I can’t even count all the various incarnations of the Halloween horror franchise there are. It all started 44 years ago when we were introduced to Laurie Strode as played by Jamie Lee Curtis, perhaps the most consistently tortured and beaten female character in movie history. And she just keeps coming back for more with Michael Myers, the guy she can’t seem to quit, but Curtis promises Halloween Ends is definitely it. She is hanging up her meat cleaver with this one, and even signed a proclamation to that effect on Jimmy Kimmel Live! But do we really believe we are seeing the last of this franchise hatched all those decades ago by John Carpenter, who has returned to duty on this one to provide another nifty haunting musical score?
This is the finale of the so-called final trilogy of films that brought back Curtis in her signature role and has found great success with 2018’s Halloween and 2021’s Halloween Kills. Of course there were lots of other Halloweens before this trio, three of them not even bothering to change the name, and at least two of them called Halloween II. Over the years we have also had The Curse, The Return, The Resurrection and The Revenge of evil and deeply troubled Michael Myers, so I can be excused if I just don’t believe all those billboards around town that proclaim this is truly the end, but for the purposes of this review let’s go with it and start with a spoiler alert: It all ends with a battle royale between Michael (aka The Shape played by James Jude Courtney) and Laurie. Surprised?
But it begins back on Halloween Night 2019 as a new character, affable babysitter Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell), is taking care of obnoxious 10-year-old Jeremy (a very funny Jaxon Goldenberg), whose parents go out to a costume party. He overpowers Corey by insisting they watch a gross-out monster movie. Later he plays a devilish trick on Corey, but it turns tragic when he accidentally falls from the top story of the home’s staircase. It wasn’t what it looked like, but the parents come home just at the moment it happened, and it appears to them and everyone else that Corey did it on purpose. After a trial, he is acquitted but now a pariah in town, the victim of bullies who call him a psycho and beat him up, particularly one named Terry (played in one dimension stereotype by Michael Barbieri).
Laurie, now living happily in a new house in Haddonfield — though why she never moves, I can’t imagine — writing her memoirs and setting out on a healthier lifestyle than being taken apart by Michael Myers in every movie, has sympathy for Corey and rescues him one night. She later introduces him to granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak), who works at a medical facility and still is grieving the loss of her parents (and Laurie’s daughter) and boyfriend at the hands of Myers. A romance blooms between them, but Corey’s emerging dive into darkness complicates matters as he starts losing his mind due to the trauma of what happened three years earlier with Jeremy. Is Michael lurking in the background, ready to pounce again?
Other favorite characters are back for a “last” go-round include ultimate fellow survivor Lindsay (Kyle Richards) and Officer Frank Hawkins (Will Patton), who is sweet on Laurie but still haunted by the fact he could have killed Michael when he had the chance. You all know where this story is headed, but it contains considerably more emotion and character development than the last film, to be sure, and Curtis commands it so effectively that we don’t mind too much that we have been there/done that with this franchise too many times to recite here. Of the new characters, Campbell is effective in drawing an origin story of a nice guy who goes down the rabbit hole and emerges as a different, and very dangerous, person.
Producers are Malek Akkad, Jason Blum and Bill Block. The script is credited to Paul Brad Logan & Chris Bernier & Danny McBride & Green. Universal releases the film also produced by Miramax and Blumhouse on Friday in theaters and streaming on Peacock. Check out my video review with scenes from the film at the link above.
Do you plan on seeing Halloween Ends? Let us know what you think.
