Halloween Ends (2022)    Universal/Horror    RT: 111 minutes    Rated R (bloody horror violence and gore, language throughout, some sexual references)    Director: David Gordon Green    Screenplay: Paul Brad Logan, Chris Bernier, Danny McBride and David Gordon Green    Music: John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies    Cinematography: Michael Simmonds    Release date: October 14, 2022 (US)    Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak, James Jude Courtney, Nick Castle, Will Patton, Rohan Campbell, Jesse C. Boyd, Kyle Richards, Omar Dorsey, Michael Barbieri, Destiny Mone, Joey Harris, Marteen, Joanne Baron, Rick Moose, Michele Dawson, Michael O’Leary, Keraun Harris, Jaxon Goldenberg, Candice Rose, Jack William Marshall.    Box Office: $64.1M (US)/$105.4M (World)    Body Count: 21

Rating: ***

 The title Halloween Ends would appear to imply the long-running horror franchise has finally reached its conclusion. But when has a “Final Chapter” ever been that? If it does well enough, it’ll soon be followed by a “New Beginning”. You can count on it.

 So is this truly the end for Michael Myers, the unkillable boogeyman that has made original final girl Laurie Strode’s life a living hell for the past 44 years? Do you really want me to tell you? Jamie Lee Curtis, who’s played Laurie since the series’ inception in 1978, has said that Halloween Ends is the end of the line for her. She is done with the role for good. She will not appear in any future Halloween movies should there be any. She even signed a document to that effect on Jimmy Kimmel this past week. Try not to read too much into that. Just because she’s done with Halloween doesn’t necessarily mean her character is killed off in Halloween Ends. Or does it? Well, I’m NOT going to tell you nor will I reveal the fate of Michael Myers.

 In the days leading up to its release (in theaters and on Peacock), I saw a lot of negative buzz about Halloween Ends on social media. Reactions ranged from disappointment to outright anger. Most of the criticism appears to be aimed at the narrative described as “sloppy”, “convoluted” and “unfocused”. I concur on this point. The screenplay is all over the place. The story of Laurie vs. Michael continues, but it now shares the spotlight with a new potential antagonist, a young man named Corey (Campbell, The Hardy Boys). He’s the new town pariah after the accidental death of a little boy he was babysitting. He’s often referred to as a “psycho” and is the target a group of high school marching band bullies. Things aren’t much better at home. His mother (Baron, This Is 40) is one of those overbearing Mrs. Bates types who never lets up on him. She’s definitely not happy about him seeing Laurie’s granddaughter Allyson (Matichak) who’s been living with her grandmother since Michael killed both of her parents.

 While this young romance develops, Corey’s sanity begins to deteriorate in a big way. He hasn’t been the same since the babysitting incident, but his state of mind gets worse after a nighttime encounter with the teen bullies who throw him off a bridge and leave him for dead. He wakes up in the sewers where he’s attacked by Michael who’s been hiding down there since the events of four years ago. I guess Michael sees some of himself in Corey which is probably why he lets him live. After that, the two become partners in crime so to speak.

 Where’s Laurie while all this is going on? She’s writing her memoirs, of course. It’s her way of expunging her demons. She claims to be over it, but she’s still a basket case. That’s understandable. It’s kind of hard to move on from trauma when everybody in Haddonfield blames her for all that happened and continues to happen. Well, almost everybody. Deputy Hawkins (Patton, No Way Out) still has a thing for her and vice versa. ANYWAY, Laurie becomes concerned about Allyson’s relationship with Corey due to his increasingly strange behavior. She tries to end it even though she’s the one that got them together in the first place.

 I don’t hate or dislike Halloween Ends in any way. However, I do think it’s one of the weaker entries in the series. For one thing, Michael doesn’t seem all that invincible this time. Granted, he’s a senior citizen now, but would “pure evil” really be slowed down by a little thing like old age? This, of course, is subject to debate, so I’ll just leave it at that. I’ve already mentioned the faulty narrative. Besides being convoluted, it also has some gaping plot holes. How is it that nobody in Haddonfield realized (for four years!) that Michael’s been hiding in the sewers? Did the local police not conduct a thorough search for a violent serial killer? Okay, here’s another. SPOILER ALERT! Why aren’t the police looking into the brutal murder of one of their own? They don’t seem terribly concerned with two more murders that take place afterwards either.

 Director David Gordon Green, who also serves as one of four co-writers, makes some odd creative choices. Like everybody else, I thought Halloween Ends was going to be all about Laurie and Michael and the countdown to their final battle. That’s what the trailers implied. I had no idea it was going to go off on that tangent about Corey and his bid to be the next boogeyman. It’s an interesting direction to take, but will it satisfy fans? So far, it doesn’t appear to be. Me, I have mixed feelings about it. While I like that it addresses the infectious nature of evil, I wanted to see more of Michael Myers himself. That being said, there are a few good kill scenes, the best one being the obnoxious radio DJ. Come to think of it, all the victims in this movie deserve it.

 The acting in Halloween Ends isn’t bad. It isn’t great either. I feel like Curtis wasn’t giving it her all. She looks like she’s tired of it; it shows in the way she plays her role on autopilot. I’m on the fence about Rohan Campbell. His character Corey is well written, but he doesn’t play him convincingly. Matichak is a little better, but the writers should have delved more into her psychology.

 So is Halloween Ends a satisfactory conclusion to the series? No, not really. After everything that goes down, the final battle between Laurie and Michael feels like an anticlimax. At the same time, it’s kind of cool. I like that it dares to do things a little differently. It has a darker, more serious tone than any of the sequels. It tries, not always successfully, to make a statement about how evil manifests itself. I like how it draws on unlikely sources like My Bodyguard and the largely unseen cult horror film Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker. Here’s the deal. Halloween Ends may not be the final sequel fans wanted, but it’s an interesting way to wrap things up…. for now anyway.