Halloween Ends

David Gordon Green’s Halloween trilogy comes to a close with this watchable yet perpetually hit-and-miss installment, with the narrative, which relegates Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode and James Jude Courtney’s Michael Myers to the sidelines, primarily following Rohan Campbell’s Corey Cunningham as he attempts to cope with the trauma of accidentally murdering a small child on Halloween night. Filmmaker Green, working from a script written with Paul Brad Logan, Chris Bernier, and Danny McBride, with a stirring pre-credits sequence that leads into an almost impressively unpredictable (and thoroughly promising) first act, although, by that same token, the heavy focus on Campbell’s brand-new character does begin to test the viewer’s patience beyond a certain point – with this vibe certainly perpetuated by a meandering midsection riddled with questionable choices (eg Corey’s psychic link with Michael Myers is quite the misstep, to put it mildly). It’s clear, ultimately, that Halloween Ends is, for much of its running time, more effective as a low-key character study than as a capper to John Carpenter’s seminal 1978 picture, and while Green admittedly does deserve some credit for completely upending one’s expectations, the movie doesn’t fully come alive until it progresses into a climactic stretch that finally delivers the confrontation between Laurie and Michael for which the viewer’s been waiting – with the end result a pervasively erratic sequel that does, for the most part, feel like a massive missed opportunity (ie the film could’ve gone in so many directions and this is what they settled on?)

**1/2 out of ****