Michael And Laurie's Best Moments From Halloween Ends Ranked
Contains spoilers for "Halloween Ends."
On Halloween night in 1978, the town of Haddonfield, Illinois, became the hunting ground for an escaped killer named Michael Myers, who killed his older sister Judith 15 years earlier. Upon returning to his childhood home, Michael saw a high school girl named Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) walk up on the front porch and unknowingly tie their fates together. That night, Michael stalked and terrorized Laurie and murdered her friends, leaving Laurie haunted and scarred until 40 years later, when Michael came home again.
On Halloween night in 2018, Haddonfield devolved into chaos as Myers pursued victims through its streets, killing just about anyone and everyone in his path. Even after a mob beat him to a pulp, Michael rose again and slaughtered them. Then, he disappeared. For four years, Haddonfield has remained so shaken by what happened, the town has been jumping at shadows, looking for somewhere to direct their anger. Now, they've found the perfect target: a 19-year-old named Corey Cunningham who inadvertently killed a child in a freak accident while babysitting on Halloween night.
The story of how Haddonfield drives Corey past the edge of madness and how that brings Laurie and Michael back together one last time is told in filmmaker David Gordon Green's third and final "Halloween" film, "Halloween Ends." To fully appreciate the ultimate showdown between Michael and Laurie, let's take a look at each character's best scenes in the film.
12. Michael stands up straight
Unlike the majority of "Halloween" films, "Halloween Ends" begins with a prologue that has nothing to do with the character of Michael Myers. A young man named Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) is babysitting a bratty little kid who locks him in the attic. When Corey forces his way out, the impact of the door smacking into the kid sends him flying off the staircase. This tragic accident results in Corey becoming the new object of Haddonfield's scorn.
After being bullied and abused one too many times, Corey decides to retaliate. He forms a demented bond with a decrepit Michael Myers, who has been hiding in the sewer since his last rampage, and the two angry sons of Haddonfield work together to murder a police officer who gave Corey a hard time while he was out with Laurie's granddaughter Allyson. As Corey holds the cop, Michael uses a rusty knife to do his thing.
Until now, the Michael of "Halloween Ends" has been a hunched-over wreck of an old man, but as he goes to work on his latest victim, he trembles, steadies himself, and then rises to his full height, rejuvenated. It's a chilling moment because it's the first step in the resurrection of the Michael we've always known, and it signals the beginning of the end of Corey and Michael's intertwined stories.
11. Seeing the devil's eyes
The Laurie we encounter in "Halloween Ends" is very different than the one depicted in the 2018 film and its sequel, "Halloween Kills." In those films, she has become a reclusive survivalist living on the edge of town, preparing herself for another confrontation with the boogeyman who stole the lives of her friends. In the four years since Michael's disappearance, she's made the conscious decision to not let fear rule her life and to find some stability.
"Ends" finds Laurie living in a new house with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) and engaging with life again. She's reminiscent of the girl we met in the original "Halloween," with more of an edge this time. Laurie introduces Corey and Allyson after he hurts his hand while being bullied outside of a gas station. While she's initially thrilled to see the pair hit it off, she becomes concerned when she sees Corey standing outside of their house with a frightening expression — he looks like Michael Myers.
The dawning horror on her face makes way for the cold steel of survivor mode. This woman knows evil when she sees it, and it's standing right outside. The moment is powerful for Laurie's character because it shows us the strength and commitment below the surface, and it's just a great bit of acting on Jamie Lee Curtis' part.
10. Just like old times
Bringing people down to Michael's lair isn't enough for Corey, so he decides to go out and claim some victims of his own. He chooses Allyson's rude boss Dr. Mathis (Michael O'Leary) and her co-worker (who Mathis is sleeping with), Nurse Deb (Michele Dawson). After the horrific deed is done, Corey goes to Allyson's house seeking refuge from the darkness swirling inside him.
As the new couple makes their way upstairs, Laurie watches from outside. What she doesn't know is that Michael Myers is watching her as well. He stands beside a tree, just looking at her for a moment before departing. Although she turns in his direction, she doesn't see him. It's a quiet and creepy moment that calls back to the first time Michael saw her in the 1978 film.
As this "Halloween" trilogy ignores all the other sequels and reboots that made them siblings, Laurie and Michael have no real connection beyond the bad luck that put her in his path all those years ago, and the fear that's kept her obsessed with him ever since. Therefore, there was no reason for him to go after her until now. There must have been a part of him that saw her standing there and thought, "Of course, this kid knows her." So, for Michael, this may just be the moment he decides to go after her one last time, and it's a tease for the audience of what's to come.
9. Laurie the stalker
When Laurie sees the evil in Corey's eyes, she doesn't immediately spring into action because she's matured into a more reasonable person and knows she can't haul off and accuse someone of being evil out of the blue. Instead of confronting Corey right then and there, she becomes something of a detective, investigating his behavior, speaking to his controlling and obnoxious mother, and even having a chat with the father of the child Corey accidentally killed to find out if he's capable of the kind of violence she suspects he is.
In one scene, after Corey and Allyson have a confrontation with local shock jock and conspiracy theorist Willy the Kid (Keraun Harris) outside of the radio station where he works, the camera pulls back to reveal that Laurie is sitting in her car, watching them. Her expression is emotionless as she watches her granddaughter in the arms of another potential boogeyman.
This scene makes it obvious that Laurie and Michael are traveling down parallel paths. As Corey is bringing Michael out of hiding and becoming more like him, the masked killer begins regaining strength, resembling the Michael we're used to seeing. At the same time, Corey is bringing Laurie's darker side out as well, pulling her out of the light and back into the shadows. As both characters regress into their old selves, they're bound to meet in an explosive final fight.
8. The Shape emerges
When Corey meets Allyson, she's working for Dr. Mathis and the guy doesn't treat her very nicely. Corey asks why she doesn't quit, and she mentions that she's up for a promotion. She doesn't get that promotion, however, as it goes to Nurse Deb, who is in a relationship with their boss. As the pair arrive at the doctor's house to celebrate with booze and music, Corey shows up in a mask and ends Dr. Mathis' life with a plastic bag and a corkscrew.
Deb runs back into the house to call the police but is met there with the intimidating figure of Michael Myers emerging from the shadows. The sight of him stepping out into the light is unsettling because although we're used to seeing Michael corner his victims in their homes, it's obvious that Corey was not expecting this, and Michael is hungrier than ever to spill some blood. He's still a little unsteady, but his singular focus tells us that will soon change.
Feeling nostalgic, Michael pins Deb to the wall by impaling her with a knife (as he did to Bob in the first film), but the scene isn't really about that. What really works in "Halloween Ends" is the sense of dread. Usually, we spend these movies waiting for Michael to show up because that's when the plot kicks in. In this film, we dread the moment when he's back at full strength because it may mean the end for characters we've come to care about.
7. Confronting Corey
As the troubling relationship between Corey and Allyson grows stronger, Laurie finally steps in. She doesn't start an argument with her granddaughter. She doesn't attack Corey. Instead, she invades his private space and informs him that she will not let him have Allyson. Although the scene builds to raised voices, it starts out very quietly, with Laurie leaning back in a chair, rocking back and forth so that the wood taps against the wall gently and rhythmically.
Corey has been sleeping at the house where his life changed forever, likely because of its seclusion since no one wants to live in this house where a child fell to his death. Thus, seeing Laurie Strode in that house, looking straight at him while he sleeps sends the message that she knows what he's up to and she is willing to go further than anyone else to make sure he doesn't get what he wants.
What works so well here is the calm and stillness in Laurie's words and in her actions. Although she's sitting down, she is very much in control of the situation and is only warning him of what she will do to protect her family as a courtesy. She could have killed him while he slept, but she wants to give him one last chance to see reason before the gloves come off.
6. Sitting in the dark
After arguing with Laurie, Corey goes into panic mode. He calls Allyson and tells her that they have to leave that night and heads into the sewer to take Michael's mask. If Haddonfield wants to treat Corey like the boogeyman, then he's going to dress like the boogeyman. He attacks Michael and the two have a scuffle until Corey manages to overpower him just enough to steal his mask and leave to commit multiple murders that rival Michael's in their savagery.
Just as you struggle to accept the fact that Michael Myers, the personification of evil, the emotionless killer that feeds on terror, has just been beaten by a brand new character to the franchise — he sits up straight. It's an obvious callback to the moment in the first "Halloween" when Laurie thinks she's killed Michael after escaping from the closet where she'd been hiding. It works because this is the last straw, the instant when Michael decides he's had enough of this punk and that he is the only boogeyman Haddonfield deserves.
The second we see that, we know that Corey's story is just about over and Michael and Laurie are about to do battle once again.
5. Laurie's fakeout
Allyson and Laurie have a massive blowout in the third act. Laurie is desperate to make sure Allyson is safe and is fighting for her to listen, but Allyson is done. She grew up with a mother who was raised as a warrior to fight against a man who most people assumed would stay locked away forever. She wanted to trust that her grandmother was a caring and decent person, but it was hard when she would not stop talking about the boogeyman.
When Michael did return, he took Allyson's father and mother away. She's not only mourning her parents — part of her resents Laurie for robbing her mother of her childhood and filling everyone with paranoia. It's all left her confused and angry, which is why she's made such a connection with Corey and is ready to leave town with him.
When Laurie gets in the way, Allyson leaves anyway. Laurie makes a show of setting things up to kill herself, going as far as calling the police to report a suicide, and we almost believe it because she's just lost the one person she had left to fight for. But it's all a ruse. When Corey comes in looking to see if she actually did commit suicide, she takes aim with her pistol and plugs him before he knows what hit him. Nothing can stop Laurie Strode.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988 or by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
4. Blood knows blood
The first time we see Michael Myers in the film (other than flashbacks) is just after a particularly rough moment for Corey. He's just been confronted by the mother of the child he killed while out at a bar with Allyson (in a sequence featuring a cameo from filmmaker and original Michael Myers actor Nick Castle), leading to an argument. He storms off, and on his way home he's jumped by a group of bullies who harassed him earlier.
They push him off a bridge and drive off, assuming he's dead. As Corey lay on the ground, an unseen figure pulls him into the sewer. Corey awakens to find himself in a cavernous space and as he tries to leave, Michael Myers' arm emerges from the dark and grips him by the throat. Although he's clearly weaker than we've ever seen him, he's still strong enough to choke Corey with one hand.
As he squeezes the guy's esophagus, they lock eyes, and Michael sees the same darkness in Corey that lives within him. This is depicted with flashes of Corey's past, but it's very likely that this is a visual metaphor for the Shape (as he is sometimes called) knowing a blood brother when he sees him, just as Laurie knows evil. It's a fascinating glimpse into Michael's mind and raises a lot of interesting questions for fans to ponder.
3. The freakshow or the psycho
Long before we know the kind of violence Corey is capable of, we see him refuse to purchase beer for a bunch of underage high school students. When they realize he's the guy who killed a kid on Halloween, they start grilling him so hard that his chocolate milk shatters in his panicked grip and cuts his hand. Before things escalate too far, Laurie Strode intervenes. Terry, the ringleader of the group (Michael Barbieri), calls Laurie a freakshow and Corey a psycho before he and his friends head inside the gas station to buy whatever it is goons like that buy from gas stations.
When they walk away, Laurie pulls out a pocket knife and asks Corey if she should do it or if he should. The "it" she's referring to is letting the air out of Terry's tires, which Corey does himself. This lets us know that although Laurie isn't spending her time locked away and cowering in fear, she still doesn't take any guff and she can still pull out a knife when the moment calls for it. This is a hopeful moment that makes us think that maybe Corey will be an okay guy, but it's also where the dread begins to build, because a person can only be shoved so many times before they shove back. Since we like Laurie, we don't want Corey to go down a dark road, but already it feels inevitable.
2. The Shape returns
In a shocking and devastating twist, Corey plunges a knife into his own throat in order to make it appear as though Laurie murdered him herself. When Allyson walks in, she sees the man she loves bloodied on the floor with her grandmother standing over his body, knife in hand. She assumes that Laurie's obsession has taken over and she's killed Corey. Allyson flees the house, leaving Laurie to shoulder the blame and regret all by herself.
As Laurie sits there, reeling, a figure moves through the house. We then see a familiar hand reach down and reclaim the white mask abandoned on the floor. This is the moment we've been waiting for: the time when Michael Myers has returned to his full strength and is ready to terrorize Haddonfield again. In case you thought he wasn't able to return to his old ways, the revelation that Corey is still alive provides ample opportunity — Michael approaches him and breaks his neck, reclaiming his title as the one true boogeyman.
1. Halloween Ends
It's safe to say that most fans went into "Halloween Ends" expecting some kind of closure. They wanted to see Laurie Strode finally put an end to the lifetime of trauma and finally move on to live the fulfilling life she deserves. The majority of the movie may be focused on an entirely new character living in their shadow, but the climax is dedicated to Laurie and Michael settling things once and for all.
They come close to killing each other, but Allyson's sudden reappearance to save Laurie results in Michael being silenced for good — not through a climactic act of extreme violence, but through a quiet bloodletting as Laurie opens a wound and drains Michael until he fades. Still, since Laurie isn't the only victim of Michael's evil, the decision is made to ritualistically parade Michael's corpse through the streets and take him to the junkyard, where they collectively place him into a machine that effortlessly crushes and grinds his body to slop, ensuring he will never return. During this, Laurie looks on in silence, watching her lifelong nightmare come to an end at last.