Halloween Ends begins with the memoir of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), an autobiography currently in the works when we see Laurie typing in a brightly lit home four years after the events of Halloween Kills. While writing, Laurie questions the nature of evil (a persistent theme throughout this trilogy) and how Michael Myers (Nick Castle) embodied it. Although it seems Laurie has found some peace in moving on from the hysteria that robbed forty years of her life, she still digests and explores the strange relationship she had with Michael as she writes her story. Laurie does her best to choose love and not fear, but things change when she sees something in the eyes of local Haddonfield pariah Corey (Rohan Campbell). When Corey starts spending time with Laurie’s granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak), she sees something in his eyes she’d only ever seen once before… in Michael’s.
If the thing you hated most about Halloween Kills was that numerous murders took the place of an elaborately explored plot, well, Halloween Ends gives you your wish. Michael is known for his gruesome kills but audiences won’t see a lot of that in this film. Fans aren’t necessarily given a continuation of Michael’s story but rather are shown the effect his story has left on the citizens of Haddonfield. The final installment of David Gordon Green's Halloween trilogy spends its runtime entertaining new stories and characters rather than focusing on its titular duo. Following the relationship Corey and Allyson begin closely, audiences hardly ever find themselves face to face with the OG Haddonfield Boogeyman. Instead, the film shoves a character we’ve never met or connected with to center screen and forces us to watch his story rather than give fans what they pulled up to the theater for.
Although audiences will get to witness the highly anticipated showdown between Laurie Strode and Michael Myers, Halloween Ends chooses to explore the effects their feud has had on Haddonfield rather than showing fans the pair actually feuding. Laurie is the clear heartbeat of this franchise. It would’ve been nice to see more of her, though the movie mostly centers around a newer and younger generation. Throughout Halloween Ends you’ll forget you’re watching a horror movie. Green leans into romance and character study more than teeth-chattering horror and gore. He remains loyal to Carpenter’s original style but downplays some seriously climactic moments, lessening the audience’s feeling of epic finality when watching. It seems to capitalize on the idea of romanticizing the villain or killer, vouching for Corey due to his trauma and coaxing audiences to empathize with him despite his actions. Allyson has a pointlessly tragic arc that even fails the Bechdel Test. She’s never given the opportunity to overcome her trauma the way other characters have. She evolves into this lawless youngster motivated by romantic potential with a total stranger, possibly looking to fill the hefty voids in her life left by the murder of both her parents. Despite fleeting triumphs, Allyson’s suffering is mostly in vain. Halloween Ends runs in a number of different narrative directions, each of which are quickly discarded, rendering their exploration pointless. It proposes the idea of a new generation of evil, dropping hints and building metaphors in support of Myers’ mission passing on through Corey or Alison. However, this is also scrapped in an underwhelming and anticlimactic fashion. The last Halloween movie provides fans with a certain poetic closure that rarely comes from this genre, but wanders unsurely down multiple paths before finally deciding how this franchise should end.