Halloween Ends is a 2022 American slasher film directed by David Gordon Green and written by Green, Danny McBride, Paul Brad Logan and Chris Bernier. It is a sequel to 2021's Halloween Kills (2021), the thirteenth installment in the Halloween franchise, and the final film in the trilogy of sequel films that commenced with the 2018 film, which directly follows the 1978 film and disregards all other entries. The film stars Jamie Lee Curtis, James Jude Courtney, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, and Kyle Richards, who are all reprising their roles from previous installments. It marks Curtis and Nick Castle's final appearances as Laurie Strode and Michael Myers, respectively.
Before the release of Halloween in 2018, McBride confirmed that he and Green had intended to pitch two films that would be shot back-to-back, but decided against it, waiting to see the reaction to the first film. Following the success of the first film, in July 2019, the film's title was announced along with Halloween Kills. After being delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, filming took place in Georgia between January and March 2022.
Halloween Ends premiered at Beyond Fest in Los Angeles on October 11, 2022 and was released theatrically in the United States on October 14, 2022 by Universal Pictures. It is also streaming simultaneously on paid tiers of Peacock for 60 days. The film received mixed reviews; praise was directed at its performances and music score, with some critics deeming it an improvement over its predecessor, but it was criticized by some as a weak conclusion to the trilogy. Despite the mixed reception, the film was a box office success, grossing $58.4 million on a $20 million budget.
Plot[]
In 2019, Corey Cunningham is babysitting a young boy named Jeremy, who pulls a prank by locking him inside the attic. Just as Jeremy’s parents come home, Corey kicks the door open and accidentally knocks Jeremy off the balcony to his death, and Corey is accused of intentionally killing Jeremy.
Three years later, the town of Haddonfield, Illinois is still reeling from the aftermath of Halloween, 2018, while Michael Myers has vanished. Laurie Strode is writing a memoir, having bought a new house and living with Allyson, her granddaughter, since Allyson's mother and Laurie's daughter Karen was slaughtered by Michael. The town has turned on Laurie, blaming her for Michael's rampage and accusing her of encouraging him.
Meanwhile, Corey is now working at his uncle's salvage yard, still hated by the suspicious town. On his way home one day he is taunted by high school bullies and injures himself in the process. While observing, Laurie later brings him to the doctor's office where Allyson works. The two begin developing a relationship and attend a Halloween party, but Corey is confronted by Jeremy's mother, leaves the party, and is confronted by the high schoolers. He ends up getting thrown off a bridge, and Corey is dragged into the sewers by an unknown figure. Corey wakes up in the sewers and is confronted by Michael, who has been living in the sewers for the past four years. After holding him by the throat, Michael elects to let Corey go. On the way out of the sewers Corey is confronted by a homeless man with a knife. In a struggle, Corey stabs the man. Once realizing what has happened, he continues stabbing him. He throws the knife and runs away. Corey and Allyson make up and go on a dinner date, but Allyson's ex, who is a police officer, shows up and harasses them both. This leads Corey to later lure the cop into the sewers, where Michael kills him. Allyson finds out she was passed over for a promotion in favor of a fellow nurse who is having an affair with the doctor. Corey and Michael team up and murder the doctor and nurse at the doctor's home.
Allyson and Corey plan to leave Haddonfield because of the past trauma and have an unpleasant encounter with a radio DJ, who insults both of them. Corey goes home, where his mother is cruel to him and slaps him, so he leaves and sleeps in the house where Jeremy died. Meanwhile, Laurie has become increasingly suspicious of Corey after he begins mimicking Michael's behavior and hunts him down at Jeremy's house, where she forbids him to leave with Allyson. Corey retorts by blaming her for the events that have occurred in Haddonfield and says if he cannot have Allyson, no one will.
On Halloween day, Corey returns to the sewers and successfully fights Michael for his mask. Meanwhile, Laurie and Allyson argue as she plans to leave and Allyson, too, blames Laurie for Michael's actions. That night, Corey embarks on a rampage, murdering the high schoolers at the salvage yard. In the confusion, Corey's uncle is also accidentally killed. He then goes on to kill his mother, as well as the DJ and receptionist at the radio station. Back at the Strode house, Laurie faux-attempts suicide to lure Corey to her, whom she shoots down the stairs. Corey then stabs himself in the neck to frame Laurie for his death in front of the arriving Allyson. Michael suddenly arrives to retrieve his mask and kills Corey, and after a struggle, Laurie finally kills Michael by slitting both his arms open and then slashing his throat.
With Michael finally dead, Laurie takes his body to the salvage yard, attracting the residents of Haddonfield, who follow her in a procession. She dumps his body into an industrial shredder at Corey's uncle's scrapyard. In the ensuing days, Laurie finishes her memoir and rediscovers her romance with Officer Hawkins.
Cast[]
- Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, the sole survivor of Michael Myers' 1978 killing spree, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. She is Allyson's grandmother.
- Andi Matichak as Allyson Nelson, Karen's daughter and Laurie's granddaughter.
- Will Patton as Deputy Frank Hawkins, a sheriff's deputy who arrested Michael following his initial killing spree in 1978.
- James Jude Courtney and Nick Castle as Michael Myers / The Shape, the masked figure who carried out a horrific massacre on Halloween in 1978, and returns to Haddonfield for another killing spree.
- Kyle Richards as Lindsey Wallace, one of the children Laurie babysat in 1978. Richards reprises her role from the 1978 original film and Halloween Kills.
- Rohan Campbell as Corey Cunningham, Allyson's new boyfriend.
- Michael O'Leary as Dr. Mathis, a character briefly mentioned in Halloween Kills.
Production[]
Development[]
In June 2018, Danny McBride confirmed that he and David Gordon Green had originally intended to pitch two films that would be shot back-to-back, and then decided against it, waiting to see the reaction to the first film:
"We were going to shoot two of them back-to-back. Then we were like, 'Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. This could come out, and everyone could hate us, and we'd never work again. So, let's not have to sit around for a year while we wait for another movie to come out that we know people aren't going to like.' So, we were like, 'Let's learn from this, and see what works, and what doesn't.' But we definitely have an idea of where we would go [with] this branch of the story and hopefully we get a chance to do it."
In September 2018, producer Jason Blum said that "we will do a sequel if the movie performs". By October 2018, after the film's opening weekend, McBride confirmed that early development on a sequel had begun. In July 2019, Bloody Disgusting reported that a third film was in development along with the then-untitled Halloween Kills, with Green returning as director. The site also claimed that the studio was considering releasing both films in October 2020. Green, McBride and Jeff Fradley had initially planned out a two film story arc, but would ultimately opt for a trilogy after realizing they had more material than originally thought. Later that month, Universal Pictures revealed the titles and release dates of the two sequels: Halloween Kills, set to be released on October 16, 2020, and Halloween Ends, set to be released on October 15, 2021. Green was officially announced to direct both films and co-write the scripts with McBride, while Jamie Lee Curtis would reprise her role in both films. Scott Teems was confirmed as a co-writer for Halloween Kills, while Paul Brad Logan and Chris Bernier were announced as co-writers of Halloween Ends. Judy Greer and Andi Matichak were confirmed to reprise their roles as Karen and Allyson that same month. Blum, Malek Akkad, and Bill Block were slated to produce the film while John Carpenter, Curtis, Green, and McBride were attached as executive producers once again. Logan workshopped ideas with Green during the summer of 2018 and began writing the script in early 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Universal Pictures moved Halloween Kills to 2021 and Halloween Ends was moved to October 2022.
In October 2021, Green revealed that Halloween Ends will take place four years after the events of Halloween Kills and would incorporate elements of the pandemic into the story. In an interview that same month, Curtis claimed the film will be "shocking" and will "make people very angry". Akkad stated the film will be more "contained" than the previous film, while Green called it a coming of age story, promising a more intimate film, in line with Carpenter's Christine. Other cited influences on the film were Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker and My Bodyguard. Green also hinted that McBride had requested a cameo in the film, potentially as a character who fights Myers.
Pre-production[]
In December 2021, it was revealed that Kyle Richards would be reprising her role for the film. Initially, the character was not expected to return for the film, but following the positive reception to Richards' performance, the script was rewritten to give her an expanded role. The following month, Michael O'Leary joined the cast. Rohan Campbell was cast under the radar, with his addition being revealed on social media.
A casting call occurred for extras in late January and February 2022 in numerous Southeast Georgia towns.
Filming[]
It was originally planned to film Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends back to back, but did not occur due to the "intense schedule". In March 2020, Blum confirmed filming would take place during the summer. Filming was quietly delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Production was expected to take place in 2021 in Wilmington, North Carolina. In August 2021, Courtney confirmed that filming will begin on January 10, 2022. However, filming officially began on January 19, 2022, in Savannah, Georgia under the working title Cave Dweller. Michael Simmonds once again served as director of photography. Curtis began filming her scenes on January 25 and wrapped on February 22. Additional scenes were shot in Sylvania, Georgia. Filming concluded on March 9, 2022. In June 2022, two weeks of reshoots were reported to take place in Savannah. However, these reshoots only lasted four days and were completed that same month.
Post-production[]
In June 2022, Blum confirmed that the film had test screened internally the month prior and that it would be the last Halloween film from the studio. That same month, Castle reaffirmed that he will appear in the film in a small role. The following month, Carpenter described the film as a "departure" from the previous entries in Green's trilogy. Following the release of the teaser trailer, Omar Dorsey and Will Patton were revealed to reprise their roles from the previous films. In August, Castle had finished ADR for Michael Myers. By the end of the month, Green told in an interview that the film was still being tweaked despite the film being picture locked.
Release[]
Halloween Ends premiered at Beyond Fest in Los Angeles on October 11, 2022, and is set to release on October 14, 2022. On August 23, 2022, it was announced that in addition to being released in theaters the film would also be streamed on paid tiers of Peacock for 60 days. It was initially set to release on October 15, 2021, before being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reception[]
Box office[]
As of October 16, 2022, Halloween Ends has grossed $41.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $17.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $58.4 million.
In the United States and Canada, Halloween Ends was projected to gross $50–60 million from 3,901 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $20.2 million on its first day, including $5.4 million from Thursday night previews, up 11% from Kills' $4.85 million the year prior. The film went on to debut to $41.2 million, topping the box office but finishing below projections. The under-performance was blamed on the simultaneous streaming release on Peacock (Universal reported it was the most watched film or series ever on the platform over a two-day period) and middling critic and audience reactions.
Critical response[]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 40% of 156 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The website's consensus reads, "Halloween Ends—for now, anyway—with a frequently befuddling installment that's stabbed, slashed, and beaten by a series of frustrating missed opportunities." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 45 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale, the lowest of the franchise, while those at PostTrak gave the film a 64% overall positive score.
Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars, writing that the "so-called finale of the Michael Myers saga is just stabbing, metaphors, stabbing, soap opera, stabbing, marching band bullies, stabbing and more stabbing". Writing for Variety, Owen Gleiberman said the film is "neither scary nor fun" and called it "the most joylessly metaphorical and convoluted entry" of the franchise to date. Ben Travis of Empire gave a negative review, calling the film "lost up in its own abyss" and "an unsatisfying closing chapter" and criticizing Green's direction as "[struggling] to synthesise the serious stuff with the demands of a popcorn shocker". In his review for The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney calls the film "a sloppy movie whose principal new inspiration feels bogus", although "horror fans might enjoy homages to other films from the Carpenter canon". Giving the film 1.5 out of 4 stars, Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com found the film to be "poorly executed", rushed, and "barely a 'Halloween' movie" due to the story's focus on newly introduced characters, and considered Rohan Campbell's performance especially lacking.
In a positive review, K. Austin Collins of Rolling Stone deems Halloween Ends the best out of Green's Halloween trilogy, noting its "interestingly complex tangle of emotions and fears" and comparing it to Green's previous "capably observed" independent films. The New York Times reviewed the film as being "a movie that's less frantic and more intimate than its predecessor, one that unfolds with a mourning finality". Time Out also reviewed the film more positively than they did Kills, giving it a 3-star review and calling it a "pleasant surprise". While also considering it an improvement over its predecessor, Todd Gilchrist of The A.V. Club criticized the film's lack of focus on the series' main antagonist and ultimately labeled it "not particularly good" and an "unsatisfying close". Kyle Smith of The Wall Street Journal found Curtis's performance "a pleasure to watch" and called the film "largely gripping". Toronto Star's Peter Howell gave the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, describing it as "clever" and "likely to go down well with fans of the franchise" but criticizing its lack of finality.
Trivia[]
Video[]
External links[]
Halloween Ends (2022) at the Internet Movie Database- Halloween Ends (2022) at Rotten Tomatoes
- Halloween Ends at Wikipedia
- Halloween Ends
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