Review by Jon Donnis
I was never a big fan of the original Halloween films, I was more of a Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street fan, but I did watch and enjoy the original films, and even some of the sequels, reboots and reimagining's. So here we are again, with yet another Halloween film, the 13th in the franchise, and I think the 4th in this timeline?
The film starts off in 2019, and it is Halloween night, Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) is babysitting Jeremy, a young annoying boy who is suffering with behavioural issues. The boy pulls a prank on Corey, and locks him in the attack, the boy is taunting Corey, and brings up Michael Myers, Corey hears a bang so picks up a knife, Corey then starts to kick the door, and eventually he breaks through, but in doing so the door hits Jeremy sending him flying over the banister and hitting the floor, instantly killing him, and just as this happens, his parents return home. As the parents walk in, they look up to see Corey upstairs looking down, holding the knife.
We then fast forward 3 years, and the town of Haddonfield in Illinois is still trying to move on from the events of Halloween Kills and Michael Myers killing spree. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is writing a book about her experiences, she has purchased a new house, and is living there with her Granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak). Remember that Laurie's daughter and Allyson's mother Karen was killed by Michael.
The town now blame Laurie for Michaels killing spree, and accuse her of encouraging him.
Corey meanwhile is working at his uncle's scrap yard, the townspeople are suspicious of him, and high school boys see him and start to bully him, Laurie sees what is going on and intervenes, she brings him to the doctors where her Daughter Allyson works, and her and Corey begin a friendship. They go to a Halloween party together, but after Corey gets confronted by Jeremy's mother (the boy he killed), he leaves the party, on the way home the high school bullies appear, and after a scuffle, he ends up being thrown off a bridge, the bullies leave, thinking he is dead. Soon after, an unconscious Corey is dragged into the sewers. Michael Myers has been hiding in the sewers for the past 4 years, it looks like Michael is going to kill Corey, but then let's him go. Corey leaves the sewers where he is confronted by a homeless person, the man threatens him and Corey ends up killing him, Corey then runs away.
The film then mainly revolves around Corey developing killer instincts as well as a weird kind of relationship with Michael. Throw in a fracturing relationship between Laurie and her Granddaughter, and the inevitable big fight with Michael at the end, the film takes a very different route to get there than I would have expected.
In many ways this doesn't feel like a Michael Myers film. If anything, he comes across as secondary to Corey, which is really strange writing for what is supposed to be the end of the Michael Myers and Laurie Strode story.
At 111-minutes, this felt like a very long film. The ending falls a bit flat, there is no twist, and Michael or Corey for that matter just aren't that scary. We don't even get to see Michael's face when his mask comes off.
I feel like this film was trying to ask and answer a question about evil, but did a poor job in both.
Yes, there are some fun kills, and I can understand them concentrating on the Corey character, as to not just repeat previous films, but for the finale of a trilogy, I kind of just wanted to see Laurie be stalked by Michael, and eventually get the better of him, and sadly we didn't really get that, even if she obviously gets the better of him in the end, the journey to that point is just a bit misguided.
I just felt like the film missed the whole point of the franchise. A seemingly unkillable monster, killing people, and stalking his ultimate prize, the woman who escaped him 44 years earlier.
The Good
In real life Jamie Lee Curtis is an annoying, self-righteous, know it all, liberal celeb, but despite that, she is a great actor, and once again she is the character you will care most about in Halloween Ends. There are some fun kills to keep the horror fans happy.
The Bad
The film is way too long, too much "drama", and just misses the point on what I think fans of the franchise wanted. I just don't think the film gave the Laurie character, the ending she deserved.
Overall
I don't think the film does enough to satisfy fans of the franchise. It is still a decent horror film, and worth watching, but hardcore fans will be left empty.
I score Halloween Ends a lifeless 6/10
Out now at cinemas, and you can pre-order at https://amzn.to/3T3alur
