‘Halloween Ends’ is the final chapter in David Gordon Green’s 'Halloween' Saga that began with 2018s ‘Halloween’ and it ends in a disappointing albeit unexpected way. The 2018 reboot set the bar high, not just for a 'Halloween' sequel, but a horror sequel in general and each subsequent film went downhill from there. The disappointing nature of the film also lay in the fact the film started out on a high note, then devolved into a narrative mess of missed opportunities and a filler storyline leading to a weak climax. This could be due to it having four credited screen writers.
Considering the original 'Halloween' timeline ended with ‘Halloween: The Curse of Michal Myers’ and the H20 timeline ended with ‘Halloween: Resurrection’, ‘Halloween Ends’ is not only the best ending to any of the Halloween timelines, it lands somewhere in the middle of the pack in terms of all the sequels. This is a low bar though. It gets points for its feeling of finality and closure, particularly with Laurie Strode's arc. Here’s hoping the next rebooted timeline does better.
Jamie Lee Curtis, who portrays Laurie, adds gravitas to 'Halloween Ends' being the skilled and seasoned actress that she is. Newcomer Rohan Campbell steels a lot of the thunder as Cory Cunningham and probably should have been given his own film.
Green’s films are all about coping with trauma and how evil manifests on the cultural psyche which makes all his films more than cheap slasher flicks. Unfortunately, the execution of the narrative and said themes usually falls flat in 'Halloween Ends'. While there was a lot of unexpected creative choices, ‘Halloween Ends’ retreads on grounds that did not work for other slasher series, including previous 'Halloween' films, and failed to work here.
One of the major highlights of Green's new timeline are the devilishly brutal kills, which continue in ‘Halloween Ends’. Hearing John Carpenter’s Halloween Theme revised - which adds a bass guitar, electric guitar and a new rift, all which was first heard in Halloween (2018) - is also always a treat to hear especially on a state of the art sound system
‘Halloween Ends’ is a few strokes of genius amidst mostly misfires in writing and direction. The Halloween franchise is rife with terrible sequels and ’Halloween Ends’ is far from the worst sequel, but if this film is actually the be all and end all to the 'Halloween' franchise, audiences deserve better.
MY STAR RATING 2..45/5
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