Well, last night I belatedly reached the end
* of the
Halloween saga with
Halloween Ends.
After the noisy, busy violence of
Halloween Kills I was left feeling quite cynical. But as yesterday went on and the time got closer for me to settle down and watch I felt hopeful once again that the film would deliver a solid ending that would hopefully take things back to basics.
Watching the credits I felt a sense of assurance from seeing John Carpenter's name as an Executive Producer (Jamie Lee was also credited, so this would have been quite the payday).
The opening sequence had me really on edge.I found my eyes scanning shadows and I was picking up on every little sound. It was surprising that Michael didn't loom from those shadows, but this won me over even more since the focus was on suspense and anticipation. In fact, I really appreciated just how long it took for Michael to arrive on screen. A 40+ minute wait has to be a franchise record.
As for what we got in those 40 minutes. My feelings are mixed.
I'm all for slow burning tension. For me this is hugely preferable to the shallow chaos we got in
Halloween Kills. This final film is rich with shadows, silence and space, and that's all good. What's more, there's a lot of breathing room that offers potential for character to take precedence over event. Again, no bad thing at all.
But... overall I found the story quite problematic.
Let's start with Corey. The initial scenes of him accidentally killing his charge whist babysitting were gripping. I was also drawn in a little by his initial bonding with Laurie. Slashers rarely allow us to spend time with potential targets so this was appreciated. I also was fine with the idea that he was kind of a distorted version of Laurie (both babysitters who experience horrors).
But two things a Halloween film does not need are:
- Another serial killer at large
- Michael developing a rapport with another character
For these reasons, the "twist" with Corey becoming Michael's accomplice/partner was completely unacceptable to me.
Corey's series of killings completely diluted Michael's story. Much of the arc with his increasing sociopathy and dysfunctional home life and felt like it was ripped off from
American Psycho and
Bates Motel. As the film progressed it dawned on me that, rather than writing a
Halloween film, the writers were actually writing their own, unrelated story and using the platform of the
Halloween branding to give that story the widest possible audience. It's very much like what I read so often on this very site when it comes to
Dallas fans' issue with Cynthia Cidre's vision for
that franchise.
As for Corey "breaking" Michael in and then using him to target his own enemies like a trained pit bull. It's offensive. Audience reaction to Michael being a lackey for Thorn in
The Curse Of Michael Myers should have put a nail in that coffin. A bad idea is one thing, but re-using a theme that has previously been so detrimental to the series is unforgivable.
And while I said I was starting with Corey, there's very little left to say beyond that since he was essentially the anti-hero.
The stuff with Laurie writing her book was... fine, I suppose. It did feel indulgent at times, and - like
Halloween Kills - there was a sense that the storyline was dragged out so that the box office could be stretched out over three films which gave it a fatiguing, repetitive daytime soap quality at times.
On the plus side, haunted Laurie coming to terms with her past is never going to be unwatchable. I particularly enjoyed the scene where she left the supermarket on a high, with a big grin on her face after a flirtation with Frank Hawkins. I was really with her in that moment, and appreciated that she was allowed to have a moment of happiness. It gave the end of the scene even more impact when Laurie came face to face with wheelchair-bound Sondra (the victim of the most unnecessarily graphic attack in
Kills when Michael jabbed a broken tube light into her neck). It perfectly captured how difficult it is for Laurie to step out from the shadow of Michael.
As for the attempt to end things once and for all. I won't go into spoilers, but I'll say that it was satisfying enough, though it lacked the efficient simplicity of
H20's take on this.
Summing up the new trilogy:
Halloween 2018 was a damned good film that left me wanting more. The latter two films mostly failed to deliver. Frankly, it feels like we got a lot of filler that should really have been nothing more than bonus deleted scenes on the Blu-ray. Once again, I fully agree with
@PhantOme of the Forums that the last three films could probably have been condensed into one film if
Halloween 2018 had run for an extra 20 minutes. Either that, or keep the 2018 film just as it was (I liked it that much) and condense
Kills/Ends into one slicker film: ideally running around an hour and twenty minutes, instead of the three and a half hours we got.
* The end at time of writing. But I'm sure there'll be another reboot, remake, reimagining or requel along soon. After all, the 50th anniversary is less than 5 years away. 
