The Boogieman and Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) are back to face off one final time in director David Gordon Green’s last installment in the horror film franchise, Halloween Ends.
Halloween Ends begins in Haddonfield in 2019 with a teenager named Corey (Rohan Campbell) showing up on Halloween night to babysit a young boy. The kid suffers from horrible nightmares about Michael Myers’ killing spree the previous year and the serial killer’s subsequent disappearance. Once the parents are gone, however, the boy (Jaxon Goldberg) becomes an absolute brat toward Corey and plays a mean prank on him that goes horribly wrong.
Jump ahead four years and Laurie has moved into a nice house, has better hair, and is living with her granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak). She’s also working on her memoir and trying to build a semi-normal, simple life in Haddonfield.
Out doing an errand, Laurie comes across Corey who has become a local pariah due to that one horrible night of babysitting. Laurie and Corey are both outsiders in their small town, and she helps him when he’s getting bullied by a bunch of teenagers. Laurie takes the wounded Corey to the hospital to get medical assistance and introduces him to Allyson. As Allyson tends to Corey’s wounds, they feel an almost instant connection and attraction. Without much more interaction than that, Allyson insists that Corey attend a party with her. She also convinces him to teach her how to drive his motorcycle.
The party starts off fun but goes off the rails and Corey winds up leaving alone. As he’s walking home, he gets jumped by the same bullies and winds up left for dead in front of a huge sewer opening. When Corey wakes up, he finds himself inside the sewer and comes face to mask with Michael Myers himself.
Corey manages to get away after the close encounter – a chance meeting that leaves him with newfound but disturbing confidence. Soon Corey and Allyson are falling for each other hard, drawn to each other by the darkness and evil they’ve both experienced in their short lives.
Laurie sees a new, dark and menacing side to Corey that reminds her of Michael Myers, and she becomes determined to protect Allyson from Corey who she now views as a threat.
Meanwhile, the original Boogieman – Michael Myers – is now ready to leave the sewers and venture out once more to search for more victims on Halloween. And, of course, to find and kill Laurie.
Halloween Ends closes out David Gordon Green’s horror trilogy (originally created by John Carpenter back in 1978) with a solid cast, weak dialogue, and a lackluster ending. Once again what’s missing are suspense, tension, and spine-tingling scares. There’s no Shape lurking in the shadows or staring with a slight head tilt at his next victim from a distance. In fact, the film has more in common with John Carpenter’s Christine in style and story than Halloween as the focus shifts to being on the new character, Corey.
Rohan Campbell gives a strong performance as Corey, the brooding, misunderstood, decent kid whose descent into darkness is due to being the taunted pariah in town – and by his encounter with Myers in the sewers. Corey’s very much like the character Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon), a likable nerd who slowly transforms into a dark and dangerous force as he becomes possessed by his evil car in 1983’s Christine. The focus on Corey and his relationship with Allyson, which isn’t that interesting, takes up too much screen time and steals from the two characters moviegoers are coming to see: Laurie Strode and Michael Myers.
Jamie Lee Curtis once again delivers the best performance in the film. Laurie’s still traumatized but on the road to recovery and she’s trying to find a way to have a simple life and leave all the terror behind her. This plotline, as well as the relationship with her granddaughter, should have been the main focus of the film. Two strong women trying to find their way back to the light after dealing with so much horror and fear.
After 44 years and 13 films, Halloween Ends closes out the horror/slasher franchise and says goodbye to cinema’s original “final girl” with a jumbled, disjointed, unimaginative, and unsatisfying ending. Laurie and Michael deserve better and so do their fans.
GRADE: C
MPAA Rating: R for gore, bloody horror violence, language throughout, and some sexual references
Release Date: October 14, 2022 in theaters and streaming on Peacock
Running Time: 1 hour 51 minutes
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