Halloween Ends: BTS Photo Offers a Final Look at Michael Myers Unmasked — Plus, Grade the Franchise Finale
Sixtysomething Michael Myers didn’t age too badly, all things (including deaths/near-deaths) considered.
The Halloween horror film franchise came to a close this past weekend with the release of Halloween Ends, which is streaming on Peacock (while also in theaters).
Picking up four years after the events of last year’s Halloween Kills, the grand finale found Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode living with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) while finishing her memoir; Michael hadn’t been seen since the mini-rampage that followed his Halloween Kills beatdown by a local mob.
Laurie decided to liberate herself from fear and rage and embrace life (…and maybe even a sweet romance with Will Patton’s Officer Frank Hawkins), but when a young man named Corey (The Hardy Boys‘ Rohan Campbell) is accused of killing a boy he was babysitting, it triggers a new cascade of violence that forces Laurie to confront the evil she can’t control,
“once and for all.”
Though the movie was arguably light on trademark Michael Myers malevolence (poor guy seems a bit winded from the events of Halloween Kills!), viewers got to see the serial slasher both in his trademark mask and without it (albeit very briefly, and never a clear, lingering look).
But a BTS photo shared on Instagram by Andi Matichak’s stunt double, Lydia Hand, shows us Michael Myers’ weathered, franchise-tested face, as embodied by James Jude Courtney throughout this final trilogy. (Fun fact: That was Nick Castle, “The Shape” from the original, 1978 Halloween, playing the “flasher” at the party Allyson and Corey attended.)
How do you think MM held up? Looking better than Jason Voorhees, I would say.
Halloween Ends‘ theatrical release topped the weekend box office with a $41.3 million haul, compared to Halloween Kills‘ $49 million bow (which was also available on Peacock).
Halloween Ends is available to subscribers of the Peacock Premium tier, which costs $4.99 per month and also offers the supernatural horror film The Black Phone, the slasher flick They/Them and the blockbuster movie Jurassic World Dominion; the TV series Vampire Academy, Girls5eva, One of Us Is Lying and Bel-Air; the daily soap opera Days of Our Lives; and full seasons of Yellowstone, Modern Family, The Office, Two and a Half Men and Psych. Peacock also is the exclusive home for next-day streaming of new episodes of NBC shows such as the #OneChicago trifecta, La Brea, the Law & Order franchise, Saturday Night Live and The Voice.
I liked it. The writing wasn’t perfect but it felt like a suitable conclusion to the franchise and was enjoyable enough. The narration by the heroine was a nice touch too and felt like she well and truly has closed the door on that chapter of her life.
Not the movie I was expecting. Loved it for that.
It isn’t the end of the franchise but the end of that trilogy. Carpenter has all but said there would be more.
Carpenter has not been involved with the Halloween franchise in years.
I thought it was terrible. The director has all of these ideas about the story, but he never follows through successfully with any of them. Michael is human. No he’s a killing machine. No, he’s a metaphor. No, he’s the personification of evil. No, he’s a cult leader. No, he’s a serial killer. No, he’s unstoppable. No, he is stoppable and sewer ready. If that weren’t bad enough, the whole trilogy weakened Laurie’s character and sidelined her for most of the trilogy. The acting for this film was horrific in some places. I know some people enjoyed this film, and I’m happy for them. I wish I had the same experience.
Exactly. 💯🎃👻The New Movie should have been called.. Haddonfield curse . Local kid wants to be like mike Myers the old bum dude in the sewers that use to be the communities boogeyman now gets bullied by the teenagers of the town. Lol
It was interesting, and I mean that in a good way. I enjoyed it much more than Halloween Kills. Plus, the ending was fantastic!
Enjoyed it because it was different.
Terrible. Just put this crappy franchise to rest already!
No way will the end of the trilogy be the end of the franchise—-look at the #s–“halloween Ends” has brought in 41.3 million dollars just in it’s opening weekend in revenue from theatres. With Halloween coming around the corner the next 2 weeks should be very profitable. it knows it’s audience.
I wonder how many new subscribers signed up for Peacock to see this movie? Did it help them like WW84 helped HBOMAX?
I didn’t like it. I wanted to see Michael Myers, not some whiny babysitter. Michael barely cameo’s on his own movie
Amen ,I didn’t like that Corey kid from the start ,
Michael didn’t have hardly any screen time , it was given to that Corey kid other then that I liked the movie
Halloween Ends was just about as stupid as you could get. This series has just gotten worse with each movie. The original and first sequel were brilliant. They took this story off the deep end and just made it a sensational joke. Gone was the foundation that made the original a classic. Simplicity. Boogeyman stalking his prey. He is more a cartoon character now. It’s sad….
Absolute land field . Not just trash , but Land field . The place where they put ALL THE TRASH . The idiot who did this made Michael Myers soft as cotton . Hated his whole story line . Rob Zombie’s version was superb . Rather watch those a thousand times back to back to back than this crap once . I actually want my money back for this mess . Been pissed continuously since watching it opening night .
Absolutely terrible! A very bad ending to a franchise that deserved much better.
A “Christine” reboot with cameos by Michael and Laurie. And the writers really did Ally wrong. Not the same person from the first two movies until the last five minutes. This is a true head-scratcher.
I don’t think there were any real curse words in the the original Halloween. It seems that scriptwriters today use them because they can’t think of anything else. I feel a horror picture should have surprises, and a slasher film have amusing, if not “poetic justice,” killings. “Halloween Ends” didn’t have enough of either to suit me.
I appreciated that it wasn’t a paint by numbers halloween slashathon
We all know this isn’t the end.
All that stalking and chasing turned out to be a good workout routine for Mike
Halloween Ends didn’t compare to Halloween or Halloween Kills, It was decent but the first 2 were so good. which made this one so much more disappointing.
What a terrible letdown. They had Jamie Lee Curtis, “Michael Myers” and the Halloween legacy and this was the best that they could do?
For the entire franchise to be as good and legendary as it was, and for Michael Myers to have been the indestructible killing machine he was, Halloween Ends was pure garbage! This film needs to be destroyed and remade by someone that respects and knows the franchise! Michael Myers IS Halloween not Laurie Strode!
We need a do over been fan since doctor looms im only 36 years old he was the best out of Freddy and Jason he was the best that’s wasn’t his best and Jamie I thought u was going to bring it big disappointment all away around
Huge let down
IDC if it was “right” or not, I enjoyed it.
I was expecting a different finale for this franchise. I have been a fan of the Halloween movies from the start. Ms Jamie Lee Curtis has remained Laurie from day 1, our ultimate final girl yay! and I was looking forward to more interaction between her and Michael Myers, my main guy, whom barely got any screentime. That disappointed me. This Corey character was introduced in this film, accidentally kills the boy he was babysitting, gets bullied and beaten by a bunch of brats. My point? How he at one point “bullies” the Michael Myers around? I was baffled. I know some will say, well he’s old now. But, let’s remember the homeless man mentioned that others entered the sewer and were killed. That implies the killing was recently. I’m over analyzing, I know lol. Something else that did not sit right with me was Michael killing with a partner. Dude, why was this done?? This is not that other movie franchise lol. I’ll stop ranting. Again, my humble opinion.
It was awful
Not a fan they killed myers way to easily and that was a whack fight scene i think they will make another and the micheal laurie killed was one of those two psych patients that got let out thats the only explanation they could use for another but yea i wanted more slashing from micheal not the corey kid it deff needed a stronger ending
Agreed! Thank you. It’s just disappointing that Ms Jamie Lee Curtis won’t be coming back as Laurie, should they come back with another movie as the real final, final movie lol.
Well, we know the kid will be the new Jason. So no, it’s not really the end of the trilogy.