Jesse’s review published on Letterboxd:
A few weeks ago I thought Blonde was gonna break Letterboxd but it might be Halloween Ends that does it.
Halloween Ends, the 13th, yes you heard me right, 13th film in this franchise swings for the fences and it’s definitely a wild mixed bag. One thing I can appreciate is just trying something new instead of the same old formula. We get to see what the effects of Michael Myers have done to the mental state of Haddonfield. Often we only get to see the initial reaction of a Michael Myers attack but after a few years we get to see a town on edge from the threat of “the boogeyman” and his wake of violence.
The character of Corey takes the center focal point and is going to be the subject of contention for years when discussing the film. From the introduction in the opening scene I was pretty interested in what they did with him and could see the “making a murderer” angle they were leaning into. A passing of the torch seemed inevitable and I swear Michael was gonna start teaching him wax on wax off. With his character we get to see how evil just takes a different “shape” and sets up a new cycle of violence. 13 films in, this felt ok to me and better than seeing a rehash of the rest of the franchise. It’s one thing that’s killing me with Scream, the same thing keeps happening to the same people fucking five times over. I’m willing to bet that those that don’t like this film also don’t like Friday the 13th Part 5 which I’m a fan of. A film totally devoid of its focal point antagonist. But I watch Halloween for more than just Michael.
And we do get that final confrontation between Michael and Laurie and I feel like their collision course was set-up pretty well over three films. And even though we don’t get a lot of Michael, I think it makes up for it when we got a shit ton of Rage Michael for an hour and half in Halloween Kills. The “procession” was fucking ridiculous but it was nice to see them attempt to close things out for these characters.
I much prefer the out of control Halloween Kills to this film but can appreciate what DDG and Danny McBride have done with this franchise. The blend of violence and comedy reminds me of An American Werewolf in London. They’ve made slashers relevant again and somehow convinced John Carpenter to return to the world of film scores. You can tell from the credits that these guys care about this franchise. Perfect replica Season of the Witch credits.
This franchise has a long history of black sheep entries that have been reappraised over the years. Season of the Witch, The Curse of Michael Myers, hell even the Rob Zombie films. Halloween Ends will be debated amongst horror fans for years and it will be an ongoing and super interesting conversation. Halloween may have finally ended but it won’t be the last time we see “The Shape.”
