Review of HALLOWEEN ENDS: Final Face-off

October 13, 2022

Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) was the sole survivor of the first killing spree of masked murderer Michael Myers in the town of Haddonfield, Illinois in the year 1978. She now lived with her grand-daughter, nurse Allyson (Andi Matichak), whose mother Karen, Laurie's daughter, was killed when Myers made a grisly comeback to Haddonfield after escaping from the authorities after 40 years of imprisonment.

Young man Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) was shunned by town residents when a little boy he was babysitting died under his watch on Halloween 2019. Laurie recognized his good heart and introduced him to Allyson, who also liked him a lot. However, after Corey fell into a deep ditch after an encounter with a group of neighborhood bullies, he was pulled into an empty sewer pipe by a shadowy figure with a mask.

I was never a fan of slasher films. I only got started on watching "Halloween" films in 2018 when a sequel came out set 40 years after the events of the original 1978 movie. In that one, original survivor Laurie Strode was already a grandmother, with her estranged daughter Karen and grand-daughter Allyson. It was followed by another sequel in 2021 "Halloween Kills," where Myers again escaping death by the mob and killed Karen at the end.

The strange thing about this latest (and final) sequel was that Myers was hiding under the sewers for majority of the film. Myers became a mentor of sorts here, feeding the psychologically-disturbed mind of young Corey with murderous inspiration. It was Corey (wearing Myers' mask) who went around Haddonfield in a killing rampage that Halloween, with the neighborhood bullies an arrogant DJ and his nagging mother among his body count. 

It was only towards the end did Laurie and Myers (both still played by their original actors Jamie Lee Curtis and Nick Castle) have their showdown in Laurie's house. But since the title already tells you that Halloween ends here, the final outcome of their fight to the death was apparent even before it began. The repeated screen appearance of an industrial shredder in the junkyard presaged Myers' final fate. There were no surprises in this finale. 6/10.