Halloween Ends (2022) Review

 "I'll light the match."

-Corey Cunningham

4 years after the events of Halloween Kills, the town of Haddonfield has struggled to move on from the slaughter committed by Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney).  As Halloween approaches again, evil looms over Haddonfield once again in the form of Myers and perhaps in the form of someone else.

Spoiler Alert for Halloween Ends.  This movie has a ton of issues that I won't be able to get into without spoilers.  This movie sucks.  Read ahead at your own risk.

What Works:

The best part of this movie is hands down the opening sequence.  I love it.  It's shocking and darkly hilarious.  It has nothing to do with Michael Myers, but his presence still looms largely over all of it.  Instead we get a babysitter, Corey (Rohan Campbell), accidently killing a kid in front of the kid's parents.  I laughed so hard and it's a memorable way to open the movie.

I will give this movie some credit for trying something new.  Passing on the killer personality to someone else is an idea that's been around since the 4th movie.  They finally went through with it and they had some interesting themes in that Haddonfield created a new Michael Myers in the way they treated Corey.  There's something interesting there and it might have worked in a different Halloween sequel.  I'll get into why it doesn't work further down.

Finally, there are two other solid sequences.  The slaughter at the scrapyard is a lot of fun, with two incredible kills.  The final battle between Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Michael is on the short side, but I really liked how they finally killed Michael.  It was drawn out and thorough and felt worthy of Michael.  I also loved how the entire town gathered to watch Michael's body get destroyed.  That is the proper ending for the character.  I just wished it had been attached to a stronger movie as a whole.

What Sucks:

The problem with this movie is that it was marketed as the final showdown between Laurie and Michael.  It was all over the marketing and it feels like this is what Kills was building towards.  Michael isn't really involved in the plot at all until the last 20 minutes.  Instead we focus on Corey's descent into becoming the new Michael.  It just feels like it comes out of nowhere.  This character wasn't in the last two films, why is he here?  Who wanted this?  

Now, I think there is a way the filmmakers could have done both of these stories.  Like I said, the idea of someone else taking up Michael's mantle isn't a new one.  I really wish Halloween 5 had stuck with the original plan and made Jamie the killer.  I think Halloween Ends should have focused on Laurie and Michael, but a 4th movie focused on Corey becoming a killer could have been interesting.  They really do feel like two separate movies and they should have been that way.

This is simply a poor follow-up to the last two films.  You have all these surviving characters who we saw escape Michael and most of them never run into him in this film.  Julian (Jibrail Nantambu) was one of the best characters of the 2018 film.  They bring him back for a cameo with no dialogue.  The two returning cops don't get anything to do either.  This feels more like a quick epilogue than a ture sequel.

Finally, I hate what they did with the character of Allyson (Andi Matichak).  She was awesome in the last two movies.  This time around, she falls for Corey, who is a real weirdo, ignores every red flag ever, and gets mad at Laurie for some reason.  It feels like character assassination and it's a shame. 

Verdict:

Halloween Ends is a massive letdown, especially since I liked the last two movies.  While I liked the beginning and the very end, the rest of the movie was focused on the wrong thing.  It missed the story right under their noses and focused on what should have been a 4th film instead.  It's not the worst Halloween film, but it's in the bottom 3.  I have it above 5 and Resurrection, but the fact that I like Curse better than Ends is a crying shame.

 3/10: Really Bad