Halloween Ends was a Tribute to Christine (1983)

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Halloween Ends was a tribute to Christine (1983)

I really didn’t enjoy Halloween Ends for a number of reasons.
Firstly, the lack of actual screen time of Michael and being forced to watch this story about Cunningham who, lets face it, no one is interested in.

The name Cunningham is the name of the lead character in Christine (1983), Arnie Cunningham who is subjected to bullying by local “sh*tters” makes friends with a killer car (Christine) who helps him take revenge against the bullies, sound familiar?

In Halloween Ends Cunningham is also bullied and makes friends with Michael Myers who helps him kill the bullies.
Michael making friends with Cunningham is definitely the worst part of this movie. Michael, pure evil, decides not to kill Cunningham just because some local bullies misjudge Cunningham as being evil too? Such a stupid plot twist in an already wasteful movie.

Then to top it off, Michael, the heart and soul of the entire Halloween series, is KILLED OFF in this useless waste of a film.
And of course they kill Michael off much the same way as they kill the car Christine in the 1983 movie - by CRUSHING Christine to death.

However, there is one glimmer of hope for Michael, which is that in the end of the film Christine (1983), after being completely crushed into a small block of twisted metal, as the camera pans in, there is movement of the twisted metal indicating that Christine will reassembles back together.

So, therefore, Michael, who Laurie was describing to be like Pennywise or Freddy - talking about FEAR being what gives him power - could potentially reassembles as Christine did.

If you remember Jason Voorhees (a cheap copy/spin off of Michael Myers) reassembles after being blown up, it seems like its not out of the question that Michael could reassemble together again too.

This would actually work to resolve what had become his crippled hands and withering strength. Could he return like the T1000 after the Hasta La Vista scene? Appearing as good as new and just as unstoppable?

Or maybe Michael will adopt the Freddy method of killing next?
Attacking all the towns people who attended the crushing in their dreams and getting nightmare revenge?

My last criticism of Halloween Ends was the ridiculous fight scene with Laurie. It was already absurd that Laurie would be the one who Michael finds and tries to kill like its a personal grudge.
Michael firs targeted her because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, outside his house were he killed Judith.

After all the years in prison, he still sees OLD Laurie as his sister Judith? I don’t think so. He would go back to his house, wait for the next teenage girl like Judith to show up, and start stalking her.

But the fight with Laurie itself, as with the ‘wrestling’ with Cunningham, was just pathetic. In an earlier scene, Michael was doing his one arm lift and stab show of strength. He also killed Cunningham (as Christine killed Cunningham), so why then did Michael struggle to kill ELDERLY woman Laurie?

The fight scene was comical. She is an OLD LADY and not even a big robust old lady but a frail thin old lady. Michael could have sat on her, read a book, and killed her whenever he wanted.
Yet we are forced to watch this JOKE of a fight scene with Laurie crucifying Michael on the table, talking trash to him and then just
slicing his throat.

What a sad end to Michael Myers.

Having said that, I personally choose to simply discount Halloween Ends completely - just as Jamie Lee Curtis chose to discount HER OWN MOVIES Halloween 2, Halloween H20 and Halloween Resurrection.

When Jamie Lee Curtis discounted those previous ENDS of Michael Myers, she forfeited any right to END Michael in Halloween Ends.

I’m actually kinda glad that Halloween Ends was the pathetic flop that it was, because it makes it so much easier to discount this END of Michael as just another Michael death scene to be discounted when they make the next Michael Myers film.

Michael Myers will be back :jack_o_lantern:

https://youtu.be/uCr5XLbgFI4

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Interesting comparison! I’d wonder if that’s what they were really going for or if it is coincidental but it’s still cool

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It’s no coincidence. The director referenced Christine when he asked John Carpenter for his thoughts on it.

Just look at the movie, replace Michael with a car and it’s a Christine remake. When Corey is dressed as Myers, that’s him “driving the car” so to speak.

I said this before the movie even came out, based on everything we knew up to that point. I said Arnie and his car, Corey and his Michael.

It’s a love letter to Christine. It’s not a coincidence, it’s exactly what you think it is.

You might ask why would they do that for the final film in a trilogy about Michael Myers? Not a clue.

I liked the movie because of the Christine vibe. However, as a Halloween movie it was garbage.

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It’s a discount Christine, with the car replaced with Michael

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I thought this was all common knowledge?

Green stated this several times that Ends was a nod and homage to Christine - Carpenter even gave him the seal of approval on it.

love Ends. Loved Corey. Finally a character to focus on that wasn’t Laurie damn Strode. In fact, Ends is one of my favourite entries in the franchise. Much more substance to it than most of the puddle deep stuff we’ve had in the last 4 decades. Finally some actual evolution of character/s.

In terms of it being a ‘fop’ - It currently sits in 3rd place out of all 13 films in the franchise, in terms of box office take. No matter what some of the hardline, militant purists think of it, Ends make a bucket of cash.

Outside of that, it did one other thing - raise up a level of toxicity in this fandom we haven’t seen since 2007.

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Made a ton of money because of it being a Halloween film. Hardly because of a good story. Now before anyone gets their feathers ruffled…this is my opinion. As far as character evolution,is this the way we wanted to see it go? A story about the babysitter & make Myers a sideline puss? Sorry…not me. This movie will have no staying power. Very weak entry. Like I said…This is all my opinion of course (as a purist) :grin:

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Being a ‘good story’ is subjective based on the individual viewing it. some loved it, others didn’t.

I dropped my ‘purist’ card years ago.

Completely stifled my enjoyment of anything that wasn’t the original. Once I dropped my elitism over H78, I found myself far more engaged in other entries, especially the ones so many people love to hate.

I absolutely love Halloween Ends. I think narrative wise, it’s the best movie in the franchise. I’ll die on that hill. How many more films did we need to have of the same thing? Myers and Laurie, constantly. Michael was 65 years old - was time to make a change instead of watching the same old thing, ad infinitum. For me, Corey was the most engaging character I’d seen in the franchise in a long, long time.

People complain about Myers screen time, yet he was in the OG less than Ends. Couple that, with the odd notions that somehow the fandom think he’s an unkillable, immortal deity, and get triggered by the mere fact he’s actually a man that eats, sleeps, ages, bleeds and can die like the rest of us. It’s the ambiguous context that’s always left unsaid that remains intact, which I will always commend Green for not explaining away, unlike some of the other entries (Sibling angles, curses, blah blah)

Bottom line, it’s a polarising entry, much like the RZ films were, I just wish the fandom wasn’t so poison when it comes to articulating their difference of opinion. At one point, the literal hate train was so bad, I nearly left the hobby all together. Grown men being THAT twisted up over a movie? Ouch.

Anyhow, to each their own. 13 films - there’s enough in the bag for everyone to be able to pluck a winner from.

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Good points man. I meant no disrespect :beers:
My personal opinion is to make a throwback movie. Me and Mike(Lawson) were just taking about this. Look how popular the flashback scene was… Get a good director and story writer and run with that. But anyway like I said…my opinion :jack_o_lantern::+1:

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Yeah Jay, I would love for them to take a shot at a period piece.

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Yes! And let that Armstrong dude play Myers. He was good! :jack_o_lantern::jack_o_lantern::jack_o_lantern::beers::beers::beers:

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There’s no murders set to upbeat 1950s bops, so that is disappointing. Heck, I’d have taken a fun 1970’s song like Sweet’s “Little Willy.” :myers: :laughing:

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We all ready know all this.

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It’s a poor homage to Christine, which is a well structured film that follows Arnie’s descent really well. Corey seems to just jump from 0-60 at around 40-45 minutes into the film. There are a lot of flaws in the film up to the aforementioned point, but he felt more like a decent, honest character until then (Allyson, not so much, a shame since she was one of the better parts of the first two films).

Ends as a concept had potential, but the actual result was a mess. Reminded me of the Halloween 6: Producer’s Cut which had some interesting concepts (like having a druidic occult vibe to it hearkening back to the old Samhain in Ireland, though the actual cult and Thorn nonsense were not the way to go) but used them in an absurd manner and ended up screwing up the heart of the series (The Shape/Michael). The fact that even with all the bad elements it felt somewhat fresh (at least for the first 40 minutes, though not after that) and not bogged down by continuity because it was largely following a character that wasn’t a Strode and didn’t have a strong link to the convoluted continuity that’s become a series problem. The series needs a fresh start like that, something that doesn’t feel so bogged down by all the other sequels or the need to use anything other than The Shape from the original, something simple and new, but this wasn’t it (it could have been something but it didn’t end up working). Though he still probably should have been introduced in H’18 and used in Kills even as a more minor but interesting character, it would have been a better payoff to see someone you gave a damn about previously turn into what he did (though H’18 and Kills weren’t exactly known for having well made characters aside from maybe Allyson, Karen, and Frank so I can see why introducing him in Ends could have worked as well, but Ends being seen as a culmination via the title was a bad spot to introduce a new character like that).

Despite a nearly 2 hour running time Corey’s character development (and Allyson’s as well, also most of the townspeople) felted rushed and uneven. If they wanted to do the concept correctly it should have been something more like Martin, Session 9, Fade to Black, or even Donnie Darko in a way (also Christine which it failed to emulate). They didn’t even need Michael, they should have just left him absent and it a mystery as to why and no hint as to if he’s even still around (which would have been far better than how he was used; not being used is better than being poorly used; Green and the writers do not understand the original Halloween and the concept of The Shape whatseoever), but Corey finds the mask in the storm sewer all the same (just that he wasn’t dragged there by Michael but takes refuge there) and the mask is just an important step to his descent into becoming a killer.

They were also real wishywashy in the entire trilogy about the supernatural/paranormal and Ends is just another example of that. The entire segment of Corey looking into Michael’s eyes was definitely played as a supernatural event (despite what David G. Green may say), and that was the catalyst for Corey going from troubled kid straight into aggro and killer with no intermediate steps and development. Laurie “seeing evil” in Corey’s eyes upon a glance is just piss poor writing and a bad shortcut for her seeing actual character development from him to the point where she can tell he’s changed in a realistic manner. Her saying she saw the same evil in Corey’s eyes as she saw in Michael’s doesn’t even really make sense since she only saw Michael’s face for a split second when she pulled off his mask in the original Halloween and she didn’t even get a good look then (the best you can say is that she may have seen him in the following years at the sanitarium, but there was no indication that that is true and they wouldn’t just allow her in there anyway since she’s not family nor a doctor.

I think Kills and Ends could have been good, they had elements that could have lead to good films (whereas H’18 is rather boring/dull and too much of a retread of other films), but they weren’t competently made. The actor for Corey was probably the only thing decent about Ends through and through, can’t fault him for what he was given. It’s odd too as Green made his early career on writing and directing character dramas about young people but failed so spectacularly here.

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I agree with everything you’ve said throughout this thread. When nothing can compare to the original, the only thing to do is something bold and different. Some people hate this movie for even having the audacity to be different, which I think is a mistake. The question should be whether the bold and different approach works for a viewer. Ends currently sits at #4 for me, and the more times I see it, the more it inches toward #3. Frankly, I’m shocked that it so easily displaced H4 on my list, which I love. I’m not quite ready to displace H2 yet.

I COMPLETELY understand why some didn’t like it, although I vehemently disagree with them. And I admit it’s not a perfect movie; there are a number of things I wish had been done differently. However, the positives far exceed the negatives in my view, among which are as follows:

The movie is DRIPPING with atmosphere, and makes the town of Haddonfield almost a character unto itself again, in a way that doesn’t feel forced (like Halloween Kills). Almost all of my favorite genre films have this sense of place as character (H1, 2 and 3, The Fog, The Shining, Storm of the Century, to name a few).

The supporting characters and townies, portrayed by a talented group of relative unknowns, are engaging, without exception. In particular, I loved Sondra’s sister, Mrs. Allen, and yes, even Corey’s mother.

This version of Laurie Strode speaks much more to the Laurie Strode I think we all love. She’s fun, in a cute, shy, and vulnerable way. This movie made me like Jamie Lee Curtis again, who (let’s face it), has become pretty intolerable over the years. As much as I was happy to see the film veer from her story, I wonder how much of that is due to how much I disliked what they did with her character in the previous two entries. If this were the sequel we got in 2018, I would probably have been disappointed not to have more of her.

The emotional content is subtle and, most importantly, feels natural. I felt the characters in 2018 and Kills were choking on their lines half the time, with Judy Greer being the worst offender. Ends was a complete 180 in this sense, and it was all the more aided in that the movie gave us time to breathe and digest the emotional content.

In the previous two entries, the scores (while great on their own), seemed to be supplementing a lack of quality story and direction. In Ends, the score serves a movie that already works.

The Shape is in the periphery, but the film never lets us forget its presence. This is very much in spirit of the original. I will concede to the detractors that there should have been more of The Shape, but not MUCH more.

Rohan Campbell gives a performance that runs the gamut of human emotions, and even pulls off taking it to a place of lacking emotion, and he does it well. When he stands to confront Doug Mulaney at the diner and beams at him, the look on his face is chillingly blank with a subtle touch of disgust. I imagine this is not unlike what The Shape’s eyes look like when peering at a victim–total lack of humanity of its own, with a touch of disgust at the victim’s humanity.

Green is appealing to all his strengths here, without being tied to all the lore that brought the previous two entries down.

In spirit of fairness, some things I didn’t like are all the bits pertaining to Laurie’s memoir. Absolute cheese. I also didn’t think it was a fitting conclusion to the story they developed over the previous two films, but I find this forgivable, since I didn’t like them anyway. But all in all, this is the sequel I wish we got in 2018–nay, the one we deserved.

As much as I wish the detractors would see it our way, Dave, I hear their complaints. I really do. The toxicity saddens me. Little to none of that in this thread, but it’s still all over the place apart from this board, and at least one member here was banned for their rabid feelings about this movie. There’s room for everyone in this community, if everyone makes room.

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P.S. I told Chris Nelson at H45 that I think Ends is one of the finest entries in the franchise, and he seemed legitimately taken aback by the positivity. He suddenly gleamed and gave me a big high five. He has had a few things to say over the past year that makes me think the negativity wore him out, and I was glad to (I think) turn that around a little. Again, this is not to say that anyone who dislikes the movie is patently wrong - only that some people sadly suffer in the presentation of their opinions.

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Endearing to see others with the same perspective, especially round these parts. I understand this place is very much a bastion of H78/H81 purists, with very little wiggle room for anything outside of the early established lore, so it’s a welcome sight to see open approaches towards change and people looking at Ends objectively, rather than reacting with knee jerk emotion as many did across the fandom.

Ends was never going to be for everyone, much like the trilogy on the whole, but for me, I think it went above and beyond most of the entries in the franchise before it. I felt like we finally had a film with some tangible depth and some solid characters that were relatable. In regards to Michael, you nailed it. Though his screen time was short, the narrative at play was that he literally everywhere. His essence has seeped into the town. He was in every shadow. Lurking behind every bush and in every alleyway.

As you rightfully said, I can also understand why many people didn’t get onboard with Ends. It’s a very acquired taste, and has been incredibly polarising. I haven’t seen this much uncivil discord since Rob entered the fray in 07 with his remake. Many a squabble back here during those days. I understand the passion and loyalty to source material and lore, but from my perspective, things needed a shift in a different direction. There’s only so much juice you can squeeze from the same orange. I applaud Green for his take with Corey and the bold progression they made with Michael. It’s not what I originally wanted, but I’m forever grateful that’s what we got.

Enjoyed reading your thoughts, and agree, wholeheartedly.

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I completely agree with all of this! Hate isn’t enough to describe my feelings toward this movie. Corey shouldn’t have existed, Micheal should have been stronger than ever :muscle:t2: but NO they just had to make him weak!, they shouldn’t have had a 4 year time skip it should have been more like 1 year later, they shouldn’t have cut Micheal’s screen time in his last fucking movie! And then put him in the sewer on top of that. And they definitely shouldn’t have tried to replace him with that little copycat bitch Corey!, watching my favorite version of Michael have such a downfall in his last movie just made me depressed :face_exhaling:. I could go on for hours about everything that I couldn’t stand about this movie but those are the main things.

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In Halloween Ends I absolutely loved the junkyard kill scenes, the radio station kill scenes, the transfer of energy back and forth between Michael and Corey, and of course the Nick Castle cameo appearance in the bar.