Halloween Ends : Despite a feisty Jamie Lee Curtis, this slasher slays you with boredom
Halloween Ends directed by David Gordon Green and starring : Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak, James Jude Courtney, Will Patton, Rohan Campbell, Kyle Richards with the runtime of 111. minutes.
The film begins in 2019 when a teenager, Corey (Rohan Campbell) is babysitting the rather bratty Jeremy. A horrible accident later, Corey is ostracised by the beleaguered town of Haddonfield. Laurie is living with her granddaughter, Allyson, who works as a nurse. Laurie is trying hard to move beyond the horrific events of 1978, and 40 years later in 2018 when Myers returned for another round of slicing and dicing. She is writing her memoir, meeting Hawkins, who is learning Japanese, which he hopes to try out in Japan during cherry blossom season, in the supermarket, knitting and baking pies. That they are burnt to a crisp is another matter…
On the countdown to Halloween, bad things start to happen, even as Corey and Allyson grow closer. Though Laurie initially introduced the two, she begins to have doubts about Corey. Halloween Ends is neither thrilling nor fun, and those jump scares are frankly rather irritating. It is fun to see Curtis do her feisty grandmother act flinging refrigerators about with vim and vigour. Otherwise the Shape’s latest killing spree is deader than their victims.
Other favorite characters are back for a “last” go-round include ultimate fellow survivor Lindsay (Kyle Richards) and Officer Frank Hawkins (Will Patton), who is sweet on Laurie but still haunted by the fact he could have killed Michael when he had the chance. You all know where this story is headed, but it contains considerably more emotion and character development than the last film, to be sure, and Curtis commands it so effectively that we don’t mind too much that we have been there/done that with this franchise too many times to recite here. Of the new characters, Campbell is effective in drawing an origin story of a nice guy who goes down the rabbit hole and emerges as a different, and very dangerous, person.
Producers are Malek Akkad, Jason Blum and Bill Block. The script is credited to Paul Brad Logan & Chris Bernier & Danny McBride & David Gordon Green who also returns to direct as he did for the previous two films. Universal releases the film also produced by Miramax and Blumhouse on Friday in theaters and streaming on Peacock. Check out my video review with scenes from the film at the link above.
