According to Variety, “Halloween Ends” collected $41.25 million, debuting at number one. 

But one might ask how a film collecting that amount of money could have flaws. Filming a sequel to a movie can be challenging, and the director needs to go above and beyond the first film in order to make the next one more interesting. Sometimes, directors may stray away from the path they are on to create a more unique approach to their film series, which in this case was David Gordan Greens, “Halloween Ends.” 

The majority of the movie follows a new character that has been introduced: Corey, played by Rohan Campbell. In the gruesome beginning of the movie, Corey is babysitting a child who seems to taunt him throughout the night about Michael Meyers, played by Nick Castle. 

When Corey comes back to the living room the child is gone and as he goes to look for him, he gets locked in a dark room. Corey finds out that it’s the child by hearing the laughter coming from behind the door and Corey screams for the child to let him out. The moment he kicks the door the child is knocked off the balcony of the staircase and onto the floor. As Corey goes to look, the gruesome screams from the parents can be heard as they walk in from their night out. 

“Halloween Ends” then turns after this scene, making this the main focus for the majority of the movie. Corey is now known as the “psychotic babysitter” around town and it is impossible for him to get around without someone heckling him. 

As an audience member it could be confusing when the focus shifts onto Laurie, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, and her granddaughter Allyson, played by Andi Matichak, until Corey starts to see Allyson. Allyson and Corey have a mutual bond over trauma and as Corey starts seeing her, he keeps having unexpected encounters with the public and even the family whose son was killed. 

One night Corey gets into an altercation on a bridge with the same kids who have been heckling him before. One thing leads to another, and Corey is thrown off the bridge. The camera zooms in on Corey’s body being grabbed by an anonymous person, dragging him into an underground tunnel. Corey wakes up in this tunnel and is faced by Michael Meyers himself. 

Michael Meyers almost kills Corey, but for some reason doesn’t. It seems that Michael sees something in Corey and decides to let him go. As Corey frantically leaves the tunnel he is confronted by a homeless man who is yelling at him and threatening him. In self-defense, Corey stabs the guy and at this moment Corey’s built-up anger and frustration is being taken out on this man.

This begins Corey’s villain origin story. Corey seems to be an extended version of Michael and they work together to kill off people, more specifically Corey points to Michael to kill the people who have wronged Allyson in her personal life.

Laurie warns Corey to stay away from her granddaughter and Corey tells Allyson, which causes turmoil in her and Laurie’s relationship. At this point in the movie, Corey begins to look more like Michael’s legacy. He looks up to Michael and asks him how to kill and what to do. Things seem to be going at the same rate, Corey being with Allyson by day and killing people with Michael at night, until Corey steals the mask off of Michael Meyers. You do not get to see much of Michael’s face when this is done but you are able to see the burn marks from the fire in “Halloween Kills.”  

It is obvious that the two are no longer working together, and as someone who has watched previous films – you do not mess with Michael Meyers, let alone touch his mask. 

In the next scene, you see an empty room and hear a gun fired. Corey comes toward the room, and as he goes to see if Laurie killed herself she comes out and confronts Corey. When Allyson finds her boyfriend dead on the floor a flood of emotions and generational trauma her grandmother has caused returns. She leaves and it is not until she gets a call from the police reporting a suicide attempt by Laurie she comes back. 

In the final altercation, Michael comes in, strangling Corey for the last time, and takes his mask back. Laurie hears this altercation and hides. They battle back and forth until the invincible Michael Meyers is stuck and trapped. The movie builds suspense and Laurie removes the Mask and kills Michael. 

Although “Halloween Kills” did a great job of giving a backstory for this film, the storyline was very skewed and hard to understand why it was made. There were not enough scenes between Michael and Laurie, which fans have loved in the past, and the movie steered away from its original format, focusing on the new villain. 

With a new villain origin story, a sidekick complex and a different tone than the films prior, this had to be the most underwhelming film. The beginning of the film showed the hysteria around Michael Meyers and how his torment has impacted many lives. The ending demonstrated the official termination of Michael. 

The film itself had a lot of potential, however. It had flaws between the beginning and the end, which is how the movie missed the mark many fans were waiting to see. It is a great watch to complete the film series, even if it fell short in its original storyline. 

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