Does Halloween Ends Actually Deliver The Most Definitive Ending In The Franchise
This article contains major spoilers for "Halloween Ends."
Slasher villains often have a tendency to keep resurrecting themselves from beyond the grave. Why do you think Jason Voorhees, Freddy Kreuger, and Jigsaw have loads of sequels? Whether they become invincible, go to space, or get rebooted, the pulse of these monstrous murderers can only be felt if the box office revenue revives it from the grave. Michael Myers is no different and is arguably the most egregious of the bunch. It's a slasher tradition I wouldn't have any other way.
Some horror sequels will even offer up new blood to take on the mantle, which is what "Halloween Ends" appeared to be setting up. Babysitter turned accidental murderer Colin Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) is propped up as Michael's protege, killing alongside the famed slasher. It's a welcome twist on the "Halloween" series that makes David Gordon Green's concluding chapter feel more fun and unpredictable.
Colin stabs himself in the neck as a means to further divide Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) from her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak), but it's Michael who lands the killing blow. With the young killer out of the way, it leaves room for Laurie and Michael to have their final confrontation.
But does Laurie truly take out Michael once and for all?
The Passion of Laurie Strode
Green's "Halloween" and "Halloween Kills" show both Laurie and the people of Haddonfield at the mercy of Michael. In the words of Kendall Roy, this is the day his reign ends. With Michael slaughtering his other half, it leaves room for him and Laurie to go one-on-one for the final time. Each party puts up a good fight, but only one can walk out of the Strode arena, and it's the one whose triumph has been a long time coming.
The kitchen counter, once utilized as a cover for her basement bunker trap, has now become the spot where Laurie brings Michael to his untimely end, with crucifixion via kitchen knives. Hurling the fridge on top of him for good measure was a nice touch. I love how "Halloween Ends" gives Laurie this wonderful moment where she shows Michael his own reflection in the instrument he used to slaughter so many people.
With the slasher pinned down, she slowly slashes his throat. Michael may momentarily rip free from his handbound position, but Allyson comes in at just the right time to snap his arm, rendering his human weapons useless. With that, Laurie slashes Michael's wrist, letting the infamous slasher bleed out all over the Strode residence.
Laurie seems content with how this turned out, but Allyson has a better idea.
Michael Myers: Coming soon to a deli near you
In a finale I never thought I would see in a "Halloween" flick, after loading Michael's body onto the top of a car, the entire town of Haddonfield throws him an impromptu funeral procession. Even though all 13 "Halloween" films share different timelines, the throughline of most of them is how the Shape's presence has transformed Haddonfield into a place of denial, paranoia, and evil.
The source of Laurie's trauma saw the light leave his eyes, but I thought it was genius to show the entire town coming together to face theirs too. You'll even notice some background folks in the crowd as characters from the previous two films as people who lost loved ones to Michael. I had no idea where this was going, but the moment I saw them entering the salvage yard, I knew they were serious about making this the last hurrah.
"Halloween Ends" ultimately lives up to its name, with Haddonfield solemnly lamenting the effect Michael had on them, before chucking him into an industrial shredder. This is the deadest he's ever been. Unless Jason Blum pulls a "Hellraiser" type resurrection, then this is where we finally put the mincemeat formerly known as Michael Myers out to pasture.
As an inverse of John Carpenter's film, the final moments of "Halloween Ends" shows Laurie's house as peaceful and quiet as it's ever been, signaling a better future ahead. This is it, but the journey it took to get here was a long one.
The many deaths of Michael Myers
Looking over the "Halloween" series as a whole, the ways in which Michael has been taken out varies from film to film, with most entries never offering a definite conclusion. In Carpenter's 1978 seminal horror masterpiece, Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) loads Michael with lead off of the Doyle's balcony. Of course, when he looks down, Michael is nowhere to be found. That kind of an ending would be begging for a sequel, but in the perspective of Carpenter's film, it serves a fitting moment of dread, knowing that the Shape of evil will always infect Haddonfield.
"Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" sees the folks of Haddonfield loading bullets into Michael before he collapses down a mineshaft. It's easily one of the weakest ways in which he's gone out, especially since "Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers' shows that he just crawled his way out right after. Even the passing of the knife development with granddaughter Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris) is abandoned, so Michael no longer has a protege.
"Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers" is an even more confusing mess as it features two options. In the theatrical cut, Paul Rudd's Tommy Doyle beats him to death with a lead pipe, before the movie ends on Michael's mask on the ground, with Dr. Loomis screaming in the background. In the Producer's Cut, however, Michael is stopped by a set of runes placed on the ground, and then switches costumes with Dr. Wynn (Mitchell Ryan).
You would think Michael couldn't possibly die, and while that's true, this series has come close to landing the final blow on its key slasher.
Laurie came close thrice before
In "Halloween II," Laurie is witness to Michael's first death after Dr. Loomis traps the now-blinded killer in a room, before setting off a fiery explosion that takes a good chunk of Haddonfield Memorial Hospital. Michael walks out engulfed in flames and collapses on the ground as he burns to a crisp. He's dead. But the initial audience retaliation against "Halloween III: Season of the Witch," both the slasher and Dr. Loomis were essentially reborn in "Halloween 4" with some burn scars.
In "Halloween: H20," Laurie faces off against her tormentor in the private school she operates. But when she sees Michael getting loaded into the back of an ambulance, she steals it from the paramedics because she knows he's going to emerge from that body bag. He does, which prompts Laurie to careen the ambulance over a hill, pinning Michael to a tree. After a moment between brother and sister, she swiftly decapitates him.
It was such a perfect way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Carpenter's film. "Halloween: Resurrection" ruins that, however, by assuring us that Michael choked out a paramedic before playing costume switcheroo, meaning that Laurie murdered an innocent man. They try again to burn him up again, but not even hell would take a slasher defeated at the hands of Busta Rhymes.
Rob Zombie's "Halloween" sees Scout Taylor-Compton's Laurie shoot him in the face, but the "House of 1000 Corpses" filmmaker resurrects the giant for the next film. The ending of his "Halloween II" is its own bag of worms.
But after 12 feature films where Michael narrowly avoids his comeuppance, "Halloween Ends" puts an end to his reign once and for all.
"Halloween Ends" is now playing in theaters, in addition to streaming on Peacock.