The final showdown between Laurie Strode and Michael Myers has arrived, putting an end to the trilogy that started in 2018. The first film was decent, the 2nd, Halloween Kills, started out ok but then degenerated into a chaotic, aimless mess. This third and last entry was interesting and not what I was expecting.
It begins on Halloween night in 2019. A couple are dressed up and getting ready to go out to celebrate at a party. Their babysitter arrives, a young man named Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell). The couple’s little boy is an annoying brat, and he tricks Corey into going into a closet, thinking the kid is playing hide and seek. He locks Corey in the closet, who panics and tries to bust the door open. He eventually kicks the door out, causing it to knock the kid back and go falling over the railing, down to the first floor to his death, just as his parents are getting home. Corey is arrested for the accidental death of the kid. While I thought the scene was funny, I was a bit confused about how any of this related to Michael Myers or Laurie. But eventually it connects.
The film then cuts to 4 years later. Michael Myers has disappeared since that last night of killing at the end of Halloween Kills. Laurie is living with her grand daughter Allyson. She’s shown to be healing from the trauma of losing her daughter, with a renewed zest for life, determined to leave the past behind. Corey is released from doing time for the death of the kid and is trying to piece his life back together, working at a junkyard owned by his step father. One day he’s leaving a store when he’s stopped and harassed by some punks. They recognize him and start to taunt him, causing Corey to cut his hand on a bottle. Laurie comes across the scene and scares the punks away. She takes Corey to a local clinic, where he meets Allyson, who’s working there as a nurse, and the 2 of them hit it off. Unfortunately Corey is unable to escape his past as people keep recognizing him, and after getting beat up by the punks who harassed him earlier, he meets Michael Myers. As Corey has now been labeled the new town boogeyman, he begins to let his anger take over him, and learns a few skills in the art of killing from his new teacher, Michael Myers himself.
I get what the script was attempting to do, showing how people will always try to create a boogeyman that they could blame for whatever is bothering them. This is especially shown in the way the citizens of Haddonfield treat Corey and Laurie, labeling him a psycho and blaming her for what Michael Myers did. I have to give them credit for attempting a different route, instead of the usual standard slasher formula. That being said, I can understand why some fans might not like this film, as it strays wildly from what most were expecting, playing more like a psychological character study and less like a horror movie. Not to mention that Corey takes center stage over Myers, at least until the end.
Jamie Lee Curtis is the heart of the film, giving a good performance. I like how her character has evolved, attempting to reclaim her life from the trauma that has plagued it for her entire life. As for the rest of the film, it’s ok. Better than the last, but not the wow ending we were hoping for. And honestly, considering what assholes a lot of the citizens of Haddonfield are shown to be, watching many of them get slaughtered, they deserved it. The final showdown between Laurie and Michael feels like a real ending, instead of the usual “leave it open for a sequel” that most of these flicks give us. The movie opens this weekend in theatres and is also streaming on Peacock, where I watched it.
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