Halloween Ends (Film Review)

When Halloween Kills released in cinemas last year, Jamie Lee Curtis (who plays Laurie Strode in the Halloween franchise) said that the final film in the franchise will “piss people off.” Well, with Halloween Ends now in cinemas and streaming on Peacock in the United States, all it takes is to open up Twitter and see how divided people are on the film. It's safe to say, she was right. Many are calling it one of the worst Halloween films while some are calling it the best.

Halloween Ends takes place four years after the events of Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills where Laurie is living with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) and is finishing writing her memoir. Michael Myers hasn't been seen since his rampage in 2018, leaving Haddonfield on edge, questioning if he is still alive. Laurie has decided to liberate herself from fear and rage to embrace life. But when a young man, Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell), is accused of killing a boy he was babysitting, it ignites a cascade of violence and terror that will force Laurie to finally confront the evil she can't control, once and for all. 

After Halloween Kills, which admittedly left many underwhelmed due to focusing on exaggerated kill sequences over a focused narrative, director David Gordon Green went in the complete opposite direction for the finale of this series; less kills and more story focused. I believe this benefitted this film as it is a lot slower paced and has a relentless sense of dread running throughout. This certainly was an ambitious approach to take the story, but it made the film feel different to its two predecessors. 

The film is carried on the shoulders of Rohan Campbell who excels as Corey Cunningham. At first, it felt like a bizarre choice to bring in a brand-new character and make them the co-lead of what is meant to be the final film of the Halloween franchise, yet it somehow works. For a majority of the film, you can sympathise for Corey because of how the town perceives him. The opening twenty minutes is one of the best openings to a horror film I think I have ever seen because it excels at building tension and establishing his character. 

Jamie Lee Curtis is excellent, once again, as Laurie Strode. This feels like a completely different character to the revenge-driven person that was in the previous two films. This is mainly down to her not allowing Michael Myers to scar her life like he had done in the time period between Carpenter's classic film and the 2018 sequel. She is ready to move on and not be in training to kill Michael. This was a new direction for the character that I really enjoyed seeing. It allowed Laurie to live her life instead of living in the past and it made for some great character progression. 

While the film is very light on action and legitimate horror (especially in comparison to Kills), when the moments come, they're brutal. The film doesn't shy away from the blood and gore and the carnage that ensues in the second half was worth the build-up. There are a number of creative kills that take place in the film which will certainly have you wanting to look away.

Halloween Ends is one of the most ambitious mainstream horror films we have had in years. It subverts expectations and creates an interesting character study on grief, loss and fear because of what has happened in Haddonfield's history. The film does have a bit of a shaky script and Michael is certainly underutilised but, I have to admire what David Gordon Green has done with this trilogy making for a fitting end to Jamie Lee Curtis time as Laurie Strode.

Halloween Ends is in cinemas now.