Movie Review: Halloween Ends (2022)

Synopsis: Four years after the town of Haddonfield's efforts to stop Michael Myers resulted in both failure and her daughter's death, Laurie Stroud has moved to a new home, which she shares with her granddaughter, Allyson, and is writing a book about the incident and how Michael's evil has infected the town. Michael isn't quite done, however, and with the help of Allyson's boyfriend, Corey, a man whose life was ruined by an accidental death, begins a new killing spree.

Who's in it? The movie stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak, James Jude Courtney, Rohan Campbell and Will Patton.

Review: I was disappointed by Halloween Kills and, because of that, had some serious doubts about this third installment to the franchise reboot. However, since we were able to get it through Peacock TV, my wife and I ended up watching it on Friday. It took me the weekend to analyze how I felt about this film, and I finally came to a conclusion - it's better than I expected but still not a very good movie.

Look, the part about Haddonfield effectively turning a nice guy like Corey (Campbell) into the next Michael Myers was somewhat interesting and that plot might have made a good stand-alone movie. However, people watch these movies to see Michael Myers murdering a bunch of people. They don't want to see him hiding in a cave while his disciple does most of the work.

And, on that subject, why the heck is he hiding in a cave? OK, I get it, he had his hands full in the last film and probably needed time to recover. But four years? This is a guy who we've been told is the personification of evil and needs to murder people. He's not someone who can be frightened into hiding, especially since the woman he'd been obsessing over for decades is still alive and living not that far away.

Not to mention, didn't anybody think to look in that cave? Am I supposed to believe the entire town just simply stopped looking for him even though they knew he was alive?

I think the biggest injustice in this movie was the way Allyson (Matichak) was portrayed. She had the potential to be the new Laurie Stroud (Curtis), especially since it was her boyfriend committing the murders. As I told my wife, if nothing else, it would have been a nice twist to see her don a mask and join him (forcing Laurie to go up against her own granddaughter). Instead, she's reduced to a woman who is blinded by love, doesn't notice the obvious signs her boyfriend isn't a good person anymore and really has very little to do at the end.

I will give the movie some credit for what I thought was a strong ending. Laurie not only finally gets her revenge, but the film also leaves no question about whether or not Michael is dead. Probably the only way the movie could have had more closure is if Laurie died at the same time. I'm not convinced this is the last movie from this franchise, but the movie at least tries to make it seem that way. It's just too bad it isn't enough to save the overall film.

Final Opinion: It's better than Halloween Kills, but still falls well short of doing this franchise justice.

My Grade: C+