Scary movies have been a staple in my house for as long as I can remember. I grew up watching old horror classics as a tradition with my mother, and “Halloween” (1978) was one of my favorite slashers growing up.
There is something so unsettling about a boogeyman serial killer who pursues their prey with terrifying calmness and still manages to leave an absolute bloodbath in their path. Michael Myers is a unique character in that way, and even though the “Halloween” movies aren’t always edge-of-your-seat scary, I have nonetheless found his on-screen presence frightening. That’s why I was disappointed to see the way this iconic killer finally met his demise.
Everyone knows that reboots and remakes are never as good as the originals, and the newest “Halloween” movies are no exception, although I initially enjoyed the plot of the new trilogy. “Halloween” (2018) did a great job picking up the story from where it left off back in 1978, ignoring all other storylines from every movie in the franchise that came after the original. “Halloween Kills” offered flashbacks to the events from 1978 to build on the development of characters who had lived through Michael’s first spree.
“Halloween Ends” was just a let-down after so many years of anticipation from the audience, as we all wondered how Laurie Strode would finally figure out how to kill this guy. After all, Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) is the original final girl, and her character is just as iconic as her serial killer stalker, so I was expecting an epic end to an epic story.
Epic is definitely not what I got. In fact, Michael Myers was barely even in the final movie. The character makes his first appearance about halfway through the movie, and we are introduced to a completely new side of him, as he had been living in a sewer for the past four years in Haddonfield, weak and deteriorating in his dingy lair.
This plot point didn’t fit with the way Michael Myers has been written and portrayed, because throughout all the years, and all of the gunshot and stab wounds that we’ve seen him endure, he had never shown signs of weakness.
Michael’s deterioration wasn’t the most disappointing part of his end, however; I wanted to see a major final fight between Laurie and Michael, one satisfying enough to round out the entire franchise. Instead, the final battle starts and ends in Laurie’s kitchen with a simple and anticlimactic outcome.
I was disillusioned by the resolution of this amazing story that had reached so many generations of horror lovers. I was expecting more of a closure, and this final movie didn’t deliver. Michael Myers deserved to go out with more of a bang, and Laurie Strode deserved a more brutal murder of the man who kept her prisoner in her own mind for most of her life.
As disappointed as I am with the ending, I will still continue to cherish this movie series and binge it every October. For everything “Halloween Ends” may have gotten wrong, it still offered a conclusion to a 40-year battle, and Laurie Strode, through all of her suffering, continued to be a badass at 61. No matter what, “Halloween” will continue to be one of the most iconic slashers of all time.
Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures.