Daniel’s review published on Letterboxd:
Shapes will change. Not into anything good though. Evil has returned to Haddonfield for one last time; in the final entry of a trilogy that went from promising beginnings into a slap in the face to any fans of the franchise.
There was hope. Even after the last film. One which was not for me at all. Something inside me believed this would turn things around; because it would need to deliver as a big send off; but it might have been worse.
Parts of this are pretty solid. It is fun seeing Jamie Lee Curtis as badass Laurie Strode. Not only does she do well in this role; but you can tell that she is having a blast with it. And she feels like the only one that really is.
As fun as it is to watch her as Laurie in these movies: her development couldn't be more baffling. When you take a woman living with PTSD in her anti-Michael house to where she is now at the start of this. It's weird.
This will get so many people talking. Especially the hardcore fans. Not for the fact it is another Halloween; or the finale. Just for the crazy decisions made for the story. It was hard to expect; and maybe that will entertain.
Characters did not seem as nonsensical as the previous film; but that's not saying much. Because they still weren't the best in this either; with dialogue that made them feel like they were in a twisted soap opera.
One thing to appreciate about this is the boldness. It did not seem like a film that cared about what viewers wanted; rather focused on being an entity never really seen before. It will be curious how this one does age.
Complete mess from start to finish but there will be those that enjoy this still for what it is. Not something that worked really well for myself; and simply drove the nail deeper into the coffin of this series once and for all.
It feels like the first Halloween from David Gordon Green was a fluke; after these past couple of films. When you see how he treats this story and these characters; with his extremely lazy jump scares. It's so stupid.
We see so much happen before anything really does too. It is a slow film. And it takes forever for the remotely exciting content to start. By the time that it does: it is hard to say you haven't already given up on this already.
There is a world where this is an anthology film; and it could have made this better. Because they certainly didn't care about using Michael Myers much in his grand finale. Just seeing how little he shows up in the film.
So much of this are my raw initial thoughts: I am hoping that this does grow on me in time. Plenty of parts are enjoyable to a degree; but the whole experience for a big final entry felt jarring to say the very least.
I am glad we have this trilogy. It has been incredibly enjoyable to see the Shape return to screens to try and scare a whole new generation of fans. Sometimes it worked; other times not really. But it was a chaotic ride.
