The finale to the Michael Myers trilogy that started with Halloween (2018) and continued with Halloween Kills is here promising that this time it will finally end. 

Interestingly (or not depending on your sensibility) Halloween Ends spends much of its plot line ignoring Michael Myers and Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). Four years on from the events of the first two films that took place across one night the town of Haddonfield has slid into a state of fear. The townsfolk are hateful and the sense that evil is something that seeps into people and changes them is explored at length. Our main protagonists in this regard are Strode’s granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) and a young man called Corey (Rohan Campbell) who thanks to his fear of Michael Myers and an unfortunate accident has become a town pariah. Both have had their lives changed by Myers and find each other kindred spirits but it is how they are dealing with the impact of evil in their lives that is the focus of the film. 

As a result a great amount of the running time is actually much more of a character exploration with the occasional moment of brutality thrown in. Never fear though because the final third sets things right with a huge gore quota and actually gives an ending worthy of the title. 

This finale is hands down better than Halloween Kills and explores how evil impacts people much better. It is though quite a departure and that might disappoint some fans. Personally I was interested in the effort to make something fundamentally different, even if it did not always work. 

My overall impression of the trilogy as a whole though is one of ‘so what?’ None of the films were scary with the focus being on reverent homage to what has gone before and explorations of the meaning of evil. The films have delivered on brutal deaths but I am not sure they bring anything worth returning to.