Stabman and Robin

You can't accuse the makers of this new Halloween trilogy of playing it safe. After the crowd pleasing beats of Halloween 2018 and the carnage of last years Halloween Kills things here begin much more sedately, shelving Micheal entirely for the first part of the movie and building up a new antagonist.

After the opening scene Halloween Ends picks up four years later then the events of the last two films and focuses on the impact Micheal Myers' (who hasn't been seen since) rampage has had on the town of Hadenfield and its inhabitants. This is a bold change of pace and the idea it sets up is interesting but the movie struggles to pull it off, largely due to lackluster characters. Allyson in particular seems to have become an idiot over the intervening years in order ti help drive the plot forward. Had they spread the developments of the film over a longer time frame rather than a couple of days it might have been more successful. As it is, vague allusions to the nature of evil don't really go anywere and the theme of dealing with trauma is only realised in the most surface of ways. Its all wrapped up with an ending feels too triumphant for the story that has played out over the trilogy.

The other problem with Halloween Ends is Micheal Myers himself. While new character Corey gets a fairly satisfying character arc it feels like director David Gordon Green has already wrung everything he wants out of the original slasher. If you are looking for answers to questions like, why can he survive being shot and stabbed dozens of times? What is his obsession with the window in his old house? Why did he disappear for years? You aren't going to find them here. This would have been fine had they made the film a full on passing of the torch story but it feels as if the filmakers felt duty bound to wrap up the Laurie vs Micheal story whether they wanted to or not.

A thumbs up for the ambition but lackluster execution makes it a severed thumb.

6 children sent tumbling to their death out of 10 babysitters.

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