I know I swore I’d never watch another new Halloween movie after the atrocity that was Halloween Kills (2021), but after seeing so much hatred for it online (primarily aimed at a certain twist and a distinct lack of Michael Myers), against my better judgement, on Halloween night I finally gave into curiosity and watched:
Halloween Ends (2022)
[THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS]
If you haven’t seen this movie yet, it’s the third film in the latest new Halloween trilogy that started with Halloween (2018), which itself serves as a direct sequel to the original Halloween (1978) ignoring the events of all previous Halloween sequels.
To bring you up to speed, in these new movies Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is no longer Michael Myers’ sister, neither did she have a daughter named Jamie (who was fostered after Laurie faked her own death to be free of Michael and protect said daughter), nor did she later have a son (played by Josh Hartnett in Halloween H20) or chop off “Michael’s” head at the end of that film.
Confused? That’s totally understandable.
This one sees the return of Jamie Lee Curtis (True Lies), Andi Matichak (Halloween Kills) and Will Patton (Armageddon), and introduces newcomer, Rohan Campbell (The Hardy Boys) to the franchise.
It’s co-written and directed once again by David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express).
This is what it’s about according to the internet:
“Four years after her last encounter with masked killer Michael Myers, Laurie Strode is living with her granddaughter and trying to finish her memoir. Myers hasn't been seen since, and Laurie finally decides to liberate herself from rage and fear and embrace life. However, when a young man stands accused of murdering a boy that he was babysitting, it ignites a cascade of violence and terror that forces Laurie to confront the evil she can't control.”
Well I’m sorry, but I liked this movie. I have my problems with it, sure, but I enjoyed it from start to finish - and believe me when I tell you, I expected to hate it, and what’s more, I wanted to hate it.
If you’re new to the page and haven’t already heard me say this a hundred times, the original Halloween is my favourite horror film of all time and Michael Myers is my favourite Horror movie villain. I liked Halloween (2018) but absolutely hated Halloween Kills (2021) to the point of washing my hands of any more movies.
When this one came out a few weeks ago I had no intention of watching it, but when all these articles kept popping up on my news feed saying how terrible it was (not to mention a petition to have it remade) I had to see just how it could possibly be worse than Halloween Kills.
Hopefully if you’re still reading this you’ve already seen the film because I’m about to drop some BIG SPOILERS.
So basically the biggest upset to fans about Halloween Kills is that Michael Myers (pretty much the reason we watch these movies) only has around ten minutes of screen time in the whole film. Instead of centring on him and another bloody Halloween rampage the story focusses on a young guy named Corey (Rohan Campbell), who after accidentally killing a little boy he was babysitting one night (the annoying little shit had it coming if you ask me) finds himself an outcast and vilified by the residents of Haddonfield.
A series of violent and abusive attacks that eventually lead to an encounter with an “in hiding” Michael (who’s seen much better days), finally cause Corey to snap, and he decides he’s done with taking shit. Thus a new psycho is born.
Ok so I get why this new film is upsetting fans. A Halloween movie (at least for me) is about Michael Myers, but let’s not forget how god awful the last film was and that one WAS heavily focussed on Michael. Personally I thought this was a vast improvement on it and a refreshing new chapter, not to mention daring.
Unfortunately, due to the amount of absolute arseholes there are on social media I knew about the twist before watching the movie. However, I honestly can’t say it affected my enjoyment of it.
Personally I don’t like the idea of Michael “teaming up” with anyone. One of the things that makes him so terrifying is that he has no real attachment to anything. No compassion, no fear, no loyalty, NOTHING! Just an unquenchable thirst for stabbing people.
This film hints at a supernatural theme with Michael but not to the point where it’s explained like it was in the original sequels.
Something that initially annoyed me about these new films was how they yet again made Michael a seemingly unkillable monster which was something they claimed at the beginning they were attempting to get away from. They apparently wanted to “humanise” him.
I guess with a character like Michael Myers though, not all of it can’t be fully explained, so to hint at something otherworldly serves to appease the audience’s curiosity. And I didn’t really mind that if I’m honest.
I liked the story, especially how it picks up four years after the last film where we get to see Laurie finally embracing and moving on with her life.
I thought Rohan Campbell was excellent as Corey, and considering he’s the “bad guy” he’s very easy to root for. For a large part of the film you could say he’s “almost” the hero of the story. In fact I actually drew a lot of comparisons with Joker (2019) in that both characters are so mistreated by society that they’re pushed to breaking point and finally snap. After everything he endured up to that point I can’t say I had any sympathy for any of his victims, if anything I was cheering him on for most of it!
Is Corey as interesting a character as Michael Myers? No. Am I annoyed that Michael didn’t feature more prominently? No. Did I like how easily Corey overpowered Michael to steal his mask? Absolutely not! But do you know what? I liked the film. I liked how it took a risk, I liked the story and how it didn’t play on our nostalgia for the original, I liked the brutality, and above all I liked how they finally “ended” it (at least for now…)
Of course I can see why people are kicking off, but if those people are the same people that think Halloween Kills is a good film, then I’m afraid as far as I’m concerned their opinions don’t count coz that was a GODAWFUL movie!!
What do you think? Have you seen Halloween Ends? Did you like it? Do you think it truly IS the end?
Let me know below.
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