The World of Myth Magazine

Just when I thought my retirement was actually gonna stick, I got the request to do a Halloween movie review. It just so happens that I caught a new movie I would enjoy rehashing. While I have spent this month watching a bunch of good scary movies, the one flick that comes to mind is the most recent screening I attended: Halloween Ends.

Now, I admit that this round of trilogies was not my absolute favorite incarnation of the franchise. While I feel that Halloween from 2018 was a reasonable attempt at a reboot as a sequel to the 1977 blockbuster with the same name, while personally, I was not overly a fan of the idea that Laurie Strode was not Michael Myers' sister—in my humble opinion, I feel that it takes away from the motivation as to why he has tried to kill her, versus that after forty years she was the only one that survived the masked killer. Of course, that in itself is an incorrect notion, as others lived as well, but I think the sister angle made more sense.

Halloween Kills had so much potential but, alas, fell in the generalization of the typical trope for a squeal. As a result, it was basically a second act when it bridges the first and the third act together. I think that the thing that gripes my ass most is that the character development and plot building were almost all but forgotten with the third movie.

But then we get to Halloween Ends! Holy dear baby Jesus in a half-shell, what a fantastic movie! While people crap on this film, for whatever reason, it makes them feel important, you know, the "it's too violent," or "It's too bloody," "It doesn't have enough woke items shoved in you face."

It is a (insert all the swear words you can think of) horror and slasher flick! Yes, it is gonna have some good old fashion slicing and dicing of the general public, aka the resident of Haddonfield.

This movie felt like it attempted to make all other timelines make sense in a cohesive universe; there are nods to almost every Halloween film made in this rendition. I think one of the layers of the plot that I sincerely enjoyed was the introduction of Cory which adds depth and leaves the audience wondering whether it was a setup for Halloween: The Next Generation, as this film had more to do with him and Laurie's granddaughter Allison than Strode and Michael this time around.

Another thing I loved about this flick was how both Laurie and Michael were aged in character, not just physically. The fact that Laurie attempted to move on from what had happened with her daughter's passing and Myers himself to be as normal as possible actually affected Michael on an emotional level to the point where he just hung out in a sewage drain.

It was the fear that Laurie brought to the party which motivated Michael for all those years, it was an ultimate power trip, and once she took that from him, he had nothing—until he was brought his first victim. Then, as Michael stabbed the dude and saw the fear in his dying eyes, we, as moviegoers (pun intended), watched the masked killer come back to life. In fact, it was not until he came face to face with Laurie that he did not seem to be himself (Come on, you know, at some point at the end of the movie, they were gonna have a final showdown; it's in the bloody damn title).

This movie had so many incredible layers added to its storytelling as it felt that it really explored the man versus man element and not only in a homicidal way, as this film explores the expanding relationship of Laurie and Officer Frank Hawkins, her new journey in continuing to heal and becoming a novelist. The ties that Allison and Cory have and what path it will send them down, as the acts of his past haunt Cory until he can accept them.

There is so much happening that someone would need to have a second or even a third view to perhaps catch most of the important things going on all the way into the ending. As you probably can tell, I am doing my best to create a non-spoiler movie review, but I am going to put it on front street, SPOILERS HEAD! So stop reading here and look for the part that reads end of spoilers.

As we come to an end, Laurie finally comes face to face with Michael, which is a fast-paced action sequence through her house that had a great sense of the first time they encountered each other in 1977, but instead of the climax finalizing upstairs, it would conclude in the kitchen as Laurie finally bests Myers—now, I will shift her and address some criticism I read online. On that ruffled my feathers a bit as many whined that Strode would never get the best of Michael. However, she had many times in other timelines before, but whatever, I digress.

In the original 1977, Halloween, which was forty-five years ago! Laurie was seventeen or eighteen, and we assumed that Michael was in his early twenties, again, with that same premise in mind that would make him in his mid-sixties and her early sixties.

They are older people!

Michael has been shot, stabbed, burned alive, and lived in a sewer for an unknown time; homeboy was on his last leg anyway! That is why Laurie went off and, according to the 2018 movie, trained every day for forty years. Despite finding peace that year, when she faced him for the final time, all that training kicked in, and she got the upper hand.

After she bleeds Michael like a pig before going to a bacon factory, his story does not end there as the residents wanted to make sure that he was dead-dead and was taken to a grinder that there was no chance in hell he was coming back from. What an ending! I know some did not like it, but I felt it was the only perfect way to stop and end the story of Michael Myers... Although, they never said what exactly happened to the iconic mask. Wink. Wink.

END OF SPOILERS, so you can pick back reading here! I felt that this movie was a fantastic conclusion to the Halloween franchise while at the same time opening the door for brand-new and original stories to be made. While I admit, at times, the pacing was a bit off, and a few things happened that took me out of the movie, it was a solid story and film.

So for HALLOWEEN ENDS, I give it four golden stars and was happy that it did not suck as much as the whiners online said it did. Oh! And, if you felt this movie was too gory and over the top for you, then for the love of Gawd, DO NOT watch Rob Zombie's remakes; it could possibly send you to the emergency room!

Alright, that is it for me. I welcome your thoughts and comments below, don't send me hate mail because I won't read it, but just put it here on this pretty little page. Okay, kids, we will see how long it is until they need me again.

Until Then...

I remain,

Moviegoer Grim