REVIEW: Halloween Ends, but will this series ever end?

Over 12 films, Michael Myers has brutally murdered several people. Many of those films will focus more on developing characters merely to be killed off, but this latest trilogy wanted to focus more on the theme of trauma and how that can affect a community across generations. This latest iteration in the series is the final thesis regarding serial killers and generational trauma, but does it sell its point accurately?

Jaime Lee Curtis in Halloween Ends, courtesy of Universal Pictures.

Halloween Ends is set four years after the two previous films. There are two stories this film focuses on, firstly the continuing adventures of Laurie Strode (played by Jaime Lee Curtis for the seventh time) and her family. She’s now attempting to put everything Michael Myers-related behind her by writing a memoir about her life, and living with her granddaughter Allyson (played by Andi Matichak from Son). Allyson herself with struggling with the trauma of surviving a night with Michael Myers, and is hoping to move on.

As for the second story, that’s about a boy named Corey (played by Rohan Campbell from the Hardy Boys) who is accused of a horrendous crime. He encounters several of our main characters, and his trauma from everything he and the town of Haddonfield has had to deal with begins to take immense effect. It feels like he’s wearing a mask, and maybe he actually is.

Andi Matichak and Rohan Campbell in Halloween Ends, courtesy of Universal Pictures.

As mentioned earlier, this new trilogy created by David Gordon Green and Danny McBride is focused on the effects of trauma on a community across generations. The initial attack in 1978, as well as the attack over the course of the 2018 and 2021 entries, had left this town feeling incredibly shaken up. Many people have lost loved ones, and many more are struggling with the lack of catharsis following the 2018 massacre. We see that many people have harmed others, or harmed themselves, in the years since Myers’ return to Haddonfield.

That lack of catharsis has effected every person in the town, and this is best exemplified with Corey’s narrative. This film forces the audience to walk a moral line. How far will you sympathize with a character? What does it take for them to cross a line, and are you willing to cross it with them?

Now does the film do a good job with this? Well, it’s quite heavy-handed at points. With four separate writers, the film frequently feels muddled. It also loses some of the charm that Danny McBride’s writing brought to the two previous entries, missing out on several funny scenes which have been exchanged for another examination of the effects of trauma. This film at times seems more interested in examining trauma than being an enjoyable film.

That said, there is tons of gore, and there are doomed characters who die. Stepping up the blood and guts from the last film, this can be a brutal watch at times. But if you love seeing special effects and/or slasher films, then you already know you’re going to get a kick out of this.

Halloween Ends, like every film in this series, excels at being a slasher. It has some interesting points about trauma, but the message gets buried under the numerous perspectives put into the film. It’s a decent end to an entertaining trilogy that honestly could’ve been one film. Nonetheless, a trilogy is much more fun to watch on Halloween. You can watch this film in cinemas now.