The Halloween Ends Reviews Point To An Uneven Conclusion To The Sequel Trilogy
The "Halloween" franchise has seen an incredible resurgence in popularity following David Gordon Green's 2018 sequel. Widely enjoyed by both critics and fans alike (via Rotten Tomatoes), the revival also grossed over $250 million at the box office (via Box Office Mojo), making a sequel almost a sure thing, despite the movie's grim ending for slasher villain Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney) at the hands of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis).
Unfortunately, with "Halloween Kills," Green delivered a movie that many critics found vastly inferior to his previous effort. The film was divisive, to say the least, with its audience reception, critical consensus, and box office numbers all suffering as a result (via Rotten Tomatoes), even if the COVID-19 pandemic is likely partially to blame as well.
While many fans have been hoping that the trilogy-closer "Halloween Ends" would help to set things right, if the early critical rumblings are anything to go off of, the final chapter in the franchise is going to be a bit of a coin toss for movie-goers.
The reviews for Halloween Ends are a mixed bag
According to Rotten Tomatoes, the current score for "Halloween Kills" as of press time is a middling 47%. This consensus comes from the 66 critics who have reviewed the movie so far, meaning this number could shift considerably as more reviews come in for the horror film. Still, things aren't looking good so far for the end of the "Halloween" saga.
"Like watching a backdoor pilot episode for a "Tales of Haddonfield" anthology horror series, where scary things happen on October 31 but are only tangentially related to the original films," said William Bibbiani of The Wrap. Meanwhile, Jason Bailey of The Playlist offered a similarly grim take on "Halloween Ends," remarking: "I'll say this: even as a fan of the franchise, when the title came up at the end of "Halloween Ends," I found myself hoping to God they weren't kidding."
Still, not everyone's opinion of the slasher sequel was quite so dour. "Halloween Ends achieves a lot within the frame of a horror sequel, making it more than a monster movie, but a human story as well," said Adam Graham of The Detroit News. While many viewers will no doubt be rushing out to theaters to find out for themselves this spooky season, it looks like "Halloween Ends" will definitely be splitting audiences if these early indications are anything to go off of.