Director: David Gordon Green
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Andy Matichak, James Jude Courtney, Rohan Campbell, Will Patton, Michael Barbieri, Joanne Barron, Rick Moose.
Distributor: Universal
Runtime: 111 mins. Reviewed in Oct 2022
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc

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Rating notes: Strong horror violence, blood and gore

The saga of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode comes to a spine-chilling climax in this final instalment of this trilogy.

Will the franchise really end? There have been promises of conclusions in the past but somehow or other a sequel has always emerged. However, it really looks this time, especially concerning Michael Myers and his decades of menace and murder, has found its conclusion. However, as Laurie Strode is writing her autobiographical version of what happened, she does suggest that evil lives on in various forms.

[In fact, some bloggers, perhaps not wanting the series to end, but highly critical of this film, say that the ending here is a really not an ending, that the film is a fake, and they are waiting for a real ending. This has the sound not of a fan, but of a fanatic!]

This is the third of the last Halloween films and it has been directed by David Gordon Green. This last trilogy reintroduced Laurie Strode (Curtis) with the background of deaths in her family and Laurie’s relationship with her granddaughter, Allyson (Matichak), the impact of her history with Michael Myers, her drinking and rehabilitation. Which means that in this film, she has a certain gravitas, a concerned grandmother, the butt of criticisms in the town because of her association with Michael Myers, but doing the best with her granddaughter, worried about her relationship with a young mechanic.

In fact, the initial focus is on the mechanic, who is young and awkward, with a harridan of a mother but has a large, quietly gentle father, doing a babysitting job which, to his surprise and, definitely to ours, ends in tragedy. He also becomes targeted in the town, especially by a group of arrogant bullies. At one stage, he is thrown over a fence, down an incline which leads to a tunnelling drainage area where he, and we, discover Michael Myers living in hiding. It seems that the young man looks into Michael Myers’ eyes and there is transference. What happens to the young man is a variation on Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Which is interesting in itself.

But, the young man is attracted towards Laurie’s granddaughter and (it is a bit hard for us in the audience to believe this) she is attracted to him. But, with his erratic behaviour and attitudes Laurie is wary.

The police chief from the previous films, Frank (Patton) is still around – carrying a torch for Laurie.

Because the first part of the film does not have so much suspense nor gory killings, some of the fans have dismissed it, telling the producers that they should have been making the usual slasher interpretation of Halloween and not trying to do a psychological film. However, many of the audience would probably prefer these aspects of the psychology. But, of course, with Michael Myers on the loose and the young man under his influence, there are a number of killings, and vengeance on bullies. And danger for the granddaughter. And, needless to say, but we have to say, the build-up to the final confrontation between Laurie and Michael Myers, the culmination of 44 years of Halloween films, the horror of Michael Myers, the sadness of Laurie.

So, the end of an era. (That Hollywood has always been open to a sequel, one way or another.)