I went to the cinema to see Halloween Ends last night. Got my tickets for the Maxx screen, my popcorn and fanta too. I was ready to watch the end of a new trilogy of Halloween films and wanted some good scares, kills and maybe some conclusion to the story. I enjoyed the first film that came out a few years ago and thought it set up some interesting story beats going forward. The second film Halloween kills I went to see in the cinema last year and I thought it was such a hot steaming pile of shit with an awful script and just generally bad overall.
In spite if this I was optimistic for a third film and hoped they would pull it out of the bag for the last film. I thought oh surely they’re saving the good stuff for the last one but nope ! I was wrong ! So so so very wrong. I was so confused and unsure of what the hell I was even watching on screen. There’s barely any Michael Myers in the goddamn thing and he’s so useless throughout the film too. He does nothing of note really and just fails to get any scares of be integral to his own film. Instead we focus on another person in the town who after the opening tragic scene, which was actually in hindsight the best part of the movie. He’s now taking on the role almost of Michael Myers and it could have been interesting but in the end it was just like what the fuck was the idea of this. I laughed at what I was seeing for the most part. If this film is a horror film then it’s a failure with little scares and more gore that genuine scares or thrills. If the film is watched at a satirical take in the genre then it’s better but even at that it isn’t a very good satire. Don’t waste your money on seeing this in the cinema is my point, if you want to see the trainwreck that it is then wait for rental or streaming. My main take away from this film was WHY? Why were the it like this? why direct it like this? Why ? Why? Why ? Oh god why?
⭐⭐⭐ 3/10
I think it's interesting 
At this point Halloween seems to be beating a dead horse. I like a good sequel as much as the next girl but sometimes you just have to let go….
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Oh I agree and honestly I hope they just leave it now and don’t make anymore. I’m ready for a new idea haha.
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It’s interesting how a first film can get rave reviews and follow-ups utter failures. It would seem a lot of money gets wasted……
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Yeah and they must be making a profit,I think they’re cheap enough to make and with the name recognition they make enough each Halloween to keep making them. Hopefully they don’t make another though.
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Yeah, not nice when you go expecting high expectations and leave thinking waste of time…..
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“If this film is a horror film then it’s a failure with little scares and more gore that genuine scares or thrills.” I have found this to be mostly true for the last twenty or so years of horror films. Few movies manage to strike the right balance (or ANY balance) between scares and gore. There was a movie many, many years ago that I remember very little of, but it was considered horror, I think. I think it had something to do with demons or ghosts or something. The only scene that got any reaction from the audience was a scene where two characters that no one cared about were talking and something came from somewhere and decapitated one of them completely randomly. Everyone jumped and then that nervous giggle of a group of people who literally nearly peed themselves from something very random. That’s not horror. That’s not scare – that’s gore for the sake of gore. If you want DECENT horror, I have found that there’s a genre of movies that are great and they’re known as “psychological thrillers” which makes them sound dumb. But they actually are in the vein of Hitchcock. A movie called “They” scared the bejezus outta me a while back. I don’t have to see the person bleed out to know they did. I want to be scared, on the edge of my seat, and if the gore adds to that, then YAY! C-level horror is the closest thing to actual balance I can think of. Things where the killer uses the blood of cheerleaders to use as syrup on an insanely large pile of pancakes (Michael Madsen was in it but I can’t remember the name). Seriously, it was conceived in a fever dream of a child that grew up on a steady diet of garbage movies, but it strikes the perfect balance of what the hell am I watching? Why is this happening? OH MY G-D! WHY WOULD HE DO THAT??? HE’S INSANE! RUN!!! and ewww – that was gory. That’s the perfect horror film – one that can make you think all of these things, sometimes all at once, while you laugh at parts and scream at others, and occasionally try to hide your eyes. What passes for general horror now is just garbage incarnate.
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I definitely want to check out that Madsen film that’s for sure it sounds good! But yeah I was so disappointed with this one honestly but the film I find the scariest of all is the Shining from 1980. The psychological horror and as you said psychological thriller genre, now that’s where the scares are at. The characters in that film are so fascinating to me, the family dynamic and the time we spend with the characters. There’s only one murder in the entire film but it’s so terrifying and so impactful. I agree with you, a lot of horror films these days are gore and jump scares and more gore just for the sake of it. Great to read your usual insightful and thoughtful comments Marla ! I hope you’re keeping well.
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Hello Ian! I’m getting through the boredom. I think…. mostly haunting poor unsuspecting blogs that have been mercifully unhaunted by me for a while. Hiya! lol
I had fun writing about horror films and what gets me. I don’t think about it much since horror films have always mostly been terrible jump scares that I can remember. The Madsen film is absolutely, stupendously ridiculous. It’s nearly perfection in it’s stupidity. I remember watching it with my ex and we both walked away from it having absolutely loved it and could not begin to explain why – and we both hate the jump scare gore genres. The Shining is absolutely one of the best horror films of all time. The remake was no good (IMHO), but that original version was terrifying. Not in the movie genre, but potential for equally terrifying are quite a number of the original Twilight Zone episodes. Some are not, but some are breathtakingly terrifying in their own way. Not the direction style, but in the stories themselves. If it engages your brain it can be terrifying. If it’s just bombs and jumps, and cheap screams, I can do without it.
Hope you’re doing well!
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