The culmination of nearly half a century of storytelling across multiple timelines, and more recently a trilogy of films starting in 2018, Jamie Lee Curtis promises that “Halloween Ends” is the end. So how did it — ahem — end?
**Spoiler Warning** for “Halloween Ends,” currently in theaters and streaming on Peacock. If you don’t want to know what happens and how it all ends, you should go watch it first and then come back!
For 44 years, Curtis’ Laurie Strode has faced down evil in the form of Michael Myers. She didn’t appear in all 13 films in the franchise. The character has appeared in most of them, with Curtis portraying her in seven films, including this latest one.
Now that it’s finally here, fans have already begun taking in how the story ends, getting it trending high on Twitter all night long. What they may not have expected was that Michael Myers wasn’t as big a presence as perhaps anticipated. That said, though, “Michael Myers” definitely was!
Usually, the final chapter of a trilogy of films, or even a long series of films, features all your favorite characters coming together for a final showdown. That definitely happens, but so much of this film is actually about a brand new character.
It makes perfect sense, though, since this is not so much a story about this particular evil and this particular battle between Laurie and Michael. Rather, it’s about how evil is born and how easily it can fester and rise.
This film starts just one year after the events of “Halloween Kills,” on Halloween (of course). Audiences are introduced to Corey Cunningham, a high school senior babysitting a ten-year-old kid named Jeremy.
It all goes wrong when Jeremy locks Corey in the attic and in freeing himself, he accidentally sends Jeremy flying off the balcony just as his parents are coming home. He’s ultimately acquitted of any wrongdoing by the court, but the court of public opinion has different ideas.
With Corey’s backstory established, Laurie’s chapter comes into focus. She’s working on her memoir to try and shed herself of the specter of Michael and is dealing with all the real-life horrors of trying to be there for her granddaughter Allyson.
The stories intersect when Allyson meets Corey. He’s been bullied and harassed by basically the whole town these past three years, internalizing more and more range and fury. After he’s tossed off a bridge, he encounters Michael, who drags him into a sewer lair.
He first escapes from Michael and then winds up teaming up with him as all the abuse he’s endured from the town flips a switch inside him. He starts killing the townspeople who’ve wronged him and even takes to wearing a mask like Michael.
At the same time, he starts dating Allyson and the two of them decide that they need to leave Haddonfield where all these horrific murders have happened, and now are happening again. Laurie, suspiciuos of Corey, attempts to convince Allyson he can’t be trusted.
Allyson, though, stands by her man, even blaming Laurie for all the deaths Michael committed because Laurie didn’t kill him. Then, things get even worse for her.
After turning on Michael, Corey steals his iconic mask and attacks Laurie in her home. Laurie manages to turn the tables on him, but in a final twist of cruelty, he injures himself, making it look to Allyson as if Laurie killed her boyfriend.
All this time, Michael has barely been a bit player in this story, though his influence has been obvious and tremendous over Corey. But finally, the stage is set for the final battle between the real Michael Myers and the “final girl” he just couldn’t get rid of.
He crashes into the house to retrieve his mask, easily finishing off Corey along the way. Then, fans finally get a truly epic battle between the monster and the grandmother. With a final assist from Allyson herself, the women kill Michael by slitting his wrists.
But this is Michael Myers, just bleeding out by the wrists isn’t going to kill him, right? Don’t worry, they weren’t done with him just yet. After parading his corpse around town for some reason, Laurie uses a massive compacter at the town dump to pulverize his body. So … that should do it, right?
The good news is that there is no final moment resurrection, no hand reaching out of the car crusher or any other silly nonsense. In fact, Laurie seems to be finally getting her happy ending, as does her granddaughter.
Allyson sets out on her own, leaving Laurie to finish her memoir alone. But Laurie connects with Police Chief Hawkins, so there could be a chance alone won’t be forever. As for Michael, the last thing we do see is his mask in Laurie’s office.
Here’s the thing about this ending, though. It might be the end for Michael Myers, but that doesn’t mean that Corey couldn’t come back and steal that mask and continue killing as “Michael Myers.” We’ve seen the real Michael come back time and again.
It does feel appropriate that Michael’s story end with Laurie, as it would cheapen her 44 year journey for this to be just another chapter in Michael’s ongoing story. Theirs became a blood feud stemming decades and so that feud deserves to end with both of them.
Introducing Corey, though, and having him don the mask as part of his own killing rampage suggests the new direction “Halloween” could go as a franchise. If not Corey, it could at least be about the mask. “Michael Myers” expanding beyond one man. It’s like franchising a serial killer!
Of course, another possibility is just another retcon or reboot for the franchise. They’ve certainly done plenty of those already along the way. For now, fans can enjoy and complain and argue about how the long struggle between Laurie Strode and Michael Myers finally came to an end.
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