In my experience there are only two reasons I enjoy watching a slasher flick: brutal violence and comical violence. Give me deaths I can laugh at or give me gore that makes me nauseous and you will have yourself a devoted fan. Plot rarely ever plays much into it. In a franchise as wide as Halloween, I might find myself invested in some characters, especially those that are recurring through the movies, but it’s not a necessity. In this case my main investments, if I were to have them, would be with Michael and Laurie of the Halloween franchise.
As Laurie adapts to a less paranoid and more suburban life, Michael gets reduced to a less hygienic version of Sloth from The Goonies. Corey, a young man with a tragic past moves to the front stage as the village martyr and Myer’s copycat. Allyson, who walks around as the gloomy victim of her grandma’s past, of course falls for the village martyr. The two bond over their melancholy and ostracization from the town from which they plan to escape, turning this slasher into a bad romance.
This is where my issues begin with this movie. Instead of having Laurie and Michael as the main characters, the two icons are set aside and replaced by franchise newcomers, Allyson (Laurie’s granddaughter) and Corey. Who’s Corey you might ask? He’s no Michael Myers, that’s for sure.
Now most of these decisions could have been easily overlooked by me. I’m really not that hard to please when it comes to horror. Just give me full illustrated, unadulterated, brutal, bloody violence, and I will love the movie no matter who the characters are. This was not the case here.
After the epic group battles in Halloween Kills, my expectations for this one, knowing it was the movie to end the bloody franchise, were high. Even if the violence would have been on par with Halloween Kills, my expectations would not have been met, but I’d like to think I could overlook it a bit more. In comparison, Halloween Kills showed more novel ways to kill people, whereas Halloween Ends had watered down kills we’d seen before in the franchise. Michael’s body count alone was possibly the lowest in the whole franchise, as most of the killing was done by the martyr copycat Corey, whose kills were as thrilling as a slap on the buttocks. If expectations are the root of resentments, then I will openly admit to resenting this movie.
The only upside I can give this movie is the acting, as we can see Jamie Lee Curtis’ evolution as an actress from the first trilogy to this last one. She has aged with grace and her talent is impeccable. This last franchise she plays the role of Laurie as a grandmother, who has never overcome the night of the first movie. It seems everything past John Carpenter’s Halloween was retconned and this trilogy picks up 40 years later.
The first two Halloween’s in this trilogy are about Myer’s escape the night before Halloween, and killing people on his way to chase down Laurie. Laurie, who has been alienated by her daughter, fears Michael’s wrath towards her and her family, has been training for years and has built a death trap house to bait and kill him in. In the end it turns out Michael couldn’t be bothered by Laurie as all he’s been trying to do since the first Halloween is come home and haunt the neighborhood on Halloween night. By the end of Halloween Kills it is unveiled that he is not human. He has become evil, and evil is home. No one can kill him, and the only choice when he comes out next Halloween is clear. Run.
The ending of Halloween Ends however, was unenjoyable and unnecessary. Halloween Kills had wrapped up the story. Michael had made it back to his house, and had been immortalized as a symbol of evil that could not be killed. It was a beautiful end, and I simply don’t understand the need to spoil it just to make a “trilogy.” Giving Michael a status of super-human evil in one movie and then stripping him down to an old man in the next only neutered his spirit.
I will end on a good note. The only one I have. If you ever decide to do a Halloween marathon with friends, this last one will be played so late you’ll surely be asleep. Sweet dreams, and happy Halloween.
