I've been pretty vocal in my dislike of the Halloween franchise finding it falls more into the traps of the genre than leaning into its strengths. But I have a lot of respect for Jamie Lee Curtis and what she is doing with her character of Laurie Strode, and despite a lot of my misgivings the horribly named Halloween Ends might finally have won me over to this latest trilogy of Halloween films, not because the film doesn't have its flaws, many similar to the previous films' flaws, but because it manages to tell a story that might just rise a bit above what the others have managed to tell.
But I can't discuss what I liked (and disliked) about it without spoiling it so be warned. Spoilers ahead.
While it has become a bit of a joke, it is these recent Halloween movies that have led the charge for horror films to be about trauma. I actually like this idea as I think that sort of reflection is what this genre can do well. Some of that has been rather heavy handed in Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills, and it remains a bit heavy handed here. Characters tell you that's what it's about explicitly, yet the script deals with it more in the dialogue than in any subtext.
Yet...
There is something about being willing to end the story (yes I know there will be another Halloween film and yes Michael Myers will be back - but it's an ending at least for now) that allows this film to stop dragging it out and actually let Laurie be the real "final girl." There is a moment near the end where the film makes you think she is going to commit suicide (without really earning it but that's another gripe I have) and I was ready to pack it in. But then it turns out that was a trap. "Do you really think I would kill myself?" she says to the killer as she shoots him instead of herself. And I became intrigued.
Because while the films before were about trauma, Ends is about closure. Laurie gets to survive (I told you I was going to spoil it) and gets to finish Myers off for good. She also gets to stop the resurrection aspect of him, both as an unkillable ghoul but also as an inspiration. The film looks at how abusers can be made out of abused people. And there is something satisfying about the film letting us process all of that and let it truly end.
Sure the film still have a lot of cliched slasher movie tropes. Only a few of the killings have any disturbing aspects to them with most feeling like we've seen them done before in every other slasher film. And yes the script is lean and as I suggested rarely earns the emotional beats it's going for. So it's still not the slasher masterpiece that one might hope for. In the hands of a more artistic director/screenwriter there could have been more interesting take on this story about a long standing killer inspiring a tortured soul and the women who never let their suffering lead them down the dark path. But that's not this film.
But Curtis is very good when the film allows her to play a scene and when Laurie gets arc enough to build her character. And I found myself less frustrated with Ends than I did with the previous films in this trilogy, and finally a bit more satisfied with the ending. Perhaps this is where Halloween should end. But since we know they will make more, perhaps they could turn the franchise into an anthology, be done with telling stories about Myers simply slashing more victims with a chef's knife and give us something different, like in Halloween III.
Halloween Ends
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Rohan Campbell, Andi Matichak, Nick Castle, Will Patton, Kyle Richards
Director: David Gordon Green
Writers: Paul Brad Logan, Chris Bernier, Danny McBride, David Gordon Green
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