Director: David Gordon Green
Distributor: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Duration: 111 minutes
Halloween Ends (Blu-ray) – Movie Review
Forty-five years ago the world was presented with Halloween, a brutal slasher movie with Jamie Lee Curtis as the leading female protagonist. Not only was the movie a great addition to the horror genre but it also spawned many sequels over the years keeping the franchise going. Jamie Lee Curtis herself probably made a lot of young boys’ and girls’ hearts beat faster while also showing the world what a strong female lead could do. While the movie itself was perhaps not a highlight of exquisite story writing, the first Halloween movie was truly the start of an era. This era, however, is coming to its conclusion with Halloween Ends. This final installment will once again feature Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie who will face ‘The Shape’ one last time.
Halloween Ends takes place after the events of Halloween Kills. Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) lost her daughter at the hands of Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney) and she now lives together with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak). She believes that once and for all evil has been vanquished and now she hopes for a calm and simple life, and she wishes for Allyson to also find happiness. She tries to set up Allyson with Corey (Rohan Campbell), who has known a very unfortunate past himself. It’s clear that Allyson and Corey hit it off, but when Laurie sees a familiar evil in Corey, she starts regretting her choice.
The flow is somewhat what you’d expect from a classic slasher horror film, but we did find the pacing a bit off for this one. The first half of the movie almost has no actual ‘slasher’ action, and this does hamper the overall atmosphere of the film. We would have loved to see a bit more action during the first half, making sure the movie remained exciting from start to finish. That being said, in the second half, the movie does pick up its pace and you’re treated to some gruesome deaths and a fairly satisfying conclusion.
In terms of acting, you will probably already know what to expect from movies such as this. You often have a lot of main cast members who do a good job bringing their characters to life but you’ll also have a lot of cast members with minor roles who provide mixed performances. This is also the case for Halloween Ends, where Jamie Lee Curtis and Andi Matichak offer the best performances. Rohan Campbell who portrays Corey does a decent job bringing his character to life, but there were clear dips in acting quality. Then again, the somewhat cheesy ’80s-like acting did add a bit of charm to the equation, making the movie feel more in sync with the older entries in the franchise.
The Blu-ray version of Halloweens Ends comes with quite a few bonus features. Most of these extras revolve around the creative process behind the movie, ranging from how certain scenes were made, the special effects behind the gruesome deaths in the movie, and just some cast opinions about this conclusive part of the Halloween franchise. We also get a standard gag reel and some commentaries to top it all off. All in all, you’re getting a lot of value for buying a physical copy of the film.
Conclusion
Halloween Ends is a fairly decent conclusion for the long-running franchise, but it does suffer from pacing issues and acting performances that are all over the place. We did, however, enjoy where the story was headed and we think longtime fans will be pleased with the ending of the film. If you have stuck with the franchise for this long, we reckon we don’t have to convince you to get or watch Halloween Ends. Those who want to give this movie series a chance, you’ll probably still enjoy what is on offer here, even with the dips in quality.
Halloween Ends (Blu-ray) – Movie Review,
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