emulate with but in a way, I feel sorry for some of the characters in the movie. Bullying is a real thing in the country and the world and it isn’t going anywhere. I’m not saying bullying justifies murder or anything like that but it is a concern. I think like the granddaughter character we need to show more empathy for those in dire circumstances or who have gone through a traumatic experience. Caring is sharing and that should be a motto we all live by. At the very least this film shows that.
Halloween Ends is the perfect conclusion to the David Gordon Green Trilogy of films. It has an intelligent thought-provoking story despite having to be about a serial killer. Michael Myers is used in perfect moderation where he isn’t overdone but is very effective when he is used in the film. The other storyline in the movie is more about how this mindset can consume anyone with the right push. As Curtiss’s Strode says at the end of the film “Evil is everywhere it just has to take the right shape” That to me is the perfect conclusion to this franchise, trilogy, and film. As a fan of these films, I was blown away by this movie. I applaud the filmmakers and writers for going in this direction with it.
4 ½ stars
Dan Skip Allen
From the Fourth Row! 