therhyswelsh’s review published on Letterboxd:
If this how they planned to end the Halloween franchise, then this long running horror franchise has went out with all the gravitas of a wet fart. I’ve been a lifelong fan of this convoluted and quality drifting franchise, John Carpenter’s original is one of my favourite films of all time, and I absolutely adored 2018, I even heavily enjoyed the divisive Halloween Kills, so it’s really painful to say that they ended this franchise with this dud. Obviously it’s not the worst film in the franchise, the Thorn trilogy and Resurrection are still so much worse than this, but this film is not good and I didn’t particularly enjoy it. There’s going to be some slight spoilers across this review with how much the marketing for this has been secretive, so stay aware if you don’t want to be spoiled. Anywho, this film follows the aftermath of 2021’s Halloween Kills, picking up years after as Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) and the rest of Haddonfield are forced to move on, only to be dragged back in when a troubled kid named Corey (Rohan Campbell) finds himself beginning a new evil.
The big thing I appreciate this film for doing is trying something different, this is easily going to be even more divisive than Kills because it doesn’t feel like a Halloween movie. Every movie in the franchise has been keeping to the same formula, and this one has moved away from the slasher tropes to do some sort of romantic storyline and psychological breakdown of evil, which really doesn’t work all the time. It’s good to see something fresh in this long running franchise but why did they decide the last film would be the one which would be so unlike a Halloween film? It would of made so much more sense to make Halloween Kills the ending of this trilogy, and this as the middle child. The screenplay here as well is just not up too snuff as well, the romantic plot line is horrendously rushed and the pretentious exploration into evil that Kills started is even more ridiculous here.
Laurie and Michael’s ongoing story just gets lost in the shuffle here, there’s so little that Laurie gets to do in this movie until the final 20 minutes. The final 20 minutes of this movie features a brutal showdown between Laurie and Michael and it’s super good, easily the best part of the movie, but the last 20 minutes of the film and the rest feel like two different films. It’s like they got a script for a romantic horror film that was designed like a Riverdale episode and then stuck on the ending of a Halloween film at the end. Jamie Lee Curtis gives a absolutely impassioned performance, delivering all the typical Laurie gravitas that is expected of her, and she gives off all that vulnerability that you would expect, it’s easily one of her best times as Laurie, it’s such a shame that the movie just doesn’t care about showing her one bit. Poor Michael is shown as a absolute pushover here as well, it’s a full on 50 minutes until he gets his first kill and that’s ridiculous, the move from him being a unstoppable killer in the last one to being beat up by Corey easily in this one is such a drastic change. At the end of the day, Michael Myers is Halloween and when he is thrown to the back door the movie will always suffer, it’s not a good idea to throw your main villain to the side in his final film, it robs the impact that you would want from the final showdown.
The Corey Cunningham storyline is basically what you have to sit through for 75% of this film, and actor Rohan Campbell is trying his hardest and does well, but the writing just isn’t here for this character. There’s nuggets of good ideas, it continues the theme of trauma and the impact that Michael has on Haddonfield that was first laid out in Kills but it’s so rushed here. Corey is a bit of a incoherent character, who feels like he changes personality from scene to scene based on what the writers want him to do, and his fall to evil doesn’t feel strong enough or like it has enough buildup, he is just suddenly Michael 2.0. He has a romance with Allyson (Andi Matichak) that feels so incredibly underdeveloped, there’s so much to get through that the audience is just meant to believe these two absolute strangers are in love. Allyson is a character as well who I think the sequels to 2018 have absolutely ruined, she’s went from a strong woman who can handle herself to a spoilt child who needs a love interest, they’ve really done Matichak dirty, it’s such a shame because she puts in a great performance as well.
I think the film continues to develop Haddonfield as a character well here, it’s one of my favourite elements of Kills, and the people of the town continue to feel alive and fleshed out here. The effect that Michael has on individuals are still felt strongly, though I do think the development of Laurie makes like zero sense. She somehow has moved on so easily from her trauma here, straight after the death of her daughter and it’s all brushed to the side like the writers forgot about Karen. The kills are still strong here as well I have to say, there’s some great use of practical effects throughout, there’s not a heavy kill count compared to Kills, I only counted 14 in total, but every kill is unique enough and bloody as hell. There’s a clear lack of tension throughout this, besides the last 20 minutes, with how infrequent any horror elements are, it’s a teen drama at heart more like. David Gordon Green’s direction is super solid throughout as usual but I do feel like there’s some iffy cinematography at times, it’s muddy and uninspired throughout. Before my conclusion, I have to point out that the music by John and Cody Carpenter is still great as usual, the pure goats of this film right there.
All in all, I wish that this film was so much better than it was. There’s been clear diminishing standards from this trilogy after 2018’s entry and this is bottom of the barrel. It was interesting to see some fresh ideas in this franchise but it was far too late to try and reinvent the wheel, this type of plot should of been thrown in the middle child of your trilogy, not your ending. It’s gonna be a divisive film for sure, I feel like people who are sick of the Halloween franchise’s tropes will love this one, but as a die hard Halloween fan, this film was just not it. There’s a solid ending which gives you all you want as a Halloween fan, the final battle we have been wanting, but it’s too late in a nearly 2 hour film that feels like a slog. There’s some good here, but I am completely disappointed in this one, I feel like they should of just ended this reboot franchise with the first one. I’ll give them a solid 3 years before we will probably get another Halloween flick, there’s no way evil dies tonight. This movie receives a 4/10
