Turns out the Shape was a shrug emoji. Halloween Ends with a whimper: a convoluted afterthought originating from one of the greatest movies ever made. Hey, at least we get a chance to say goodbye to Laurie Strode and Michael Myers one last time right? Right?
Ends takes place 4 years after the 2019 Halloween Kills. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) has basically adopted her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) after Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney/Nick Castle) murdered Laurie’s daughter/Allyson’s mother. Laurie and Allyson have mostly put the past behind them, with Laurie pouring her thoughts into a memoir and Allyson diving into her nurse job. But like in 2019 as in 1978, evil moments like that take a toll: in this case, Allyson’s crush Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell), who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time completely altering his life’s trajectory.
Halloween Ends has one new wrinkle: Corey Cunningham’s presence. It’s a strange choice, until you start thinking about the Halloween movie history, and then it sorta fits in. What he brings to the Halloween franchise is like what David Gordon Green and Danny McBride brought: there’s some excitement with something new. Then slowly like the creative pair, his presence transforms into something ambiguous and confusing, not in a good way. And in the end I end up befuddled at what has transpired onscreen, because of how long his involvement keeps everyone from Laurie Strode final girling vs. The Shape Michael Myers.
I really did NOT like Halloween Kills, which wasted an inspired setup with repetitive backtracking of that setup. Ends at least has a legit finality to it: Jamie Lee Curtis has given multiple interviews saying this is the last time she’ll be in a Halloween movie. As a result, Halloween Ends coasts on its 44 years of goodwill and good(?) times. We get little Easter eggs and references to whatever pieces of the past are still alive. The early scenes are Laurie literally reminiscing about some of the highlights of the franchise. The rest of the movie becomes a highlight reel of what the audience wants. Sure there’s zero character stakes except for Laurie, but watching some gnarly murdering of jerkwads by a knife wielding serial killer is in this horror environment, weirdly nostalgic and comforting. This all builds to the Meyers/Strode main event, which is the only point you’ll feel anything watching Halloween Ends: a battle 40+ years in the making!
I can’t say this Halloween Trilogy was worth it. But, in a world of endless franchising, there is something to be had knowing this will be the final version of something as treasured as the Halloween franchise. Hopefully Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Myers, and Haddonfield Illinois can move on from their boogeymen and live our their days in peace. But not in pieces hopefully.