This film continues the saga about Michael Myers and takes it to a satisfying end. To fully appreciate this entry in the Halloween universe You have to consider it not as a standalone episode but as the final part of a story that encompasses the two films prior to this one.
The 2018-2022 Halloween trilogy is not just a repetition of the original concept - John Carpenter already delivered everything that ever was to say about that. This iteration of the myth seems to be about evil, how it survives in the modern world and how we can deal with it after being victimized.
In Halloween (2018) we see Michael Myers, an old evil from a time long gone, and how he reemerges from containment. In Halloween Kills this old evil is abandoned by the community of Haddonfield. As more and more people stand up against Michael, he stops being the mythical boogeyman, that everybody is afraid of.
The trilogy also deals with how victims, represented by Laurie Strode, react to evil. In Halloween (2018) Laurie has stopped being the victim and retaliates. In Halloween Kills Laurie includes the Haddonfield community in her experiences with evil. And four years later, in Halloween Ends, she even tries to come to terms with it. She tries not to let her life be dominated by Michael Myers anymore.
This seems to be easier said than done, because of what happened in Halloween Kills. The community of Haddonfield has seemingly agreed upon Michael Myers not being the boogeyman, but simply a man with brain damage that had been provoked by Laurie. Yes, they totally ignore how Michael survived even the most severe wounds and hold Laurie responsible for all the mayhem that had occurred. Talking of a scapegoat...
That's the situation at the start of Halloween Ends. We learn in the first scene, how even the children are not really afraid of Michael Myers anymore. One uses his myth as a means to trick his babysitter Corey - only to meet his untimely demise. Although it was ruled as an accident, Corey is shunned by the community of Haddonfield and labeled a child killer.
The first forty minutes of the film are used for his story and how he falls in love with Laurie Strodes granddaughter. After a party that did not end well for Corey, he finally encounters Michael Myers, but Michael doesn't kill him as he recognizes a common spirit in his eyes. This isn't the Michael Myers we know from before. He is considerably weakened and recognizably old. For the last four years he has been hiding in the sewers of Haddonfield, occasionally dragging some easy victim down to his lair - although he can still nail a body to the wall with his knife and cracks a neck like a twig the formerly.
After Corey escapes Michaels lair and accidently kills a local bum that attacks him, he seems to accept himself as being kin to Michael. He returns to the lair in the sewers and asks Michael to show him how it's done, which he gracefully does. After that they both start to slaughter the people that did Corey wrong. At first, Corey wears his own scarecrow mask, but after he has to admit, that this mask doesn't grant him immortality and invincibility he returns to Michael and wrestles him for the infamous Halloween mask. He manages to obtain the mask and from that point on preys on his victims as the new Shape.
Of course, we witness some gruesome killings as a transition to the finale, where Laurie tricks the new Shape by imposing as being suicidal. Although some may find it important to know how exactly Corey, the new Shape, is killed, I find it suffice to say that all the important characters have a go at him, and he is dead at the end. Michael has followed Corey to Laurie's home and reclaims his mask. The final battle between Laurie and Michael ensues, and Laurie manages to overcome the weakened Michael and kills him with the help of her granddaughter. Just like someone that has been victimized finds additional strength to finally overcome his own fear after sharing his experience with his community and family.
Knowing that killing isn't enough to shed the evil from her life, Laurie stages a kind of procession, by tying the Michaels body to the top of a car and presenting it to the whole of Haddonfield's people.
Now everybody sees, that the terror, that haunted Haddonfield for all the years, is finally dead. No myth may survive the final abandonment of the body as it is torn to tiny shreds.
The story of Michael Myers is over, but Laurie talks in her book about evil, and how it never dies but always finds another shape (or Shape?)
A final scene showing the infamous mask on the table in Laurie's house, reminds us of that. It just waits to be put on again.
All this put together the three Halloween movies make up a pretty good story. There is enough depth to it to hold all the pieces together and everything makes sense from the right point of view.
Although I don't want to discredit my fellow reviewers here, I have to mention, that they probably did not see the whole (motion) picture.
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