Halloween Ends

Halloween Ends

Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak, Rohan Campbell, James Jude Courtney

Directed by David Gordon Green

On October 25, 1978, a small film entered the cinemas called "Halloween," directed by John Carpenter and starring newcomer Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, a babysitter who's stalked by a killer named Michael Myers (also known as "The Shape"). The film revolutionized the slasher genre and gave it a new look, a new feel, and allowed for the "slashics" like "Friday the 13th," "A Nightmare on Elm Street," and "Child's Play" to follow in its iconic footsteps. While there were slashers before (most notably "Black Christmas"), "Halloween" become an icon in and of itself, and the film became synonymous with the holiday it was named after. After a slew of lackluster sequels and reboots, David Gordon Green and Danny McBride came together in 2018 and penned out three new sequels that would forget all the others and focus entirely on the events that happened after 1978's "Halloween." Jamie Lee Curtis - now an accomplished actress with a slew of films in her repertoire - returned to give Laurie Strode an effective ending against the Boogeyman that's haunted her life for forty years. With "Ends," the franchise sputters to a complete and total stop, ending not with a bang, but "what the heck were they thinking?"

Four years after Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney) wreaked havoc on Haddonfield and killed her daughter, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is writing a memoir and living with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak), who now works as a nurse. Three years before, babysitter Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) was involved in the accidental death of the child he was babysitting for, and was found not guilty of murder - but the people of Haddonfield never forgot, and they never forgot Michael and Laurie either. Corey and Allyson begin a relationship, but when Corey comes across Michael Myers hiding in the sewers, they form a bond and Laurie worries that Corey is exhibiting mannerisms akin to Michael, but it seems no one will believe her - especially Allyson, who's life hangs in the balance, as Michael gets stronger and prepares for his final battle with the babysitter who got away.

"Halloween" will always hold a special place in my heart in the fact that it was a deeply unnerving, slow-burn psychological horror thriller about a man who stalks babysitters for no apparent reason, ramping up the creep factor in the fact that 1) this could really happen, and 2) he doesn't have any previous connection to his targets, which makes it all the more terrifying. While compared to today's standards it might be considered "dull" since there's no murders every ten seconds and the lens isn't literally bathed in blood, its effect on the horror landscape is undeniable.

By skipping over the other sequels which range from decent ("Halloween II," "Halloween H20") to the downright silly (Busta Rhymes breakdance fighting Michael Myers in "Halloween Ressurection" anyone?), Green and McBride instead focus on Laurie Strode after the events of '78, completely omitting the different twists that the other films tried to throw in (Michael is Laurie's brother, Michael was a part of a druid cult, etc.). To that end, it gives "Halloween 2018" (referred to a "H18" from now on) a continued sense of realistic fear - the Boogeyman is real, and he's out to get you. We see the psychological and mental toll that those few short minutes in "78" had on Laurie, as now, forty years later, she lives in a prison of her own making. She raised her daughter and granddaughter to fight, and remained always vigilant that Michael would one day return to finish what he started. It was a deep character study on the effects of trauma, fear, and isolation can have on a person's psyche, and when Michael finally arrives, it's truly a battle for the ages.

It should've ended with "H18." It was the perfect pairing for "H78," and had everything needed to finish out Laurie's story. She goes from victim to victor, and along with her daughter and granddaughter, finally is able to put her Boogeyman to rest once and for all. However, since this is horror, there's always a sequel, and "Halloween Kills" kills that vibe with reckless abandon. Showing Michael more as a force of evil rather than a human being, the film is ridiculous in its goriness, as Michael hacks and slashes his way from Laurie's compound to his childhood home, all the while Laurie remains sidelined in the hospital and doesn't even have any scenes with her evil counterpart. This is the beginning of the downward spiral for David Gordon Green, as it seemed he wanted to make two movies that diametrically opposed one another: on one end he wanted to show how evil manifests in everyone (from Michael to roaming gangs of vigilante citizens with the combined brain power of a pea) and how killing makes Michael transcend to something more ethereal, and on the other he wanted to supply the long-suffering "Halloween" fans with the fan service they demanded - and utterly failed miserably on that end as well.

While "Kills" was lauded as being a terrible sequel, "Ends" makes "Kills" look almost poetic in comparison. Again, David Gordon Green tried to tell two stories: one centering on newcomer Corey Cunningham, and how an accidental death shaped him toward living a life of evil that even Michael could be eerily proud of and hitting the topic of whether or not evil comes from birth or is birthed by the events of our lives, and also tries to wrap up the struggle between Michael and Laurie, which sadly felt like an afterthought when it should've been front-and-center. It's almost as if he forgot he was making a "Halloween" sequel, and if he made a separate movie featuring Corey, it actually could've worked out - just not in the world of "Halloween," where Laurie Strode should never lose focus.

Sadly, she does lose focus, as the majority of the film centers on Corey and his descent into evil, along with his painstakingly dull and lackluster relationship with Allyson, who by narrative choices goes from a hardened warrior to starry eyed teen (even though she's now in her twenties) whose mind-bogging decision to attach herself to Corey after a few days seems totally out of left field, but necessary for a narrative standpoint. Their relationship - which takes up a chunk of the film - doesn't just feel forced, but highly unbelievable, and there's absolutely no chemistry between the two actors. This is supposed to be Laurie's swan song, and it's being overshadowed by this wannabe-teeny-bopper romance.

When Laurie does appear on screen, her own choices seems as baffling as Allyson's. She spent forty years waiting for Michael to return, even though he was locked up in a maximum security prison, and now she lives a carefree lifestyle even though Michael is now out and about and no one knows where he is. If anything, she should be more determined to kill him, especially after he killed her daughter, but she seems to try to float through her existence with smiles, laughs, and burning pies. Only when she's faced with the ire of the townspeople (which also doesn't make sense in a narrative standpoint because in "Kills" she was practically hailed as a saint as the townspeople gathered together to kill Michael) who now hold her responsible for Michael's carnage does the facade wear down, but even then she seems a meek shell of the warrior she once was. She cowers, she pleads, and she appears more a victim than even when she was in "H78." Only at the end does she get her resolve back, but by then it's like the writers thought, "crap, we spent all this time on Corey and forgot it's supposed to be about Michael and Laurie, let's end it quickly." Compared to the other bouts with her Boogeyman, this one is more a whimper than a bang, leaving audiences more than frustrated.

Jamie Lee Curtis made a name for herself from "Halloween," becoming one of the OG Scream Queens and making Laurie Strode a household name, and "H18" brought her back with all her gusto and strength, but in "Ends" she's more weak than she was before, seemingly resolved that she'll either never see Michael again, see him in the eyes of every person, or just get killed by him. While she doesn't seem to phone it in, the script phones it in for her, making her choices highly questionable. Likewise, Andi Matichak's Allyson becomes insufferable, in a confusing narrative focus switching from a loving, doting granddaughter to one who's rebellious and insults her grandmother, even after all they went through together, all because she falls in love with a boy she just meets. Newcomer Rohan Campbell is outright terrible, but that could just be because Corey hogged the spotlight from Michael and Laurie throughout, and by his completely unbelievable performance. Even James Jude Courtney - as the iconic Michael Myers whom he played since the original - seems to be out of focus here, as Michael is more an afterthought than the main star, appearing at first to train Corey and is seen as weakened for some reason, and who never fully gets his mojo back.

There's so much more I can say about how disappointed I am with "Halloween Ends," but that'd be longer than Laurie Strode's memoir. Suffice it to say the films should've ended with 2018's "Halloween," and it seemed that the writers wanted to tell two different stories for the last two films, instead of relying on the tried-and-true method of hero versus monster, which in effect does a great disservice to Laurie Strode, Michael Myers, and the audience as a whole.

The Score: D