‘Halloween Ends’: David, what have you done!

• Release Date: 14/10/222
• Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak, Rohan Campbell
• Director: David Gordon Greene

““Halloween Ends”” marks the culmination of David Gordon Greene’s Halloween trilogy that began in 2018. The film also marks the end of Michael Myers. Myers has been a part of American popular culture since the 1980s and has evolved into one of the most recognizable and horrifying symbols of evil. While the Halloween series has suffered from mediocrity after the first two films, it cannot be denied that the films were always a pull during the Halloween seasons and the first film by John Carpenter actually set into motion the now famous slasher sub-genre of Horror. I liked the 2018 reboot by David Gordon Greene but not so much the 2021 film, “Halloween Kills”. I was expecting that Greene would make up for lost ground from the 2021 film in “Halloween Ends” and give us a spectacle that we would remember for a long time. Unfortunately, that was not the case here and we get a film that feels like a Halloween film for only the last 1-20 minutes of it.

The story: –

“Halloween Ends” picks up 4 years after the events of “Halloween Kills”. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) has finally made peace with the fact that Michael Myers has disappeared after the events of “Halloween Kills” and might never come back again. She is trying to move on with her granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak), and putting an effort to find peace and happiness in the day-to-day tasks of life. She is writing her memoirs with an emphasis on her encounters with the Boogeyman. In the same town, there lives a boy, Corey (Rohan Campbell), who accidentally killed a child on an earlier Halloween night. The courts found him innocent but the town of Haddonfield neither forgave him nor allowed him to forget that he was a child-killer. With years of prodding, abuse, and depression, Corey finally starts to metamorph into the monster that everyone in Haddonfield wanted to believe he was. His life is further impacted by two radically different individuals — Allyson, who loves and believes that she can heal him, and the marauding Michael Myers who has been hiding in the underbelly of Haddonfield for all these years without anyone’s knowledge.   

Too much Corey, too little Michael 

People watch Halloween films to see Michael go up against a bunch of innocent people killing them innovatively and then getting subdued by someone like Laurie who is half of his size but has the gusto to stand up to the monster. Michael over the years has become synonymous with evil and many believe that the character is superhuman. This has also been underlined in the many reincarnations that the man has had over the years. To reduce such a character to someone who is struggling to stand up on his feet and kill a man who is barely half his size was a poor choice. This not only robbed the character of the menacing aura that he was always associated with but also considerably reduced the sense of fear and tension associated with the character thereby also bringing down the thrill elements of the narrative.  

Rohan Campbell is fantastic as Corey. He was able to sell the duality of the character wonderfully. I was able to accept him as the mild-mannered but conflicted youth who didn’t know which way he wanted to go. From the very beginning, he has the right mannerisms and sense of confusion in his essay to sell a character of this nature. The problem, however, is with the character and how it is written and the fact that a deep and dramatic character of this nature may not have a place in a film of the Halloween franchise. I was also not entirely convinced by the transformation of the character from a simple and dedicated student to a marauding killer and the reasons that are given for the transformation. The character could have easily taken different paths but he chose something extreme that should have been his last choice. This is something that brings down the believability of the film and makes the suspension of disbelief that much more difficult.

My biggest gripe with the character of Corey was, in fact, that he was given more time than any other character in the film. The character even metamorphs into Michael Myers complete with his William Shatner mask (that he wrests from the real Michael) and trademark knife. I felt that it was a blatant bastardization of the character of Myers if the first two films and this trilogy are to be considered the only films about the character.  

Poor Action sequences: –

David Gordon Greene’s trilogy kicked off well in terms of action and mayhem with the first two films giving us enough carnage and violence to satisfy any Halloween fan and also the fans of the slasher genre. The action sequences in this final film should have been the best in the trilogy. It should have been explicit and innovative with Michael gunning for his best kills in the entire franchise since this was supposed to be his last outing with the knife. Alas! What we get for a climax is one damp squib of an action sequence involving Michael and Laurie in a kitchen. This sequence too is so dimly lit that it will be difficult for anyone to see anything clearly. Laurie eventually gets the better of the killer but the ease with which she subdues him really made me upset. The only thing that can be said in the film’s defense is that they were preparing us for this underwhelming finale by showing us how weak Michael had gotten from the moment of his introduction thereby building up to this climax.

The action sequences involving Corey as Michael or the ones where the two of them go about killing others together were just “meh”. The reasons for that are simple and evident. Corey kills for revenge and to get back at the ones who have been abusing him. Michael always killed for the sheer pleasure of killing and that is something that made him imposing and scary. Corey is always Corey and he often takes off the mask to show his face and remind us that it is him underneath the mask. He never aspires to reach the physically daunting and imposing presence of Myers neither can he as his character is written and developed in a certain way. Michael was a force of nature and an unkillable foe. There was a different sense of fearsome aura associated with him, which I enjoyed thoroughly. That is something that is totally missing in this film. 

Laurie is sidelined for Corey  

Ideally, the final showdown of Halloween should have been a story of Michael vs Laurie. It is so up to a certain extent but the character of Laurie is reduced to a glorified cameo in this film with the majority of the story concentrating on Corey and Allyson. I don’t know about the others but this was something that put me off. For me, Halloween starts and ends with Laurie and Myers and that should have been the story that David Gordon Greene should have gunned for. Sadly, he gets lost in tales that are cooked up for this film only, and in doing that he misses what made the Halloween films so enjoyable. He doesn’t play to his strengths.

Final words: –

I am sad that Michael Myers is tapping out so meekly. I am sad that Laurie could hardly flex her big girl muscles in a proper fight with Myers one last time. I am sad that the final film of the franchise was not about Laurie and Michael. I am sad that this film added almost nothing new to the lore or the action-violence that the previous films made popular. I am sad that the final film of this phenomenal franchise was so underwhelming and devoid of any shock value. In short, I am just sad.

Rating: 2/5 (2 out of 5 Stars)  

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