Written by Cameron Geiser

Expectations can be a dangerous thing. However, if managed with restraint they can allow for a freewheeling good time while still acknowledging curious creative choices. That was my experience with last year’s Halloween Kills, a movie that relishes in over-the-top violence with a hearty serving of schlock. In fact, I’d say that David Gordon Green’s Halloween trilogy rides the line of being a triptych of guilty pleasure slasher flicks- except that I feel no shame in the sheer joy I have when watching these films. Not an ounce of guilt here. In fact, a good deal of that reasoning lies with the trilogy’s final film, Halloween Ends.

While 2018’s Halloween was dutiful in its revitalization of the franchise and had its love for the 1978 film front and center, Halloween Kills was the brutal sequel that began to reshape the ideas surrounding Michael Myers and the Halloween films themselves. The last two films focused on how Michael Myers' killing spree on Halloween night of 2018 spread fear and paranoia throughout Haddonfield like an infestation that corrupted the town. Halloween Ends picks up one year later to showcase just how far the rot had grown. We’re introduced to Corey (Rohan Campbell), a new babysitter presumably ripe for murder. After a shocking opening that has no presence of Michael Myers, an unfortunate death reshapes how the town sees Corey. Fast forward three years from that event and we catch up with Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) who's moved back into Haddonfield proper, started writing her memoir, and has been attempting to live a normal life with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) who now works in the local hospital as a nurse.

If Halloween (2018) was about Laurie's trauma and how she responded to it, and Halloween Kills was about Karen's (Judy Greer) inability to deal with the trauma of her own childhood, then Halloween Ends is Allyson's turn to process the generational trauma inflicted on the Strode women. Corey, who's become an anti-social recluse, now works at his family's junkyard where an ominous industrial strength car shredder lies in wait. You just know somebodys going in that thing the moment it appears on screen. After Laurie witnesses a scuffle between Corey and some high school punks, with Corey receiving a bloody wound, she creates a meet-cute with Corey and Allyson at the Hospital. The second act explores this burgeoning relationship between these two, who both resent Haddonfield and encourage each other's burn-it-down energy.

While still invested in the Strode women, the film also asks the question, how does one become a Boogeyman? At one point Laurie pointedly tells Corey that “there’s two kinds of evil in the world. The first one is an external force that threatens the well-being of the tribe, but the other lives inside us.” Michael Myers being one half, while Corey slowly becomes the other. The film explores how guilt, shame, and fear can curdle into resentment, hatred, and rage. It's an interesting evolution in this trilogy, and I'm glad they took such a big swing in creative choices.

After the extreme intensity of Halloween Kills, I'm glad this one cooled things down a bit and let a sense of dread effectively build over the first two acts. I also quite enjoyed that the film is, more often than not, bathed in a blue color palette. Oh and fret not, while there is a huge focus on Corey and Allyson, Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney) is still involved and he gets his fair share of murder in too. That being said, the movie does stick to the title and it is a definitive End for the series. It should stay dead though, it was a fine ending and while I enjoy these films, it's over. This should remain the end of Halloween and Michael Myers.

Maybe it's because I have naturally lower expectations for slasher films in particular, but I find these new Halloween films to be the thrills that I look for every October. Obviously, these films are not immaculate, they are messy. They have structural issues. The writing isn't subtle, or even all that good. The cinematography has occasional flair, but is mostly pedestrian. What they do extremely well is similar to a thrilling roller coaster. These films effectively turn your stomach, startle you, make you grimace, and maybe even cackle at the sheer ridiculous nature of these horror films. Within the corner of cinema that is blockbuster slasher flicks, Halloween Ends proves to be a satisfying conclusion for Laurie Strode, Michael Myers, and the Halloween franchise.

Cameron Geiser is an avid consumer of films and books about filmmakers. He'll watch any film at least once, and can usually be spotted at the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Northern Michigan. He also writes about film over at www.spacecortezwrites.com.