The recent release of Halloween Ends has sparked a discussion about whether Halloween Kills was as bad as audiences initially thought. Currently, both Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends have a 39% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, unlike 2018's Halloween which has a significant advantage with 79%. It is clear that both Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends have their fair share of problems, but that doesn't necessarily mean that one isn't better than the other.
Following the release of 2018's Halloween, audiences were divided about whether Michael Myers should return to the big screen. While the possibility of seeing Michael again was exciting, Halloween did such a great job of providing a conclusive end to Michael and Laurie that the idea of him returning proved worrisome. Three years later, Halloween Kills was released, and it quickly became known as one of the worst films within the Halloween franchise. Compared to the original 1978 Halloween and even 2018's Halloween, Halloween Kills significantly separated itself from the franchise by trying to incorporate heavy societal themes into a fairly straightforward slasher format. At the time, no other Halloween film had divided the fanbase as much as Halloween Kills, that is, until the release of Halloween Ends, which has proven to be the most controversial of the franchise.
Why Halloween Kills Was So Heavily Criticized
Halloween Kills was heavily criticized for a multitude of reasons. However, the primary reason for Halloween Kills' backlash is that it was completely different from 1978's Halloween while existing in a planned trilogy that was supposed to be directly linked to it. Where Michael Myers was reminiscent of a phantom killer in 1978's Halloween, lurking within the shadows and stalking his prey, he instead becomes a raging killing machine, brutally murdering anyone who crosses his path. This was an issue that already became prominent in 2018's Halloween, and yet Halloween Kills managed to make it significantly worse by taking it a step further and making him literally unbeatable. The reboot trilogy was supposed to retcon Michael Myers as an immortal, unstoppable killer, yet Halloween Kills saw Michael brutally cut his way through an entire mob after facing injuries no mortal man could survive.
Aside from the copious amount of gore within Halloween Kills, the film also attempts to act as a social commentary, critiquing the ways in which communities react to killers. For example, Halloween Kills shows 1978 survivor Tommy Doyle become somewhat of a vigilante who recruits a number of Haddonfield residents in order to take down Michael Myers rather than live in fear of him. The mob grows so large and angry that eventually, they end up chasing down and killing the wrong man. This was a huge subversion away from anything the Halloween movies had done before, and while it was an interesting concept, Halloween Kills' cautionary tale of revenge ultimately fell flat among the chaos occurring around it.
Why So Many People Are Hating On Halloween Ends
Following the backlash from Halloween Kills, it appears as though Halloween Ends attempted to retcon a lot of what they established in the former. This is primarily the reason for Halloween Ends' downfall. Where Halloween Kills showed Michael Myers as an immortal force to be reckoned with, Halloween Ends went back to the idea of him simply being a regular man. Instead, it is the fear plaguing Haddonfield that is immortal, with Halloween Ends spending the majority of its narrative with a new character, Corey Cunningham, and how this fear has affected his life as he becomes labeled as Haddonfield's new boogeyman.
Unlike Halloween Kills, Halloween Ends removes much of the gore in exchange for a more grounded approach to its story. Similarly to Halloween Kills, Halloween Ends attempts to explore the effects of Michael Myers on Haddonfield even further. However, Halloween Ends is a bit more contained, using Corey Cunningham to illustrate that society can be responsible for creating killers such as Michael Myers, exploring Corey's psychological corruption as he becomes the psychopath that Haddonfield accused him of being. For this to work, it meant that Michael Myers was barely in the film, and when he was acting even more out of character than in the two previous installments, now a weak man barely able to hold his ground. Ultimately, this led to Michael's final fight with Laurie and eventual demise being incredibly rushed, and made a majority of Halloween Kills feel pointless.
Does Halloween Kills Deserve More Credit Now?
It could be argued that if audiences had known about the outcome of Halloween Ends that Halloween Kills would have been far more appreciated at the time. If anything, Halloween Ends actually proves audiences wrong about the majority of their criticism regarding Halloween Kills. For example, while many viewers found it ridiculous that Michael Myers survived the injuries he sustained in Halloween Kills, Halloween Ends proves that a Michael killing machine is far more entertaining than an old, injured one. Furthermore, Halloween Ends also proved that deep down, audiences do love the gore that comes with a Halloween movie. While some felt that the violence in Halloween Kills was out of place, Halloween Ends would have been far better received had it also included some gore with its overarching theme.
This doesn't mean that Halloween Kills is suddenly a good film. While there are other things about Halloween Kills that make it better than Halloween Ends, such as likable victims and some humor, it still has many faults that can be hard to overlook. Additionally, it also wastes away a lot of Laurie and Michael potential as Halloween Ends did, and brought back a lot of legacy characters and didn't really do anything with them. Therefore, while Halloween Kills is subjectively better than Halloween Ends, neither of them manage to match up to the standards set by 1978's or even 2018's Halloween.
How The Perception Of The Halloween Reboot Trilogy Has Changed
Within the debates about Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends there is some common ground, which is that 2018's Halloween should have been a standalone movie that concluded the story of Laurie Strode and Michael Myers. If their story had ended with Michael burning to death in Laurie's basement, it would have been far more satisfying than the disappointing conclusion of Halloween Ends. In fact, even Halloween Ends could have worked better as a standalone film, especially if it had taken place after Michael's death, which is more than can be said about Halloween Kills which was not given enough justice or a conclusion in Halloween Ends. Ultimately, the Halloween reboot trilogy would have worked better if Halloween Ends had directly followed Halloween Kills, taking place on the same night as originally planned with a brutal final showdown between Laurie and Michael.
