I just want to start this review off by saying I am by no means a Horror Purist. I didn’t really start getting into horror, and especially classic horror/slasher films, until the past 2 years or so. I tend to enjoy “bad” horror more than most because it can be fun, entertaining, and can make for a good time watching. That being said, Halloween Ends is a bad film. Every step of the way I found myself asking “Was this necessary?” or “Did they really need to do THAT?”, and every time I answered with “Not even in the slightest”. It felt like I was watching the 3rd act of a 1 act play where the writer promised he would have more, but the night of the big show came and he had nothing.
I won’t get too spoiler-y in this review, as if you haven’t seen the film, I wouldn’t want to take away a viewing experience. However, if I were to give you a word of advice: Don’t watch it. It’s not good and will leave you disappointed in almost every facet. Also, my issues with this film are so deeply rooted in the choices made that it would be impossible to write a review and not discuss some key plot elements.
Let’s start with the most glaring issue I had with the film: It’s almost 2 hours long, and Michael Myers is in it for what feels like maybe 1/4 of it. He has a laughably small screen time for a movie that is supposed to be the culmination of not only a trilogy of films, but a legacy of a legendary horror villain. It would have been like making a Friday the 13th film that ends the whole series, but instead of having Jason, he’s sitting on his couch in his shack while his mother goes out and does all the killing. Yeah, make sense of that one.
Instead of Michael, Halloween Ends introduces Corey Cunningham, a young boy who accidentally kills a kid while babysitting and he’s mostly fine until a chance encounter with Michael turns him into a psychopath. Corey starts seeing Allyson, the granddaughter of Laurie Strode, who is inexplicably okay with the fact that Michael has disappeared after his appearance in Kills.
Corey would have been a fine, even quite a good villain, in any other film that didn’t have the “Halloween” title attached, but because he was involved with this film, it was one of the main detractors of my entertainment. I thought the film even did a good job in showing how the psychological (and physical) torment he had could’ve driven him
The movie takes place 4 years after the events of Halloween Kills, and it seems like not a single person cares that Myers escaped and is alive somewhere. Not even Laurie Strode seems to care. That just doesn’t make sense to me. Why wasn’t there even any inkling of worry that he may come back in anyone in this town? That is baffling to me.
 My final note on this film is that Myers is honestly terrible in this film. He gets like maybe 3 kills, and honestly, they make him out like a wimp in the film. This guy is supposed to be the personification of pure evil, and just 4 years ago he brutally murdered over dozens of people in a SINGLE NIGHT including multiple group fights. This film, he’s a hermit that seemingly couldn’t take on the hobo living outside his home.
Final Thoughts
Most of the new elements they tried to introduce just flat out didn’t work. When the filmmakers announced this movie would be a departure from the traditional Halloween films, I jokingly tweeted that it should be a Rom-Com where Michael and Laurie end up in a relationship together. I would rather have seen that movie than this Halloween Ends.
