Halloween Ends review – Tricked and treated

Let’s give credit where it’s due. Michael Myers, alongside Pinhead and Chucky, is one of the few remaining 70s and 80s horror icons to remain in the current cultural zeitgeist. Myer’s outings have been regularly happening with mixed (a word I use generously) results during the last few decades, and the latest trilogy has landed squarely in the middle of the quality scale. As it valiantly tries to conclude its saga, Halloween Ends isn’t an outlier. It accomplishes what it sets out to do, even though the tropes of its genre drag it, and audiences, almost completely under in the process.

Four years after the events of Halloween and Halloween Kills, Haddonfield, Illinois has recovered, with its most famous citizen and town butcher Michael Myers lost to the shadows and presumed gone forever. Laurie Strode (played once again by Jamie Lee Curtis) is attempting to lead a normal life with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) while also continuing her friendship with Deputy Frank Hawkins (Will Patton).

All seems well leading up to this year’s Halloween night, except when Allyson and her grandmother become acquainted with fellow town “boogeyman” Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell), a young man accused of committing a gruesome crime shortly after the Michael Myers killings. Allyson takes a liking to Corey. But as Halloween approaches, a darkness begins to envelop Haddonfield and there’s a shape moving in its shadows.

Horror movies in the vein of Halloween have always suffered from two fatal flaws: emotional heel turns and bad character decision-making. Characters flip on each other very quickly for a number of reasons, whether it’s to build tension or make them unlikable in preparation for their on-screen slaughter. And leading to that slaughter requires bad decisions. Not immediately running towards a crowded place when Michael Myers confronts you. Not assuming he’s dead when all you’ve done is put a knife in his back (looking at you, Halloween Kills). Horror movies are incapable of making you feel something for their characters when they are unrelatable and unrealistic in these ways.

Both these elements rear their head in the first half of Halloween Ends, and it’s frustrating. Laurie Strode continues to be the smartest person in the room, and Curtis is still incredibly charming and resilient. There’s an aura of liberation around her in that when confronted with Michael’s nonsense again, she entertains none of it. Andi Matichak is doing a fine job, while it’s Campbell who delivers a stand-out performance. He’s balancing the innocence of a poor kid who got dealt a bad hand in life, and a monster whose petrifying persona is just a few layers away from breaking the surface. Corey is compelling from the start, but like many around him, succumbs to the 180-degree switches that stop his character from reaching its true cinematic potential.

The first half of the film also suffers from a lack of plot. Whereas Halloween Kills had tension from the get-go, with a town losing its mind over its resident serial murderer, Halloween Ends attempts to take a more metaphorical storytelling approach à la the original 1978 Halloween. It concerns itself with the force of evil as a subconscious entity that threatens people who have suffered an intense trauma, and how that trauma manifests in new and uncertain ways.

Good idea, but stuff still needs to happen in a movie. And when you have nothing but characters lashing out and making stupid decisions to fill that vacuum, the result is tedious and unengaging. You’re left thinking about how other franchises are exploring new concepts, and interesting ways to challenge and scare us.

So how does Ends come to an end? Thankfully, in a very satisfying way. Once the second half rolls around, and the stakes have been set, the film proceeds at a good pace and we get what we paid to see. In this reviewer’s opinion, the twist at the heart of the movie works. Granted, there’s nowhere else to go, but as a narrative that concludes this trilogy of films, it’s dramatic enough and delivers on the murder and mayhem we associate with it.

Jamie Lee Curtis takes the reins with complete competence and sends us off with a good burst of tension and gore. How enjoyable is this? A decision that’s made in the final act is one of the smartest and most rational things to ever happen in this film franchise. Again, though, it sits at a complete 180 with how we got to that point.

Having also handled directing duties on Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills, David Gordon Green once again guides this trilogy with a steady hand. The film’s cinematography is adequate (nobody has ever again reached the bar originally set in 1978) with a lot of emphasis on dark scenes. The obligatory jump scares are minimal and the same goes for the script. With the exception of some narration from Laurie Strode, there’s not much ruminating happening, and character dialogue is more utilitarian than in the previous films. This is a good thing. Halloween has a simple premise. Best to keep it that way.

But, of course, one of the best things about Halloween Ends comes from the guy who started it all. Original director (and composer) John Carpenter, with the help of his son Cody and previous collaborator Daniel Davies, has created a deep and sombre musical score that alludes to the finality of the Michael Myers saga. With the previously-mentioned darkness comes perfectly-timed cues of silence, followed by a swelling of bass and that legendary Halloween theme. The film also features the trademark opening sequence involving a jack-o-lantern and there’s even a nod in there to 1982’s Halloween III.

Ultimately, though, Halloween Ends is a victim of itself. By having to adhere to its series formula and labouring to establish the same setup as before, it has a rough start. It doesn’t bring anything substantial to the dinner table other than its blood and guts dished out in some cool and unique ways. Even these servings, though, are frustratingly few and far between.

In the end, audiences just have to sit back and let on-screen evil run its course, with the result being a decent enough, but not especially impressive, conclusion. This is even with elements, such as performances and music, lending legitimacy to proceedings.