Critics have shared their thoughts on the new slasher sequel Halloween ends for release tomorrow, October 14. Halloween ends is the third and final film in Blumhouse’s new trilogy of Halloween films, directed and co-written by David Gordon Green. The trilogy started in 2018 with: Halloweena project that ignored the continuity of every other sequel in the franchise after 1978 Halloweenin which Laurie, her daughter (Judy Greer) and her granddaughter (Andi Matichak) face off against masked serial killer Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney & Nick Castle).
This final film in the Blumhouse trilogy is set four years after 2021 Halloween kills, which took place on the same night as the 2018 entry. Now living with her granddaughter, Laurie is forced to reckon with the trauma of her past when a brand new local teen is accused of murdering a child he was babysitting. Of course, in the midst of all this chaos, Myers will eventually resurface and face his old victim once and for all. In addition to Curtis, Matichak, Courtney and Castle reprising their roles, the film returns kills performer Kyle Richards and newcomer Rohan Campbell as Corey Cunningham, the young man at the center of the murderous charges.
Today the embargo has been lifted on reviews of Halloween ends, and critics were able to share their full opinion of the film. While some find the film satisfying on its own merits, most critics agree that it’s a disappointing conclusion to an iconic franchise that has lasted more than 40 years. They are less sure whether it is an improvement on Halloween 2018 and Halloween kills. Most seem to applaud 2018’s effort as the best in the new trilogy, but doubt kills or Ends ultimately more satisfying. See selected quotes from reviews below:
Ben Kendrick, screen frenzy:
Halloween Ends is a satisfying conclusion to the H40 trilogy, and overall, the three films offer the strongest Halloween sequel continuity of the franchise’s twelve post-Halloween 1978 follow-ups. For that reason, even if Green rolled (and lost) on a disappointing central premise for Ends, a satisfying conclusion to Laurie’s story from Halloween 1978 to 2022 was worth all the missteps that plague Kills and Ends.
Tom Jorgensen, IGN:
Halloween Ends concludes the Myers/Strode rematch trilogy with an ambitious, if somewhat confused, final chapter. Despite dialed-in appearances from Jamie Lee Curtis and franchise newcomer Rohan Campbell, David Gordon Green’s larger exploration of evil and trauma expands on the conversation he started in Halloween 2018 and Halloween Kills at a pace that Ends doesn’t really have time to catch up. stay with.
William Bibbiani, Yahoo! entertainment:
Maybe “Halloween Ends” doesn’t work because – going back to that title – “Halloween” isn’t supposed to end. John Carpenter left the original with an almost complete lack of closure, playing less of a sequel plague and more of a threat. Michael Myers is still somewhere, literally or figuratively, and he’s going to get you. If he isn’t, then this whole undertaking seems rather pointless. If evil can really end – and especially if it ends in an anticlimax – it shouldn’t have been so powerful to begin with.
Scott Mendelson, Forbes:
Halloween Ends acts as a sad and gloomy epilogue to the Michael Myers/Laurie Strode franchise. It’s almost challenging for people complaining that Halloween and Halloween Kills were just the same old thing and/or just Michael killing people for 100 minutes, delivering a Halloween sequel that (at least initially) was like a drama first and a slasher second works.
Brian Trutt, USA today:
That’s how “Ends” rolls, though: it’s a denouement that strays too far from familiarity, a good-versus-evil brawl more complicated than it should be, and a “Halloween” movie that should go out with a roar but in instead closes with a masked wheeze.
Kate Erbland, IndieWire:
If there’s one lesson that “Halloween ends”—hell, that this entire trilogy, this entire franchise—leaves with ease, with blood, guts, and terror to spare, it’s that horror never really ends. It just takes a different shape. This story certainly will be, but for now it’s well closed.
Is Halloween Ends Better Than Halloween Kills?
At the time of writing, the review aggregator service Rotten Tomatoes has given Halloween ends a Rotten score of 44% among 43 reviews. As more reviews come in over the course of the week, that score can fluctuate significantly. So far it hasn’t dropped as low as the rating for Halloween killswhich ended with a particularly low score of 39%.
It will be a while before fans know for sure if critics found it Halloween ends definitely better than kills. But however it’s cut, the film seems too close in quality to the previous entry to appease fans who didn’t appreciate that particular outing with Myers. That doesn’t seem to affect the box office potential though, as the film is still set to beat killsopening weekend quite convenient, although it could experience a significant drop from Week 2 if the audience feels the same as the critics.
Source: Miscellaneous (see above)
