Halloween goes out on a whimper

Film Review
Tinashe Kusema

DURING my last instalment, I think I was soft on Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun: Maverick” review.

I feel I should not have done that.

My reasoning was simple. I happen to be one of those people who believe some movie franchises, actors and directors have earned the right to catch a break every now and then.

After decades of service, these thespians have earned the pedestal we have put them on.

Now, it would be hypocritical of me if I do not extend the same courtesy to a once beloved movie franchise, which, like “Top Gun”, has seen better days.

The movie in question is “Halloween Ends”.

This beloved John Carpenter creation provided a blueprint for slasher movies, when the very first of 13 movies was released back in 1978.

I was not yet born when Jamie Lee Curtis first took up the role of Laurie Strode.

However, once I caught up, I got hooked.

Over the years, I have seen the good and the bad, and even braved through the ugly side of this franchise.

I consider it an honour that I get to review what is believed to be the last instalment, as the name of the movie implies.

I will try to be as gentle as possible.

As you read through this review, please, consider every negative as constructive criticism.

“Halloween Ends” takes place some four years after the previous instalment, which was released last year, and some normalcy starts to trickle through Haddonfield, Illinois.

Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney) has not been seen or heard from in four years.

Prevalent theories are that he succumbed to injuries or is preparing to go on another killing spree.

In his absence, the locals of Haddonfield go on and create their own new villain.

Enter Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell), a young man accused of killing a child he was babysitting. As a result, he becomes a pariah in Haddonfield.

Coincidentally, Cunningham and Allison Nelson (Andi Matichak), who happens to be Strode’s granddaughter, meet and fall in love.

The movie devotes two-thirds of the production building up this romance up to a point where some Haddonfield townfolk mistreat Cunningham right into the hands of a recuperating Myers.

The two then go on a killing spree and end up squaring up with Strode and her granddaughter.

Under normal circumstances, these plot points could have made for a rather compelling movie if not for the fact that this is or was supposed to be a slasher movie.

The deaths lack the graphic detail of the predecessors, and, more importantly, there are too few and far in between.

Writers Paul Brad Logan, Danny McBride and their collaborators try to cram too many new characters at the expense of standard slasher movie tropes.

Too much time and effort are spent on Cunningham’s story, while we do not see enough of Myers and Strode.

Strode is basically a passenger in her own story.

The fact that this is the last instalment is a positive in itself.

Jamie Lee Curtis, much like she has done from the very first film, is the undisputed star of the movie.

While her character is badly written, she does her best to make lemonade out of the crummy lemons the writers give her.

I am not entirely sold on the performances of both Matichak and Campbell, but I will give them a pass because I am feeling generous today.

One of the biggest surprises of the entire movie is the absence of computer-generated imagery-infused deaths.

While the deaths are too few and far in between, I liked how they are simple, and are a true tribute to the original.

That was a nice touch.