This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
SpOoky Lukey Video 👻📼🎃’s review published on Letterboxd:
This review may contain spoilers.
I was correct in my last review of Halloween Ends. I did end up loving Kills and Ends so much more the second time around. I had a lot of thoughts about Ends this time around so this will be more like a list of thoughts than a review. I apologize in advance it it’s all over the place.
I absolutely love genre films that combine genres that don’t feel like they have any right being together. I adore Ends for being this very strange mish-mash of brutal slasher and tragic romance.
I (like many others) was baffled by the Corey Cunningham plot. I found it strange to start exploring this possibility of the Shape’s evil being passed down, only to abruptly abandon it at the finale. But it really clicked with me this time, and I find it rather disturbingly inspirational. As Michael’s evil seems to partially transfer to Corey, it appears to make Michael somewhat weaker. Corey ultimately fails because he can’t find his own unique boogeyman. Instead he attempts to steal Michael’s identity because Haddonfield already fears Myers. They don’t fear the Scarecrow. Sometimes finding your own voice is hard.
There’s countless people who criticize Corey for being a wimp and being picked on by high schoolers. But I get it. The dude accidentally killed a child. He just wants to remain invisible to Haddonfield, keep a low profile and stay out of any more trouble. And sometimes high schoolers can be the cruelest humans on the face of the earth. Especially ones not yet accustomed to grown-up repercussions.
When Corey first discovers Michael it feels a first like Corey is the Renfield to Michael’s Dracula.
I really related to Michael in this one. In the way that I too, find a cool dark place to hide until Halloween.
The whole thing feels much grander in scale than any of the other Halloween sequels. Almost like a biblical slasher epic. Especially as it climaxes with Michael’s crucifixion and the somber, triumphant funeral parade up the hill to hamburger him. The whole thing is bittersweet as the unkillable god of violence falls.
Right now, I prefer Kills but I can already feel my love for Ends growing. I can already say that this is my favorite Halloweenverse, and I will be rewatching this quadrilogy more than any of the others.
There is a feeling of finality in Halloween Ends. But this is the fourth line of reboots, so I think we all know this isn’t the last we ever see of Michael Myers. It may be 5 years, it may be 20. But The Boogeyman will return…
“Evil never dies. It changes shape.”
