Halloween Ends – Review

“HALLOWEEN ENDS”

Halloween Ends is the third and final entry in the new timeline sequel trilogy that has been directed by David Gordon Green, with previous entries being Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills (2021)- and if you read my reviews of those, you’ll see that my opinion was a lot more favourable than most of the general audience and critics. I think one of the things that those two films did well was that they kind of did away with a lot of the complicated plot lines and mythology that the series has been rooted in. If anything, I felt like those films managed to recapture the original feel (not completely, they failed in a couple of regards, but I thought that the effort was certainly there).

David Gordon Green’s latest entry is supposed to be the last of the franchise, and while the film will end this continuity, if this is the last Halloween film we ever see, I will definitely be surprised.

Normally, this is where I would be describing the plot, however, reviewers are under strict instruction from the production studio to not give away any spoilers and to not talk too much about the plot. I feel personally bound by those rules, which is really annoying.. From the start of this film, once you see the opening sequence, you know that you can’t talk about this film’s plot without giving away most of the film.

Halloween Ends really doesn’t work for me. I think David Gordon Green had a very good idea of where he wanted to end the franchise, but he didn’t really know how to get there. The middle portion of this film is very much all over the place. I get what the writing and direction of the film is, but as a whole, I don’t think it works. The ending of the film is actually really good, I thought that part of the film nailed it.. But the middle of it just ruins all of the good will I had!

I really didn’t think Halloween Ends nailed the scare that it’s going for, and makes some of the mistakes other films in the franchise made.

Pretty much all characters that survived the previous two films have returned, and this one features Jamie Lee Curtis reprising her role as Laurie Strode. While she’s great in the role, once again, Jamie Lee Curtis hasn’t really made this character her own. The writing for this film has failed her miserably, we only get some of what we had from the previous two films right at the end. Again, I get what they were going for in terms of closure of her character arc, but the film only feels half-interested in that. It’s more contemplative with her relationship with her granddaughter, Alison (Andi Matichak). But again, that just feels like it’s repeating themes from the previous films. It’s one of those films where I kept saying ‘Yeah, we get it!’. I did kind of like Alison’s character arc, which I can say is to do with her surviving and getting over trauma, but I don’t think the way they executed it really suited Alison’s character that we had come to know from the previous films.

As for the kills, well, they’re kind of boring and uninventive! There was nothing that really impressed me here. The previous films had some very impressive sequences, particularly the one-shot take in the 2018 film or the fireman stunt in the second one. Gordon Green is actually really good at directing scenes like that, so I don’t see why he’s put less effort in for this one.

I also noticed that the film has quite a shorter running time and doesn’t hit the two hour run mark, which makes me feel like the middle portion of the pilot was sped up to get to the point that we’re all expecting.

The final nail in the coffin for me: it’s predictable! Too predictable. There is nothing about this film that will surprise you in any way. Nothing to do with genre tropes, but you will know every sequence that is coming next, which one of the dumbass characters is dying next (and they’re way more dumb in this film), and exactly what to expect. And as for the theme they’re going for this time, I think it’s an interesting idea, but it’s not well executed in this case- you’ll know what I mean if you go to see it.