You've got to pick up every stitch, must be The Season Of The Witch

  Halloween III has been beloved for so long that it's no longer 'underappreciated' - time has been kind so now it's a fan favorite; people love an underdog. 

  Halloween Ends isn't an Anthology film like Season Of The Witch but it does have that let's-switch-it-up spirit. 

  From its great opening needle drop and slanted blue font leading us into its cold open, Ends instantly carries itself differently. Much like Part III, it's unshackled itself from the cultural weight of Michael Myers as an Icon and focused more on him as peripheral Myth. Kills was a massively messy clunker so my expectations were fucking nil for Ends and that yielded some intense surprise for me.

-major spoilers ahead-

    Despite how I feel about Kills and Halloween (2018), what I mostly took away from those movies was Carpenter's score. The trailer for Ends didn't make me feel much of anything beyond this feeling that Carpenter had yet another banger of an album on the way and this rollout to promote it includes another movie tie-in (same with that Firestarter remake). But Ends blew me away in terms of having actual resounding synthesis with Carpenter's score. For the first time in the whole Blumhouse Trilogy the composers aren't overqualified; every track is nocturnal and eerie but there's a spacious melancholy to them too, which fits Haddonfield's whole atmosphere now.

  Also, for the first time since the '78 original, Michael Myers is spooky again. Every new movie in the franchise's many timelines ratcheted up his relentless barbarity but here he's presented as more haunting, a lurking spectre we rarely see - Green making good on the original's ending. When we finally do see him in his sewer hideout his mask is rotting and caked in mud, surrounded by sewer rats and spider webs. My favorite part of this dwelling, that still gives me the creeps, is how the facial features of his mask are molded into the Earth. It's never explained and we only see it once but with roots twining out around it, it drives home this feeling that he's part of Haddonfield (and not in a limp metaphorical way; this shit is grossly literal).

  More than that, The Shape is more interesting here than he's been in...ever. His 'team-up' with Corey after 'infecting' him is as fascinating to watch as it is invigorating to this Halloween fan. Their whole dynamic erects new 'lore' without any hard-and-fast exposition; it's all implied and vague, in the best possible way (Thorn-free). It makes every single action by Michael interesting and engaging (especially when he lets Corey wrestle him in the sewer, a jawdropping scene because of how bold it is).

  Taking an idea set up at the end of Part 4, that was ultimately abandoned in Part 5, this is my favorite kind of 'remake,' one that doesn't set out to honor the original, but improve upon it. At the end of Part 4, Jamie Lloyd, 'infected' with Michael Myers' 'evil' after touching his hand, stabs her foster Mom and stands menacingly atop the stairs as Dr. Loomis screams "No!" until the credits roll. It's an exciting ending to an otherwise boring movie. Even Danielle Harris got excited to play The Boogeyman's Sidekick! ...but in Part 5 she's no longer evil, just cursed with the ability to see what Michael does (and is also inexplicably mute[?]). It failed to deliver.

  Ends takes that half-baked idea, hones the recipe, and simmers it until meat is falling off the bone.

  I had to watch it multiple times to confirm I wasn't just drunk on giddiness and low expectations or high on the audacity of Green and his writers, or some unholy in-between. Nah, dude, can confirm: this movie rules.

  Any and all criticisms people have of it, especially those bemoaning it as "the worst of the franchise!," I point to every single movie that preceded it and ask you to reflect. The dialog is bad? Okay, tell me you love the dialog between Annie and Linda in the original - or, fuck, any of the sequels (especially 6 and Resurrection). We barely see Michael? Okay, he has less screentime in the original than he does here - ever seen Jaws? It's not a good ending to this trilogy? Thematically, it ties everything up.

  The biggest criticism I see is: Michael Myers is 'weak' and gets his ass kicked by Corey? Well, he's in a body that's over 60 years old. He was beaten, stabbed, and shot multiple times in 2018 and, four years later, hasn't had as many victims to 'reinvigorate' him. I buy that Corey, a strapping dude in his 20s who's now imbued with The Shape's 'power,' is able to overpower Michael. And you also have to consider: no matter how many times Corey knocks him down, he comes right back up. Not to mention, in the original, he was stabbed and knocked down by Laurie multiple times. You can't say Michael never stopped enduring.

  But, snark aside, if you expected one kind of movie and got this, your feelings are valid since the marketing is misleading: Corey isn't highlighted but Michael and Laurie are. David Gordon Green said that he and the other writers had "no interest in a Laurie vs. Michael showdown" but the trailers and posters paint a different story. The marketing is most likely not Green's fault, it's either Universal's and/or Blumhouse's deception. It's not fair, I get that you feel duped.

  But underneath that, doesn't it thrill you? Plus, like...what's the alternative? ANOTHER movie where Laurie and Michael get into a cat-and-mouse game while he slaughters random people until one or both of them die at the end? That's the 2018 movie. You want Michael to be a badass and rack up bodies for a Kill Count video? That's Halloween Kills (the Fire Department massacre, alone, is him at his most barbarically cool and that's right at the start of the movie. He goes on to turn Haddonfield into a slaughterhouse). And even if you hate Corey wearing the mask, he has two of the most ghoulish kills of this or any franchise.
 

  I didn't want what the marketing promised so I got something refreshing and weird that made me shift my weight in the theater seat. I was leaning forward intrigued, perplexed, confused, exuberant, and engrossed in a tale of learned helplessness.
 

Corey's tale is a look at forgiveness, redemption, misinformation, cancel culture, true crime spectacle, co-opting tragedy, and nature vs. nurture

  It's a flawed movie, for sure, but its strengths elevate it so much. I could write a whole post about how dynamic a character Corey Cunningham is, his parallels with Michael and Laurie, Allyson's arc, Rohan Campbell's performance, the dense thematic layering and tightly woven narrative. There are even unexpectedly poignant scenes where Laurie acts like a teenager again, crushing on Frank Hawkins, which is such a welcome contrast to her absolute misery the past three movies. And that romance comes full-circle for a satisfying ending that's not entirely sweet so much as finally content.

 
  Since this is the final part of a trilogy that totally whiffed it in the second movie, it feels like a thoughtful rebuild after reckless destruction. And what it builds is an ending that's confidently character-driven and reflective - how do you not appreciate that? This movie is special because it's risky, fun, and thoughtful.

  And, just like with Part III, time is gonna be kind to it. Right now it's underappreciated but ...people do love an underdog.