2018's Halloween received positive reviews from fans and critics alike, which was somewhat surprising since it wrote the original sequels out of existence and instead served as a direct follow-up to John Carpenter's 1978 classic.
Box office success led to an additional two films receiving the green light, and today saw the release of the middle chapter, Halloween Kills. It certainly appears to be dividing fans and critics, due in large part to an ending that almost certainly won't be to everyone's liking.
On first viewing, it's not the easiest conclusion to wrap your head around, so we're now breaking things down to explore how we reach that point, what this means, and where things go next (especially with Halloween Ends on the horizon). Something tells us the finale will be a divisive one, especially given how events wrap up here.
Take a look at our full, spoiler-filled breakdown of Halloween Kills' conclusion below:
How We Reached This Point
When Halloween Kills begins, a group of firemen foolishly start putting out the blaze in Laurie's home and, yes, Michael is still very much alive down there. He's managed to survive the smoke and flames, and massacres the lot of them before rampaging his way through Haddonfield and killing as many of the dumb locals as possible.
However, rather than tracking Laurie down at the hospital, Michael once again returns home and kills the people living there. Allyson, Laurie's granddaughter, finds him and is forced to watch the serial killer slaughter her ex-boyfriend before he closes in for the kill.
Her mom, Karen, luckily appears and manages to stab Michael in the back with a pitchfork before removing his mask and baiting him into following her. At this point, he's been burned, stabbed, and shot, but is still standing, and follows Laurie's daughter...into the trap her and the town's residents have set.
What The F*** Is Michael Myers, Anyway?
The townspeople close in and proceed to beat, shoot, and stab Michael, though it's Karen who delivers the killing blow. With that, it appears he's finally dead and she's able to reunite with Allyson on the doorstep of the killer's childhood home. However, he soon rises from the ground, murdering all the people who (supposedly) put him down for the count.
Back in the house, Karen looks out of the window after being told earlier that Michael would stand there as a child just staring out at the world (shortly before this, she sees him there as a six-year-old in the clown costume he was wearing in the original movie). With that, Michael steps out of the shadows and stabs her to death.
While all this happens, Laurie ponders that Michael is, in fact, some sort of supernatural being fuelled by fear and the amount of kills he racks up. It seems she could be right, as it's clear now that he's not a regular human and may be borderline immortal. However, that does leave us with some big questions as we look at what this means...
What Does The Ending Mean?
Well, there's no other way to look at this than concluding that Michael Myers is indeed supernatural in nature. That doesn't explain why he remained in that mental asylum for four decades without killing anyone, while the fact that it's the 40th anniversary of his original spree doesn't appear to have much meaning either.
It appears Michael doesn't have a personal vendetta against Laurie, and the only reason he targeted her again is because Doctor Sartain took him to her house. Yes, she's the one that got away, but as Laurie points out, it appears that the more people he kills, the more Michael is able to transcend.
Something happened in that house, but whether any satisfying answers are coming, it's hard to say. Is Michael possessed? Is Laurie the only one who can stop him or is that just in her head? Director David Gordon Green and Jamie Lee Curtis have hinted that Halloween Ends will be divisive and very different, so we're not sure where things are headed.
How Does This Set The Stage For Halloween Ends?
Laurie and Michael's story is likely coming to a close in Halloween Ends, though we're sure the latter will be rebooted at some point in the not too distant future.
This iteration of the franchise has taken things in an odd direction, and once again turning Michael into a seemingly unstoppable, supernatural being is bound to have major ramifications; how can he be killed and what's the significance of his sister? She was his first victim and he even used her headstone in of kills during John Carpenter's Halloween.
This film ends with both Laurie and Michael staring out of a window. so another clash is coming (she'll no doubt want revenge for her daughter's death). How he can be stopped is hard to say, but if Green intends to take a deep dive into Michael and establish a new mythology around him, fans will either love or hate it.
For proof of that, look no further than at the mixed response to this year's Candyman sequel/reboot...