(Warning: contains major “Halloween Ends” spoilers) Having your expectations subverted can be a hard pill to swallow. This is especially true of genre films—and their fans—who carry with them tremendous expectations. You need to look no further than the “Star Wars” franchise and its obnoxious and even racist treatment of cast members such as Kelly Marie Tran and John Boyega for not fitting into ‘fans’’ ideas of what constitutes a successful franchise sequel. The same thing happened with the dislike of Samuel Bayer’s “A Nightmare On Elm Street” reboot, which I wrote about; and which I feel, to this day, has to do with little else besides the fact that the film doesn’t star Robert Englund (who stated he doesn’t want to play Freddy anymore anyway).
So honestly, it’s no surprise that many “Halloween” fans hate “Halloween Ends:” it barely features Michael Myers. This is simple truth—he’s barely in it. The role is reprised by actor James Jude Courtney, inside the mask, for the 10 minutes of screen time he gets (mostly inside a drainage pipe, sometimes as he *accompanies* Corey Cunningham (a good Rohan Campbell)—this film’s reluctant antagonist—on kills. His scant screen time is purposive (remember, the most successful movie about a shark, “Jaws,” barely showed said shark). However, it’s certainly understandable why this decision annoys cinema goers—it requires a deeper analysis. And maybe that’s something Myers lovers looking for a straightforward slasher don’t really want to do.
Is ‘Halloween Ends’ Really that Bad?
But, with what “Halloween” fans have previously been through, their outrage does seem a touch excessive. Also excessive seems the critic reception of 40% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is even more bizarre. This criticism makes sense if you look at what the franchise’s fans—myself included; “Halloween” is my favorite horror film and my second favorite slasher franchise—have been through. Let’s take a look: the awful ‘Thorn’ storyline; Michael is Laurie’s brother in “Halloween II” (goodbye random horror); Michael’s evil imprinted on Jamie’s baby in “Part 6” (not to mention that film’s bizarre ending, where Micheal *kills?* Loomis and simply vanishes, only to reappear in “Resurrection,” which audiences and critics hated). And rounding this off, we have the bizarreness of Rob Zombie’s “Halloween 2” and the strange white horse storyline—and a Dr. Loomis that has confusingly turned into a capitalist profiteer.
But somehow, reading over dozens of comments—many now saying that “Halloween Ends” is worse than all of that, even the Rob Zombie films (which I kind of like)—it’s bizarre. But why it’s bizarre, and why I feel “Halloween Ends” needs a proper defense is because all of those movies, even the one-off but great “Halloween H20,”—in all their plots, themes, and callbacks—they never considered, in any kind of serious cinematic treatment, the town of Haddonfield itself, and the impact Myers has had not just on the town, but on the people. Dr. Loomis tried in the often-laughed at “Halloween 4” when he urged Michael to “leave those people alone;” but it felt like an afterthought. The film quickly resumed to Michael stalking teenagers, with little thought—outside Haddonfield’s first mob—of any kind of effect on the town itself.
David Gordon Green—the Crafter of Small Town Perfection
However, this is clearly a theme David Gordon Green wished to explore. Green loves small towns; this isn’t news, or even a new development in his “Halloween” franchise. He has already explored it in “Halloween” (2018) and “Halloween Kills.” But looking back further at Green’s filmography (“George Washington,” 2000, “All the Real Girls,” 2003, and “Joe,” 2013) it becomes clear that Green loves to explore small towns, its characters, and their attempts to overcome circumstance and stagnation. Of “All the Real Girls,” late film critic Roger Ebert wrote, “The thing about real love is, if you lose it, you can also lose your ability to believe in it, and that hurts even more. Especially in a [small] town where real love may be the only world-class thing that ever happens.”
Ebert understood what Green understood; small towns are filled with people who dream big, but live simply. Their hearts and emotions are big even if their lives aren’t. They deserve every bit as much cinematic representation as movie stars and New York City urbanites. In fact, Green even went so far as to cast complete non-actors (once, even a homeless person) in his films, to layer them with small-town authenticity. His work clearly inspired both Derek Cianfrance (“The Place Beyond the Pines”) and Scott Cooper (“Out of the Furnace”).
Also Read: Feature Article: ‘Halloween’ (1978) at 40+; a Musing on the Horror Classic that Still Hits Home
And then in 2021, in “Halloween Kills,” Green dropped this idea that Haddonfield is angry, Haddonfield is hurting. Its mob’s violent uprising against Myers spoke to this. It also spoke to the necessity and irrationality of these moments. The mob is blinded by their hatred of Myers—so much so that an innocent mental patient (Ross Bacon) kills himself rather than be killed by them when they think he’s Myers. “Evil dies tonight!” is their chant. The town of Haddonfield, for the first time, is starting to see the effect Myers has had on them. It’s not just Laurie’s problem—as Myers had always been only his victims’ problem, and maybe a few police. Now it’s all of their problem.
Haddonfield, a Town Reluctant to Heal
But what happens in “Halloween Kills?” Myers kills most of the mob (including most of the players from the first film. Tommy Doyle is dead. Sheriff Brackett is dead. Lonnie Elam is dead; so is his son. And in the closing shots Myers hacks Allyson’s mother Karen (Judy Greer) to death. The uprising is quickly put down by the seemingly unstoppable Myers. And then he disappears. But, like Dracula, “Jaws,” and other monsters before him, we feel Myers’ presence most starkly in his absence.
So “Halloween Ends” is Green’s attempt at closing this thing out in as definitive a way as possible, bringing with him all his indie film goodie bags, but knowing that somehow he has to bring the whole thing back to Myers. He sets up a Haddonfield that is bleak and dejected. Where once the only gun you heard was the starting pistol at the local high school, now shootings and suicides occur semi-regularly. Laurie is living in a new, beautiful house with Allyson (Andi Matichak), trying to forget. Officer Hawkins (Will Patton) is sweet on Laurie, but she holds him at bay.
Then, a year after the events of “Halloween Kills,” young Corey Cunningham accidentally causes the death of a small boy. This will haunt him and derail his dreams. And—coupled with his at home situation (his mother’s overprotective and crazy)—it leaves him depressed and lost. Green has him meet Allyson, and the two form a bond. I’d argue their bond is more forged on a mutual dislike of the town and a sense of stultification rather than a “love story,” which some have accused. It’s Green’s “All the Real Girls” again—two kindred spirits meeting one another in a town that seems to have disowned them (Corey is the pariah after the little boy’s death; Allyson and Laurie “caused” Michael to harm Haddonfield). They frequently talk in their time together of wanting to ‘burn it all down.’ I don’t take this literally—Allyson probably didn’t either, until she sees the radio tower literally burning down—but figuratively; they long to escape the toxicity of a town that places all its problems on them. A town that hasn’t healed.
Green’s Characters Sell Haddonfield to Us
This is Green doing what he does best. He is making engaging characters, engulfed by small town miasma and the need for better lives. But at the same time he’s trying to hint that Haddonfield can heal. But for this to happen, Corey needs to become its—Michael’s—last victim. Sure, there’s notes that evil can spread (Green himself said this in an interview). But I feel that Corey is a tool. He becomes a narrator—like Ryan Gosling in “Drive”—to show the evil that is seeping out of Haddonfield’s bones; an evil that won’t stop until Myers is dead and Haddonfield can heal. Laurie has tried to find peace and turn her back on Myers; Corey is Green’s answer that she can’t. He literally brings Myers to her doorstep until she has to face him. Except this time she’s not angry. She’s resigned—and tired—as is the whole town. Her killing of Michael reeks more of a mercy killing rather than a violent extirpation. Laurie puts Myers—puts the evil—out of its misery. It’s old, tired, and losing its grip. The midnight procession that follows to bury him (as the symbolic nature of Laurie literally nailing Michael to the kitchen counter in a crucifix-like representation) absolves the town.
So all of this is to say that I think Green picked the smartest way to end the thing he could, given the confines of his thematic elements. I can’t count the number of times Myers has been *killed.* Loomis shot him a dozen times and exploded him by the end of “Part 2;” Sheriff Meeker (Beau Starr) obliterated him with an assault rifle firing squad in “Part 4;” and then Laurie chopped his head off with a fire axe in “H20” (which is where the movies should have probably stopped, but they didn’t). All of that did zero to finally kill Michael. To finally kill this evil. So would another movie—even Green’s finale—be better served with a climactic final fight with Laurie v Michael… with Laurie and Michael trading blows, knifes—or whatever other weapon—until one or both of them is dead? Would this truly end the thing? Filmmakers and writers have retconned and revived Michael more times that I thought possible (not that I’m complaining; I enjoyed them all). Would just another decimation of Michael matter?
Green’s Ending—Perfect in My Book
My argument: Green ended the thing the only way that made sense. He presented a town, and lead heroine, so exhausted by 40 years of evil that they couldn’t take it anymore. They tried to kill it in “Halloween Kills;” but when that didn’t work they pretended it was gone. Just like Nancy in “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” Laurie et al. finally decide to turn their backs on Michael, take away his energy, and move on with their lives. Laurie also wanted to die; she’s lost so much. Who saves her? Is it Allyson. Is it Hawkins? Or is it herself? That’s up to the eye of the beholder.
I know this is somewhat introspective and dense, which may not be what some (many) “Halloween” fans wanted. Some love Michael, some love gore, and all love “Halloween.” Many wanted Corey to become the new boogyman—for the legend of evil to continue. Me? I’m glad Green gave Haddonfield a break. I’m glad Laurie and Allyson and the rest of the town can find closure. And while I wish Green had added maybe 20 minutes to polish off a few things and make the finale seem less rushed, I think it’s forgivable. “Halloween Ends” is already growing on me. Like the off-kilter “Halloween III,” I hope it eventually grows to be a staple of the “Halloween”-verse. Or, at the very least, something people grow to appreciate and switch on during their necessary—and indulgent—“Halloween”-a-thons… when the temperature starts to drop, leaves start to fall, and it’s time for the Boogyman once again.
“Halloween Ends” is available to watch in theaters or stream on Peacock.
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