HALLOWEEN ENDS: The Best of David Gordon Green’s Trilogy

One of the best-kept secrets of the Halloween films is that the third installment, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, is a stealth masterpiece, one that was heavily derided upon in its initial release but is now received more warmly today. Having already become fed up with The Shape after unleashing him on the world four years earlier, producers John Carpenter and Debra Hill opted to take the series into a new, anthology-based route that would have allowed for unlimited storytelling opportunities. The first (and only) result of this was a film about an evil mask-making corporation that harnesses the power of Stonehenge to melt the heads of children on Halloween night. Pretty great, no?

“Blasphemy!” cried the moviegoing pubic of 1982, and so the anthology idea was scrapped in favor of, you guessed it, more Michael Myers. Since then, each subsequent entry has made damn sure to devote plenty of screen time to Haddonfield’s public enemy number one, lest they face eternal scorn from a devoted fanbase. Like all slasher sequels, a “same but different” approach was firmly established to avoid unnecessary risks and keep audiences returning for more. Even Rob Zombie’s films are frontloaded with heavy Michael Myers assault action.

All of this to say that David Gordon Green, the guiding vision behind the latest Halloween trilogy, has been turning in some resoundingly disappointing efforts, despite this trilogy’s proclamation as the “be all, end all” sendoff to Carpenter’s 1978 creation. 2018’s Halloween was a starter pistol packed with minimal firepower, re-establishing Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) as a traumatized survivor but hampering her legacy with lame stabs at obnoxious humor. 2021’s Halloween Kills was even more toxic, continuing The Shape’s bloody rampage but grinding the franchise into its nadir, summarily killing off any interest in a proper conclusion altogether.

Which brings us to Halloween Ends. After the fiasco that was Kills, Green surely had nowhere to go but up, right? Fortunately, yes; Halloween Ends is not only leaps and bounds above its predecessor, but its handily the strongest film in Green’s trilogy, and quite possibly one of the best Halloween films yet. For the first time in forty years, we can celebrate the series’ most radical departure from a conventional formula since the inception of Silver Shamrock. Green eventually reverts back to his old habits, perhaps out of narrative obligations, but the first 90 minutes of Halloween Ends easily outweigh most of the films that have come before it.

HADDONFIELD, FOUR YEARS LATER

During the night of Halloween 2019, a young man named Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) is babysitting a petulant young brat in his parents’ mansion. When an elaborate prank results in the child’s accidental death, Corey is immediately made a pariah of Haddonfield. Three years later, Laurie is still recovering from the death of her daughter (Judy Greer in Halloween Kills), focusing her trauma into a memoir and living with her granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak), now a practicing nurse. After slaughtering a mob of townsfolk, Michael Myers has disappeared without a trace, and the town remains on edge in his absence. Meanwhile, something lurks in the sewers, biding its time to rise again…

Laurie’s role was diminished in Halloween Kills, and Green (along with screenwriters Brad Paul Logan, Chris Bernier, and Danny McBride) continues this trend here, relegating our ostensible heroine to the sidelines for much of the runtime. Ends commences with a needless recap of the previous two films, finding Laurie in a dark place as she tries to pick up the pieces of her life with Allyson all these years later. Haddonfield also has not properly recovered, keeping an uneasy mood as innocent lives are turned into scapegoats for criminal actions.

Also diminished? Michael Myers, who is kept offscreen for large swaths of time, making his first proper appearance at the 40-minute mark. The marketing has very distinctly promoted Ends as the epic Michael Myers vs. Laurie Strode final showdown fans were supposedly craving for; anyone walking into the theater thinking they are about to witness two titans of the genre duke it out for two hours are going to leave sorely disappointed.

HORROR CHANGES SHAPE

But you know what is worth celebrating about Halloween Ends? Corey, the well-meaning 20-something cruelly turned town punching bag. One of the pitfalls of preparing a saga of films is the lack of proper narrative planning; if you were to tell me that the third film in an intended Michael Myers trilogy was to largely eschew all series regulars to focus on a brand new character nobody has ever heard of before, I’d say you were off your rocker. And while I highly doubt Green and Co. originally envisioned Corey as the natural destination to their journey, the artistic gambit genuinely pays off.

It’s rare for a franchise to take a big swing like this, even more so when it’s intended to conclude a story spanning decades. The ostracized Corey faces vicious bullies, public ridicule, and struggles to find love under the watchful eyes of an overbearing mother (not to mention the half-hearted love he gets from his father). His metamorphosis from hapless outcast into ruthless killer is a very compelling turn, setting off to murder anyone from awful doctors to Haddonfield’s most irritating disc jockey. It’s the closest Green’s come to putting something of an authorial stamp on any of these pictures.

Unfortunately, Green does not commit to Corey in full. Out of necessity, he does have a traditional Halloween film to wrap up, shifting gears in the final twenty minutes away from Corey’s escapades to Laurie’s predestined showdown with The Shape. It’s disappointing to watch something exciting devolve into something so familiar, as a Halloween sequel had finally dared to try something interesting. Had Green eliminated Laurie and Michael Myers completely and went all in on Corey, Halloween Ends would have been truly excellent.

HALLOWEEN ENDS: CONCLUSION

For much of its runtime, Halloween Ends offers something completely different and unprecedented from the entries before it. The spirit of Season of the Witch runs deep in this film’s veins, right down to its appropriation of the 1982 film’s title font. While I am not deeply convinced that Green’s trilogy needed to have occurred, I remain grateful we got one film that justified its existence. As a final showdown for Michael Myers and Laurie, it’s a bit disappointing, but as an act of franchise self-immolation in favor of interesting storytelling choices, it’s a remarkable one.

And as for the title, Halloween Ends? That remains to be seen, but I will believe it when I’m dead.

What do you think? Is Halloween Ends a worthy “conclusion” to the franchise?

 Halloween Ends was released in theaters on October 14^th, 2022, and is available to stream on Peac*ck.

Watch Halloween Ends