As a long-term horror fan I know better than to trust a studio when it claims a film is the final outing for one of their iconic boogeymen.
But even if it’s inevitable that we’ll see Michael Myers on screen again, this is definitively the closing chapter of David Gordon Green’s trilogy.
And that’s one of the things that makes Halloween Ends so disappointing; it doesn’t feel like the final part of the story that began with 2018’s Halloween - and veers off into wildly different directions from that opening instalment.
The decision, apparently brought on by COVID delays to the production, to set Ends four years after predecessor Halloween Kills was a strange one which only gives us questions like where Michael has been all this time that Green and his co-writers didn’t need to back themselves into a corner with.
Storyline focus also shifts from Michael and Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie to Rohan Campbell’s Corey and while Campbell performs very well, is the final part of a trilogy really the time to introduce a brand new crucial character?
The opening sequence rather sums up the film. Green seems to be aiming for tense and shocking, but it comes across as comedic and odd.
Ends as a whole takes lots of weird turns that hamper the strong acting - and will likely annoy hardcore Halloween fans.
Although her character shifts quite a bit from Kills , Curtis is great again and James Jude Courtney confirms his status as the best Myers outside of the original’s Nick Castle.
I wasn’t a big fan of the direction the script took Andi Matichak’s Allyson in, but she tries hard to make it work, and Will Patton’s Frank is likability personified.
There are a few gloriously grisly kills and really well shot scenes, with Myers in particular always lit in the creepiest way possible.
However, the, in this time line, four films and 44 years in the making final showdown between Laurie and Michael is rushed and lacklustre; words that rather sum up Halloween Ends as a whole.
● What are your thoughts on this Halloween trilogy? Were you satisfied by how it concluded? Pop me an email at ian.bunting@reachplc.com and I will pass on your comments – and any movie or TV show recommendations you have – to your fellow readers.
● Halloween Ends is showing in cinemas now.
*Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
And did you know Lanarkshire Live is on Facebook? Head on over and give us a like and share!
