Halloween Ends

The saga ends.  The end of a franchise. We'll never see Michael Myers ever again (until the reboot).  

I've been pretty vocal about my dislike of the last two HALLOWEEN films.  I still feel like they were soulless cash grabs.  Unnecessarily violent, and just bizarre in the way they rearranged/rewrote/ignored the canon timeline.  And SURE most of those old HALLOWEEN sequels were horrid, but that should never be used as a reason why we should be ok with the latest films.  Or less demanding.  Or softer in our reviews of them.  I told myself the last two were just expensive fan films so my brain could live trauma-free.  I love Michael Myers, and as a fan it has not been easy watching him endure so many odd situations since 1988 (I loved HALLOWEEN 4).

Since "Horror Films" were on our October checklist when my friend Wren was visiting, we knew we had to see this recent trilogy off in style.  

(Pumpkin wine is exceptionally good.  Not too sweet, and incredibly light [and it has nothing to do with this review]).

Periodically throughout the entire film, we'd look over at each other and say, "I don't hate it yet!"  The movie was GOOD.  Despite everything I was hearing online from disappointed and confused fans.  The same fans who relentlessly trashed on my beloved CANDY MAN were now saying things like "They tried something different, but it didn't work.  It was weird."  I figured it was going to be a real stinker.  It wasn't.  Like not at all.  

The best way I can describe it is that it felt like a Halloween anthology film that took place in the HALLOWEEN FILM universe (kind of like what they were planning to do back when they made HALLOWEEN III:  SEASON OF THE WITCH).  It was Michael Myers-adjacent.  And it was original.

Laurie's character felt more believable.  The town felt more sincere and logical.  And the main protagonist was one of the most interesting and sympathetic characters I can recall in recent horror film history.  No spoilers here, but if you watched the other two and figured this would be more of the same (for better or worse), you definitely need to give this one a shot (with or without wine).  

Strangely, the trailers that were released were wildly misleading and portrayed a movie that never was.  I think the folks promoting this thing panicked and tried to sell it as a big showdown between Michael and Laurie.  "The Saga Ends," as I recall.  

John Carpenter's score was perfect too.   So I'll end this review with a track from the soundtrack (which happens to be to the neatest scene).  And with a simple statement:  We really dug it.

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