‘Halloween Ends’ delivers a fitting finale

It’s been four years since Michael Myers was last seen. Laurie Strode has lost her daughter and devotes her life to moving past the trauma she’s endured since the fateful night in 1978 when the Bogeyman came to her door. She makes the best out of a complicated life in a town that has turned her tragedy into tittle-tattle. But as evil rears its ugly mask, the Strode family must once again battle their homicidal harasser for one last time.

A well-done fright fest will give you all the chills down your spine, along with strong characters and a solid story. Most get by on getting the audience to keep the light on at night with their shock and awe, but a series like Halloween has the legacy to offer up a better class of horror. Halloween Ends is one such film. The conclusion to the Michael Myers saga has all the requisite slashings for a nail-biting good time yet manages to give its characters a dramatic and endearing treatment. The film paints a portrait of survival in the aftermath of tragedy. Jamie Lee Curtis plays a woman living with her PTSD, passing on her coping to her similarly afflicted grandchild. A sense of hope has been missing since her return in 2018.

The film has lofty ambitions for its characters and dares to delve deeply into their psyche. Rohan Campell’s Corey Cunningham is a falsely accused pariah navigating a town that has written him off based on rumour alone and gives a strong and multifaceted performance. The film has much to say about the effect an angry mob can have when they make a villain out of victims, far more subliminally than 2021’s Halloween Kills.

While the film plays with these ideas well, there’s an almost inevitable haste to their development, with only so much time on their hands and violent killings to get to, Halloween Ends speeds through important moments for its characters. The second act, in particular, asks the audience to trust that the film’s finale will satisfy, much like the trilogy itself for what’s meant to be Michael Myers’ last hurrah. That’s a tough pill to swallow for a film that’s the third in as many reboots to a series with over 10 entries. There’s no doubt that Halloween will grace the silver screen again, but for now, Halloween Ends offers a fitting conclusion, even if it is a little rushed.

Rating: Big Screen Watch

Damian Levy is a film critic and podcaster for Damian Michael Movies.