‘Halloween Ends’ ends the series fearlessly

The 13th entry in the Halloween franchise “Halloween Ends,” came out Friday Oct. 14 in theaters and the Peacock streaming service. It offers a bold ending to the 2018 trilogy, and a series notorious for its confusing chronology.

Halloween Ends is the final installment of a trilogy of sequels taking place after the original Halloween which came out in 1978 comprising Halloween 2018, Halloween Kills, and Halloween Ends. The 2018 trilogy ignores all other sequels to the original Halloween 1978 and takes place 40 years after in 2018 with Jamie Lee Curtis returning to star as Laurie Strode. Directed by David Gordon Green and produced by Blumhouse Productions with involvement from John Carpenter, who directed the 1978 original. The 2018 film was always planned to be the first in a trilogy if it was successful.

“So after the success of our 2018 film, we knew where we wanted to go vaguely,” Director David Gordon Green said in an interview with the A.V. Club. “… I knew that I wanted to center the second film around a lot more action and aggression. And then I wanted the third film to be a love story that felt more grounded and intimate.”

Halloween Ends, centers around a new character, Corey Cunningham who accidentally kills a child while babysitting and four years later, after doing time, becomes an outcast and target of Haddonfield. Laurie Strode, the post-traumatic survivor of Michael Myers who has waited 40 years for revenge, has settled down with her granddaughter, Allyson, played by Andi Matichak. Allyson forgives Corey, Laurie herself having the final confrontation with Michael Myers who has been missing since that halloween.

Much to the dismay of viewers, most of the story is focused on Corey’s relationship to the people of Haddonfield, rather than the focus on the series antagonist, Michael Myers. The disappointment at the lack of Micheal Myers is one of the primary reasons the movie had an audience score of 57 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Much of Halloween Ends is the same as the last two installments. Jamie Lee Curtis had a more prominent role than being bedridden like she was in Halloween Kills, and gave an outstanding performance. However, in the series’ 40 year history, this offers a satisfying close to the characters, being only contained in its own trilogy.

In the franchise’s history, Michael Myers character comes to “end,” several times, however due to profits a sequel is always made bringing the character back. Always stopping due to poor box office runs. David Gordon Green’s trilogy stopped out of the directors own will and its story line reflects that, not suddenly ending.

Halloween 1978 and David Gordon Green’s 2018 trilogy offers the most self-contained story line in the franchise and out of all the past entries of the series, Halloween Ends being a satisfying change of pace. For fans of horror movies in general it is decent slasher flick which is enjoyable. Of course it doesn’t mark the end of the franchise, only the ending of this chapter.

“The honest answer is it’s too profitable to put to bed entirely,” Director Green said in an interview with the A.V. Club on YouTube. “But to me I felt like I had the energy and enthusiasm to make three strong films.”