Well, this was different.
If last year's Halloween Kills was the horror genre's analog to the nonstop action extravaganza of Kill Bill: Volume 1, then Halloween Ends is very much the Kill Bill: Volume 2 of the franchise. To say it subverts your expectations is putting it mildly; it guts them like a fish and lets them bleed out on the carpet. After the former's relentlessly nihilistic violence with no less than 31 on screen deaths, here comes the aggressively different 13th film in the saga. Even though it's only the fourth film in the Three Finger Timeline. I really don't want to go over that again... This series has had more crash-and-burn reboots than Windows Vista. Even devoted fans of these movies get a headache when they think about it.
So let's start with the great news: Halloween Ends is proof that David Gordon Green listens to his critics. For the most part. Virtually every criticism of the first two entries in his sequel trilogy is answered here. Halloween (2018) relied too heavily on the mirror image juxtaposition of visual cues from the first film for a lot of its impact, to the point where certain shots were basically just recreated with Michael (James Jude Courtney) and Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) swapping roles. In Halloween Kills, the script leaned heavily on trailer-speak and recounting the events of the original movie for its dialogue. When it wasn't sidelining Laurie in the hospital like a certain other Halloween sequel we know and love, entire scenes and character interactions were devoted to recounting a movie most of us know by heart. Even if a lot of the dialogue makes sense in context, it's an admitted weakness of an otherwise wildly effective and hopelessly bleak middle chapter in this trilogy.
The script for Halloween Ends, by David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, Paul Brad Logan, and Chris Bernier is the best of the entire sequel trilogy, even if it still has its problems. There's more attention to the present. We finally get the feeling that these are people whose lives are moving forward, not always looking back. There's also far less comic relief messing with the tone. This newest Halloween is the least reliant on its predecessors, and because of that, it's the freshest and most original entry of the series since Halloween III. In fact, even in the absence of Silver Shamrock masks and an obnoxiously catchy commercial jingle, I would say Halloween Ends owes more to Season of the Witch than to any of the other forgotten sequels in this timeline.
From the opening credits, which glow with blue static instead of the archetypal orange font, the fingerprints of Halloween III's meta legacy are all over this film. For example, during the cold open, Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) is watching John Carpenter's The Thing with a young boy he's babysitting. The only things missing are Budweiser and Tom Atkins. Suffice it to say, this is the Michael Myers sequel for fans of Halloween III. And what was every casual moviegoer's auto-critique of that one? If you know, you know. But if you were hoping that the filmmakers would actually take the plot into a new and unexpected direction -- stopping short of making this a random anthology entry -- Halloween Ends will have many rewards in store for you. Or, let's be honest: It might just piss you off. This is not a sequel for everyone, but it might be the best in the series since the original.
Like in Halloween (2018), the psychology of survival is a major thread. When we picked up with Laurie's character in that film, she was a Sarah Connorized version of her former self: Stuck in the past, always reliving one night that came to define her life. In Ends, we pick up with her four years after the events in Kills, attempting to actually live for the present. She's writing a memoir, having meet cutes with old friends at the grocery store, and living with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak). Even with her Boogeyman still alive somewhere, Laurie has managed to find a purpose, and even something resembling happiness. When both Laurie and Allyson meet the bullied Corey, they look into the face of a kindred spirit: None of them can walk in public without being recognized and silently judged by eyes flashing with corked rage. The relationships that develop dive into the themes of survivor's guilt, abuse, and the way trauma can reshape a mind like an infection that eats away at your flesh.
That's not to say the film doesn't have flaws. There is one glaring hole involving Michael himself being squirreled away for four years after his childhood home was demolished. There's no real answer for this, and when you consider the mind-ripping conclusion of Kills, there needs to be. In addition, critics of the first two entries who were sick and tired of getting repackaged ideas cherrypicked from the other sequels will still have some bones to pick. Aside from the spiritual sibling rivalry with Halloween III, the main storyline that runs through Halloween Ends is like the answer to the question: "What if the filmmakers actually intended to follow through with the surprising twist at the end of Halloween 4, instead of just using it for a cheap shock?" This will work for some viewers who wanted a gratifying answer to that question and never got it. For others, this will be the franchise's Roy. Again, if you know, you know.
With that being said, there's some really solid acting on display here. Jamie Lee Curtis is terrific, like always. She can convey deep wells of empathy and pain with just a look. Andi Matichak's Allyson falls into the same trap we all do as we get older, and finds herself acting like her mother (Judy Greer), with a lot of the same bottled up resentment and aimless anger. Unfortunately, Will Patton's retired police officer Hawkins is on the back burner this time out, and after taking the time to build up his backstory in Kills, this feels like a tragic misfire. But then there's Rohan Campbell as Corey Cunningham, who wanders into the film as a fresh face, and almost walks away with it on his back. He's compelling, mysterious, engaging, and even manages to hold his own on screen with Curtis. Campbell is an actor to watch for in the future.
For a series with this muddled, repetitive, and uneven of a history, Halloween Ends pulling the rug out from under me was a welcome change of pace. After the almost Force Awakens levels of safe audience pandering in Halloween (2018), after the larger than life mob justice screaming "evil dies tonight" a total of 29 times in Halloween Kills, I found the more original and focused narrative of Halloween Ends riveting. It was never boring or overly derivative, has an overwhelmingly positive surprise-to-jump scare ratio, and like John Carpenter's immortal classic, it relies more on suspense and characterization than gore. It delivers exactly what it promises in the trailers while also taking the audience on a rather fascinating journey into the nature of evil. We see how the seeds are planted, how they take root, and when watered in blood, it can be startling just how fast they'll grow. This is how you write an origin story, and it didn't need a blood cult, Sheri Moon Zombie, incest, or Busta Rhymes.
Pumpkin pies tonight!
- Blake O. Kleiner
