Halloween Ends Review

It doesn’t though does it? Not really. There’s only one thing harder to kill than Michael Myers, and that’s a successful IP. With thirteen films across five timelines, it’s a matter of time before we see another. But as a finale to this particular timeline, does Halloween Ends…end well?

I spent some time piecing together my own Halloween timeline and the result is rather lean:

• Halloween 1978
• The flashback from Halloween Kills
• Halloween 2018

Any Halloween Ends? Nope.

Because Halloween 2018 already gave us an ending, as a tortured but prepared Laurie Strode trapped and torched The Shape with the help of her family. There is ambiguity around Laurie always being Michael’s target, but as he’s a physical form of pure evil I could live with that. It didn’t turn Loomis into an absolute nutjob either, as much as I may have enjoyed those turns.

Halloween Ends takes a big swing, but it’s a swing predicated on the idea that we wanted something different. I wanted the big climax between Laurie Strode and The Shape. Whilst we see that, it’s not the focus of the film. Perhaps you’ll be shocked to find that yes, a trailer lied to you.

To many this may be just a horror film, so the expectations are naturally low. For me the technical quality of this trilogy is far beyond any previous entries, so I’d like the other aspects to match. But I’ve found this trilogy to be very lopsided when it comes to the execution of character arcs and story. Did they know what the overall plan was? I didn’t need reminding of 4-6.

If you’re interested in Haddonfield, other characters, and seeing how Evil has affected all of it, you’re in the right place. It’s not all bad. Your mileage could vary greatly, but for me there were two kills which seemed interesting or fun or harsh enough to remember. The original is more about tension and mood than gore, but as Ends contains zero tension I need the kills to do something.

Halloween Ends has a definitive ending, so kudos for that. But I wanted that to be the focus, not something it felt it suddenly had to do.

A review with spoilers may have come across slightly less negatively. Maybe subsequent viewings with managed expectations will work better.

But I’m not upset. The wonderful thing about Halloween is that there’s always another one.