If there’s a lesson to be learned from David Gordon Green’s trilogy of “Halloween” legacy-quels, it’s to quit while you’re ahead. His 2018 “Halloween” (a direct sequel to the original 1978 masterpiece and a ret-con of its many, many follow-ups) was a surprisingly effective combination of slasher reanimation and reconsideration, taking the horrors of that Halloween night, and its psychological effects on its survivors and the town where they happened, with uncommon seriousness (yet with flashes of self-awareness and humor). It boasted surprisingly efficient direction from Green (a filmmaker better known for quiet indies and broad comedies), a witty and thoughtful screenplay by Jeff Fradley, Green, and his frequent collaborator Danny McBride (aka Kenny Powers), and a host of grounded, affecting performances, led by Jamie Lee Curtis, returning to the role that made her a star.
And it came to an immensely satisfying conclusion— the film said what it needed to say, provided the closure its heroine required, and sure did seem to kill Michael Myers. Alas.
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It was tempting to reappraise and downgrade that film in light of how spectacularly Green and company shit the bed with last year’s follow-up, “Halloween Kills.” But one can also argue that their failure to make lightning strike twice, in spite of so many of the same ingredients, speaks to the specific magic of the 2018 installment and the skill with which it was assembled. But now, after suffering through their third (and supposedly final) effort, “Halloween Kills,” this viewer is starting to wonder if they just plain got lucky that first time around.
As with “Kills,” “Ends” starts off promisingly enough. The solid, scary pre-title sequence takes us to Haddonfield on Halloween night of 2019 (a year after the events of the last two films) and introduces us to a new character: Corey (Rohan Campbell), a lawn-mowing teen recruited as a last-minute fill-in to babysit a hyperactive kid whose parents are heading out to a costume party. These are rich parents with a big house, so the sequence has an unsettling quality that differs from the cozy homes we’re used to in the series, and things get creepy quickly; Corey and the kid talk about Michael Myers, still on the loose, to which the kid insists, “He’s not gonna get me! Michael Myers kills babysitters, not kids!” True enough, but then, in a clever and genuinely horrifying turn of events, Corey accidentally kills the kid.
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Three years pass. Over footage from the earlier films (mostly the original), a voice-over by our old friend and final girl Laurie Strode (Curtis, as you know) catches us up; Corey’s accident was part of a pattern, a town descending into grief, paranoia, suspicion, and general ugliness. “The town turned in on itself,” Laurie explains, but not her – she is “a survivor attempting to heal and share my story.” You see, this voice-over is Laurie’s in-progress memoir, and well, the more we hear, the more it becomes clear that while Laurie Strode has a great many skills, prose is not one of them.
Corey, meanwhile, dodged jail time with his accident story and now works in his dad’s salvage yard (and horror fans in the audience nod, aware that this will give the film lotsa cool killing props). But he’s a mess and the outcast du jour for Haddonfield. Yet sparks fly between Corey and Laurie’s granddaughter Allyson (a returning Andi Matichak who has to stretch her likability to the max). However, it does seem worrisome that she’s attracted to a troubled dude with a domineering mom. Then again, her attraction – and she’s the one who takes the initiative in the relationship – hints compellingly at a residual anger inside her, as well as some understandable psychological damage. As he puts it, “I’m the kid-killer, I’m the psycho babysitter, and you think you can fix me!”
The screenplay (by Green, McBride, and new additions Paul Brad Logan and Chris Bernier) is wise to give us a new-ish focal character to shake things up —he’s an enigma, so it puts the movie off-balance (for a time, at least) as we try to figure out who this guy is and where’s he’s going. Then, unfortunately, we find out.
It happens, surprisingly enough, when Michael Myers finally appears at something like the 45-minute mark (presumably a new series record). Corey tumbles into Michael’s underground lair, Michael goes to choke him to death, they lock eyes, and Michael… initiates a psychic connection with Corey? (Did someone re-watch “Halloween 5” before writing this one?) Unlocks the evil inside him? Swaps bodies with him, “Freaky” style?
“I don’t know what’s happening to me,” Corey despairs to Allyson shortly thereafter, and I’ll tell you what, he was not alone. Whatever the case, he’s soon in over his head in blood: He commits some murders on his own, though sometimes he honey-pots victims back to Michael’s underground lair, like some Millennial Renfield. (I understand Michael’s need for the help; he’s literally a senior citizen now.)
This is all quite silly, and that’s one of the biggest problems; it’s all played with an inexplicably straight face, so in spite of McBride’s contribution, and in contrast to the 2018 installment, there are no moments of levity at all — well, no intentional ones. Your mileage may vary, but I can report big belly laughs at my press screening, particularly in the monumentally stupid closing passages.
Credit where due: Curtis has some fun working the variations on a character she’s playing for the seventh time, and the fact that we’re still watching her go through the motions speaks volumes of her gifts. Her continuing flirtation with Will Patton is charming, and she has one big acting beat near the end that she must absolutely sell and does. And, par for the course, Gordon sneaks in a couple of clever winks to the original films; the picture opens with a radio bumper and golden oldie, recalling the “Mr. Sandman” sounds that began “Halloween II,” while the babysat kid in the following sequence watches “The Thing” on TV, a remake by original “Halloween” director John Carpenter of “The Thing From Another Planet,” which Laurie and her charges watched in the 1978 installment.
And the score, again by Carpenter, his son Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies, is another banger, often lapping the action onscreen for mood and dread. It almost becomes a provocation, forcing us to long for more active involvement by Carpenter, a filmmaker whose skill and restraint frankly puts Green to shame. Who knows if “Halloween Ends” will actually conclude the slasher series (let’s not forget that “Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter” was the fourth of twelve installments). But I’ll say this: even as a fan of the franchise, when the title came up at the end of “Halloween Ends,” I found myself hoping to God they weren’t kidding. [D+]