By Will Specht, Staff Writer
The finale to the 44-year slasher series falls short of its recent successes. Halloween Ends despite having a successful opening weekend at the box office, isn’t the ending to the franchise that the fans have long awaited for.
The story includes many new characters that are not even related in any way to previous movies in the series. Although the new characters take up a lot of screen time, there are still some returning fan favorites. These include Jamie Lee Curtis reprising her role as Laurie Strode, who has appeared in most of the Halloween franchises films. Also returning is Andi Matichak as Allyson Nelson, who appeared in the previous two films in the franchise.
This film begins by introducing a new character, Corey Cunningham, who is played by Rohan Campbell. Corey gets caught up in a freak accident in which the child he babysits dies from falling down the stairs, and Corey is blamed. The movie then skips to present day, which is 4 years after Micahel Meyers’s last attack in the area. It shows the aftermath of the previous movie and how each character is dealing with it, particularly with Laurie Strode trying to settle down and Allyson Nelson struggling with the loss of multiple friends and family. Allyson, in an attempt to normalize her life, runs into Corey and tries to go out with him and have a normal relationship, but this leads to all sorts of problems because the whole town thinks he murdered a child.
While all of this is going on, Michael Meyers is hiding in the sewers as he is not in good health and is getting very old and less mobile. After a date between Allyson and Corey, he happens to get stuck near the sewer and dragged in where Michael Meyers for some reason lets Corey live. The film then shows Laurie’s struggle in dealing with settling down as she can tell stuff is not all right with Corey, so she becomes suspicious and leads to a whole section of the movie being dedicated to the family struggle between Allyson wanting to help her family but also wanting to be more free with Corey. The movie has its classic gory moments but does not pay homage to the previous films well throughout the the last quarter of the film.
David Gordon Green directed this film, and even though some of the cinematography is amazing, the story still seems to fall flat or be anticlimactic at multiple points. The ending of the movie leaves the viewer unsatisfied with the film and feels rushed and dragged on at the same time, which is never good. Although Corey Cunningham is a very overused character in the film, Rohan Campbell still delivers a great acting performance in showing how the character progresses throughout the story. The classic “Halloween” orchestra theme returns, which is always a good moment in each movie in the franchise, and reminds fans of the previous films with the soundtrack.
Overall I would recommend this movie as a good movie to watch at home with friends, as it still has all the gore and anxiety-filled moments that a slasher movie should have. The movie is definitely skippable in the theaters unless you are an avid moviegoer and want to watch the series finale on the big screen. But for the average person this movie is not memorable and better to wait to watch it for free or at home.