I watched Halloween Ends
WAS I ENTERTAINED?
No. I was annoyed.
WHAT WORKED FOR ME?
Once again the score is incredible!
Nick Castle for the win!
There are short bursts of cinematography that echo Dean Cundy’s work.
WHAT DIDN’T WORK FOR ME?
The radio intro is Try Hard and the song selection is bad for its Too-On-The-Nose nature.
“Oh, look, we’re watching The Thing because John Carpenter.” We’re not even five minutes in and we’re already having hyper-referential nonsense inflicted upon us. I didn’t even mention that the credits are in blue this time instead of the traditional orange because they were blue in Halloween III: Season of the Witch, and I wasn’t going to until they forced my hand with this other floating hunk of codswallop.
“Michael Myers kills babysitters, not kids,” the little twerp says. If you’re paying attention, though, Michael Myers kills anyone. We get it. You know the original title for the 1978 film, The Babysitter Murders. Who doesn’t?
The kid, Jeremy, at the beginning of the film is a little turd stain and this renders his demise less moving than it otherwise might have been. In fact, it’s a joy when the little underwear discoloration dies.
Laurie Strode’s opening voice over is an attempt to re-frame the narrative out of the blue in this third part, likely because they had no plan and got caught flat-footed.
Incompetent police is clearly a running theme.
Does every movie have to be filled with assholes?
The allegedly flirty dialogue between Corey and Allyson comes off as scripted.
At 26 minutes in everyone is an asshole or a cringe fest. It seems I’ll be happy to watch them all die.
Nobody seems natural to me at the Halloween party. It may be because I’m just not a party guy. Or maybe I just cant stand these levels or artifice.
Speaking of artifice, the Corey/Allyson relationship escalates at an unnatural pace.
Suddenly Michael is Psychic? Able to possess people? Transfer Evil? A Sith Lord? This is just lame.
Watching this movie, it’s apparent that somebody’s cousin has a band. These musical choices suck. Not to be confused with the score, mind you.
In the sewer scene with Corey and Allyson’s ex when Corey lures him to Michael there is an impression in the sewer wall that looks like Michael’s masked face for some reason.
It seems that Michael loses his “mojo” if he doesn’t kill for some reason. Then he seems to regain some after a killing. Again, for some reason as this has never been establish in an earlier film.
Two characters say that Laurie either teased or provoked Michael. This is another late addition to the lore that serves no real purpose. Add this to the “For Some Reason” category.
The “infection” theme is heavy-handed and suggests that the filmmakers thought the audience was populated by imbeciles. It’s in place because they so badly wanted to gratify themselves by making a statement about COVID-19. It’s as insulting as Corey Cunningham appropriating Michael’s mask.
They keep describing Corey as “…being on a dark path.” It’s like a marketing team saw Dexter and wanted to co-opt his Dark Passenger shtick.
And now Corey, with Michael’s mask, can teleport. For. Some. Reason.
Flashback montage just in case we forgot that we’re watching a Halloween movie. Which is entirely possible because this is barely a Halloween movie.
Bringing back characters from the prior two films feels perfunctory and like an attempt to convince the audience that there’s a deeper story happening. It’s false drama because they sacrifice all but one of these characters stories for this Core Cunningham tripe.
Just had to add that last use of the word, “Shape.” This wouldn’t have been so bad if they hadn’t shoe-horned its use in the prior two films.
WOULD I RECOMMEND?
No.
In my estimation this film is a complete misfire. Some people say it would have worked better if the Corey Cunningham origins had been interspersed throughout the three films. This is true, but I think it would be a more successful film if it didn’t have the baggage of the Halloween franchise attached to it. Get rid of Michael, Laurie, and the rest, give them new names, and just make a stand-alone film.
I understand why some people like it, and I support them in that. I just don’t agree with their assessment.
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