Warning: There are MAJOR spoilers ahead for Halloween Ends.
Halloween Ends is the thirteenth movie in the Halloween franchise, and the twelfth to feature the iconic antagonist Michael Myers (1981’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch is an anthology installment). But more importantly, it is the third and final entry in David Gordon Green’s series of films.
Since its inception in 1978 with John Carpenter’s classic, the Halloween franchise has seen its fair share of sequels and reboots. This latest series of films, however, acts as a sort of “de-boot”, restoring the timeline that started with the original film. And Halloween Ends is the final entry in that series.
Like many blockbusters, the pandemic caused Halloween Ends to undergo a number of delays in getting to the theater. Nevertheless, as there’s only a one-year gap between the film and its 2021 predecessor, fans still get to enjoy a back-to-back release, which was intended from the get-go.
With that said, a back-to-back release of Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills would have made a lot more sense, as both films take place on the same night, making Halloween Kills as direct a sequel as Halloween II (1981) is to the 1978 original. Halloween Ends, you see, is distanced by more than just time.
Not only does it take place four years after the events of that chaotic night, Ends is vastly different in both tone and structure. While it does, for the most part, act as the conclusion to a trilogy, it’s reasonable to assume that, over time, fans might come to consider this as something of a stand-alone entry.
The film opens on Halloween night in 2019, one year after the events of Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills. Teenager Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) is babysitting a young boy when a game of hide-and-seek results in a fatal accident that leaves a mostly-innocent Corey red-handed.
Three years later, Corey is trying to hold together the shadow of a normal existence in Haddonfield, but locals aren’t letting him forget the tragedy. The same goes for Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), who, despite trying to move on with her life, is often the target of blame from survivors of Halloween 2018.
But when Corey experiences a close encounter with a decrepit Michael, who’s now hiding out in a storm drain, the town becomes plagued with a new killing spree - except this time it isn’t Michael behind the mask. And it’s up to Laurie and her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) to stop the new “bogeyman”.
Whether or not Michael Myers is indeed supernatural is something that, on first glance, Halloween Ends seems to answer. However, the truth is that this is left as vague as in its 2021 predecessor. Corey’s encounters with Michael suggest there are dark forces at work, but it’s difficult to tell.
Despite Michael and Corey sharing a supernatural exchange of some kind - upon staring at each other, Michael, or perhaps Corey as it’s unclear, witnesses a montage of how badly Corey has been treated in recent times. But exactly how Corey becomes inspired to kill is left open to interpretation.
There are other supernatural suggestions in the film too. When Corey lures Allyson’s ex-boyfriend Doug Mullaney into the sewers where Michael’s hiding, for the first time in Halloween history, we see Michael “team up” with another, as he stabs Doug to death while Corey holds him down.
However, after killing Doug, Michael “shakes” uncontrollably, having seemingly been rejuvenated by the kill. This is something that ties back to what Laurie Strode says at the end of Halloween Kills, in that every time Michael kills, “he transcends” into something unstoppable.
Later in the film, when Corey, in Michael’s mask, confronts Laurie in her home, he is shot numerous times, before stabbing himself in the neck to frame Laurie for his murder. However, much like Michael, he’s tough to kill, and is only finally silenced when Michael shows up to retrieve his mask.
This is where another supernatural exchange seems to occur. Just before breaking Corey’s neck, the shot of Michael looking down at him seems to “shake” in the same way he did earlier on the film after killing Doug. Did Michael “take back” the evil that he gave Corey during their first encounter?
So, as you can see, there are a number of times in the film where Michael is seemingly presented as a supernatural entity, which, despite still being rather vague, is a lot more direct than Halloween Kills, which only hints at the fact that he’s more than just a man.
But, man or monster, that doesn’t stop Michael Myers from being killed at the end. After being crucified to the kitchen counter by Laurie and Allyson, and having both his throat and wrist slit, Michael is taken to the junkyard where his body is dropped into an industrial shredder for all of Haddonfield to see.
The film’s final scene shows Laurie and Officer Frank Hawkins finally get together, and the closing interior shots of Laurie’s house are identical to those at the end of the original Halloween (1978), however, this time there’s no breathing from Michael Myers to accompany them.
For the first time in the franchise’s history, Michael Myers is truly dead.
As per Blumhouse Pictures (via Wikipedia), here’s the official synopsis for Halloween Ends, the final chapter in David Gordon Green’s Halloween Trilogy:
Four years after the events of Halloween Kills, Laurie is living with her granddaughter Allyson after the death of her parents.
Laurie has decided to take all the fear and rage, she has been holding onto for the last 4 decades and write a memoir which is almost completed.
Michael Myers has once again disappeared and hasn’t been seen since. This time Laurie has decided to liberate her fear and rage and embrace life with open arms.
All is quiet in Haddonfield, but when a young man, Corey Cunningham, is accused of killing a boy he was babysitting, it ignites a cascade of violence and terror that will force Laurie to finally confront the evil she couldn’t control, once and for all.
Halloween Ends stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Will Patton, Andi Matichak, James Jude Courtney, and Kyle Richards, who reprise their roles as Laurie Strode, Frank Hawkins, Allyson Nelson, Michael Myers, and Lindsey Wallace.
Newcomers include Rohan Campbell (Corey Cunningham) and Michael O’Leary (Dr. Mathis).
Halloween Ends is now out in theaters and is also streaming on Peacock.
