“Halloween Ends” (2022) Review
Written by Victor DeBonis
Horror has been a genre that I’ve developed a greater respect for in recent years. Some of it comes from films tackling harder ideas, such as isolation and trauma, well, and I do admire when darker stories from this genre have something to discuss with the creatures or foe present that the protagonist or protagonists are trying to face.
“Halloween Ends” certainly has some themes that are worth exploring in a strong way, but it fumbles the ball with what it is trying to say from the get-go. Several of the “Halloween” sequels have been less-than-stellar despite me admiring a few of these films and even loving “Halloween III.” To me, the franchise should’ve continued with the premise of “Halloween III: Season of the Witch” and, simply, done an anthology approach with every future installment representing a different horror/science-fiction storyline as opposed to a tale throwing Michael Myers into the mix.
This final installment in the trilogy tries to have its cake and eat it, too, by directing most of the movie’s focus on another character while providing Myers the vaguest of presence in this film. To me, this was a huge mistake. Ideally, one or the other should receive main focus and be represented as such, especially when it comes to the advertising.
Much of what one would hope to see in the finale to this trilogy that has been up and down is dialed back by a considerable amount, and the story suffers for it. Jamie Lee Curtis is still amazing, and she has moments of emotional sincerity and that daring bravery that we all know and love.
There are brief bits of her working on her memoir detailing her traumatic experiences that I, as a writer who has recently been using writing to try to work on coping with my own difficult, emotional experiences, admired the unflinching voiceover and found these bits short but admirable and even relatable. Similar to “Halloween Kills” her overall presence is heavily minimized. As a result, we don’t get to see more of her journey of her trying to recover that started off strong in the 2018 movie, which is disappointing.
Michael Myers himself appears only a select number of times, and, for as much as this trilogy and franchise centers around him and focusing on how to take him down, he’s barely present in this movie until, maybe, about an hour or so, and there is a huge lack of dread and suspense that comes from this. It’s the equivalent of having a “Nightmare on Elm Street” movie with Freddy Kreuger briefly appearing in a few dreams and an ordinary human serial killer being the main adversary who assists Kreuger with his attacks, instead, and it doesn’t work.
Most of the story actually focuses on the killer coming in the form of another character. This wouldn’t be bad on paper if it was suggested or advertised as such from the start, and the actor playing him, Rohan Campbell, effectively conveys uncertainty that gradually swaps more often with a slowly increasing sinister urge that builds from his surroundings. He and the actress playing Curtis’ granddaughter, Andi Matichak, do great in echoing a defensiveness and disliking towards their town, and their performances deserve all of their credit.
The problem is that, similar to its predecessor, the narrative keeps trying to drive its commentary about how people are driven to do despicable deeds after a devastating event over and over with the subtlety of a sledgehammer breaking against glass. Pretty much every person that Campbell comes into contact with is someone who hates his guts and brings up the horrible incident that he was involved with, and every person in this town, save for Curtis and her granddaughter, is an insufferable jerk trapped in a narrative that forces people to bump into each other at the most random times just to repeatedly drive home the theme of how people get more lost following a horrific tragedy or series of them.
Making things worse is that there is nothing remotely funny or slightly human about the rest of the people in town to make their presence tolerable. Here are your typical mean-spirited football-playing jocks. Here is your one-dimensional drunk cop who is trying to get into a romantic relationship with whatever woman that he spots. Here is an average nurse character who looks attractive but is as dumb as a rock and only gets higher treatment, due to her connections with the doctor. There is no humanity or charm to this town, which, I totally get, might be the point.
Yet, for one thing, the writing doesn’t do anything relatable or interesting enough with these people or have actual conversations that make them feel more alive or the story more palatable. And, for another, the commentary doesn’t feel different from other stories that either know how to balance the monstrosity and humanity with each other more or have more fun and humor with their premise.
Speaking of the word “dumb” so many characters make beyond foolish choices, and they make the unwise characters from the previous film look like Ivy League professors by comparison. Why on Earth would Curtis’ granddaughter want to have a romantic relationship with Campbell’s character after he plainly admits that he killed a man in cold blood? Why doesn’t one of the high school characters try to show more of a fight when she protests against the football jock harassing Campbell repeatedly? In a move that really goes against character, why does Curtis creepily stalk her granddaughter without the knowledge that she will probably make her want to be with this sicko all the more?
One of the biggest questions that I had was why Campbell and Matichak even become an item. Despite being played by talented actors, they have zero believable chemistry with each other. The movie tries to position them both as outcasts, but, as the serial-killer-to-be points out, others regard Matichak as a heroic survivor having fought against a horrible monster of the town, whereas others know that he killed someone innocent, even if it was by accident. There is no similarity between these two characters, heroism-wise, so it honestly makes no sense why Matichak would fall for this guy, especially since she should know, after facing Myers himself, that something is literally wrong with this person that will not change. Matichak truly makes a not-so-smart move by sticking with this relationship.
All of these are items that, maybe, I could look past if the horror action was good or creative. Aside from some admittedly impressive action in the second act, many of these fight scenes, particularly the ones involving Myers himself, aren’t unlike anything that you haven’t seen in other movies from the franchise. Even the previous movie for all of its faults had some admittedly great moments with the horror-related action at times, and it wasn’t afraid to show Myers get at his most vicious when the residents from the town were trying to combat him.
People, believe me when I say that I wanted to give this film the benefit of the doubt and write about something that might have a less-than-stellar second film but would end on a strong note with this film. The actors do very well, and, in addition to a few moments with Myers and Campbell in action that excel, the big confrontation between Myers and Curtis provides much close-quarters battling that I would be lying if I said that it wasn’t satisfying.
As a whole, though, I thought that this movie was awful. The story didn’t work or do anything insightful. The characters make even more baffling choices than those in “Kills” did and are a pain in the rear to deal with. The two main players of this franchise take a backseat for the most part in a strange turn. And, while I can appreciate the ideas about dealing with trauma and seeing how people can respond to a monster or monstrous event, I’ve seen so many other movies and shows that deal with these themes on a stronger level from this year’s version of “Scream” to “Barbarian” to probably the top contender for my favorite series from this time, “Yellowjackets.” All of these works know how to present the horrific side while bringing humanity to these characters and their horrific situations and allowing stronger emotional moments and sincere conversations that know how to present their ideas.
“Halloween Ends” unfortunately, doesn’t quite succeed, and, while Curtis certainly fights strong through this picture, the story and movie, as a whole, didn’t show much strength and left me somewhat angry in ways that it probably wasn’t intending.
This just wasn’t a fun or truly scary time.
Grade: D