“I’ve said goodbye to my boogeyman, but the truth is, evil doesn’t die. It changes shape.”

Kyle’s rating: Sometimes everything you want tastes like something unexpected.

Kyle’s review: I feel like this review will run in reverse, so rather than build to the macro film from a collection of micro observations, I’m just going to start big and work my way down.

This is likely because I’m still conflicted on Halloween Ends! I think it takes a mighty swing and I love it in a vacuum! But as the end to a trilogy, I think that swing doesn’t connect with the ball and leaves the trilogy to spin around until falling pathetically into the dust while the crowd gasps? /sports analogies end.

I wonder if this movie would play better to a hypothetical viewer who knew the basics about the Halloween franchise but maybe hadn’t seen every movie, and was like ‘Oh, this looks neat, I will watch this randomly because I feel like watching a horror movie where I know who the killer is so surely it just follows the standard slasher formula?’ I assume this type of viewer died out along with the last video rental shops, but maybe they still exist in the streaming era?

I could see that magical viewer being surprised at how little Michael Myers there is in this movie, while getting caught up in the larger discussion of how violence and trauma warps a community, how that community will flail about and identify a scapegoat that they can vilify for the benefit of most. Questions of how to heal such a community, and how such a community can birth its own monster, would be rattling around the head of such a viewer, and they might find some entertainment and profundity in the conclusion of Halloween Ends.

Now, I am not that kind of viewer. I’ve seen each of the Halloween films way more times than I would prefer to admit, and in quieter moments when onlookers might assume I’m grappling with intense philosophical issues, I’m actually working on my grand theory of how all the Halloween movies could have occurred in the same universe. Which is to say: I think about the Halloween series a lot. And I think I ultimately love Halloween Ends way more than I like it.

For that rare reader who has neither heard nor seen this movie yet, I’m going to remain vague about the plot. The surprise isn’t quite formula-breaking, but it does deliver some unexpected thrills. That said, you’re still going to get Laurie Strode trying to keep herself and her loved ones safe, a steady build to the ‘final’ confrontation between Laurie and Michael Myers, and ominous scenes showing how evil is pervasively spreading under the noses of the very people claiming to be watching for it. There are a lot of real world parallels, and maybe even some intentional comments on modern day America!

David Gordon Green plays toward saying a lot of different things, but I’m not sure if those actual words are ever truly spoken. Having viewed and been utterly baffled by his The Exorcist: Believer film, I really don’t know if what I would be able to grasp any of his proffered threads of meaning anyway.

I think when it comes to DGG’s Halloween trilogy, it’s best to stick to the 2018 film and stop there. It does offer closure if you’re looking for it, or the possibility for vague ‘more to come’ offerings if you prefer. It seems so clear (to me) that Halloween Ends should have been the second film and Halloween Kills would have been a better cap to the trilogy, that I wonder if I’m just simply insane for thinking such things.

I absolutely wouldn’t stop you from watching all three films, but I would be there after the third film ends with my arms crossed, looking wistfully at you, remembering what I felt like walking out of the theater having just watched Halloween Ends and wondering what it was all about. Maybe it slots in better for you, or maybe you hate it so much you just pretend it doesn’t exist. I’ll continue to struggle with where and how it fits in my head, and I suppose for that ongoing engagement, it’s all worth it.

Intermission!

• Producer Jason Blum reiterated that, while it would not be the final film in the series, it will be the last Halloween movie under Blumhouse, with the rights of the film series reverting to producer Malek Akkad following the release of Ends. When Akkad himself was asked about the future after Ends, he half-jokingly quoted his late father Moustapha Akkad, who had always quoted series star Donald Pleasence: When asked how many Halloween movies he was going to make, he laughed and said, “I’m going to stop at 22.”
• Toward the last act of the film, Allyson can be seen wearing an outfit similar to what Laurie Strode wore during the original Halloween.
• Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) is a new character inspired by Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon) from Christine. When we are introduced to Corey in Halloween Ends, he is shown to have a similar haircut, an identical blue button-up shirt and a pair of black glasses reminiscent of Arnie.