WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

After 44 years, ten sequels and one remake, John Carpenter’s iconic slasher franchise concludes with director David Gordon Green’s “Halloween Ends.” Rather than delivering a swift but satisfying conclusion, Green leads viewers down an unnecessarily lengthy narrative before rushing to deliver on fans’ expectations.

Because of its commercial success, Hollywood did not spare the film from its mass production of horror sequels centering popular slasher characters. As a result, the “Halloween” series contains 13 movies, including remakes and “Halloween Ends.” 

The character and story inconsistency further complicates the viewing experience. According to IGN, there are five timelines within the “Halloween” franchise, which can be confusing and overwhelming for new viewers. For the sake of simplicity, the order recommended for viewers to watch the series is; “Halloween”(1978), “Halloween”(2018), “Halloween Kills” (2021) and “Halloween Ends” (2022). 

Four years after the events of “Halloween” (2018) and “Halloween Kills,” Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), the protagonist of the original 1978 movie, and her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) have settled down in their hometown of Haddonfield. Abandoning her lifelong obsession of seeking vengeance against her attacker Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney), Laurie attempts to live a normal life and take care of Allyson, whose parents were killed in Michael’s murder spree. However, the Haddonfield residents are merciless about the Strodes’ involvement in the massacre, making Laurie’s transition more difficult.

Meanwhile, Haddonfield resident Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell), who serves as the main antagonist of the film, struggles to live a normal life after accidentally killing a boy three years prior. The townsfolk villainize Corey as “the killer babysitter” and shun him when he tries to move on with his life. After Corey survives an encounter with Michael Myers, they join forces and seek their revenge on Haddonfield.

Both narratives coincide when Allyson forms a romantic relationship with Corey. Laurie sees the psychopathic similarities between him and Michael and successfully subdues Corey on Halloween night. After an intense fight scene, Laurie and Allyson deliver several fatal blows on Michael before publicly executing him. The movie ends with Allyson and Laurie moving on with their own, separate lives.

The film’s most discernible flaw is Michael Myers’ minimal screen time and  emphasis on Corey’s character development. Because of the success of John Carpenter’s 1978 movie, Michael Myers has been a pop culture icon of the horror genre for decades. His image alone brings a large turnout to theaters for each successive entry in the Halloween franchise. When the central character of the entire series is mostly absent in the supposed final film, it feels like false advertising and blatant disregard of what made the original movie so popular. 

However, the movie attempts to compensate for this by writing Corey as a foil to Michael. One theory explaining why Michael did not kill Corey is because he saw they were not so different. After they were charged for their crimes, they were ostracized by Haddonfield and left to dwell on their feelings of resentment. When the opportunity to take revenge arose, both of them succumbed to their psychopathic tendencies and laid waste on Haddonfield. 

However, the addition of this theme was not enough to satisfy audiences. Despite earning $43.4 million on opening weekend, “Halloween Ends” received a 39% TomatoMeter rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics were not the only ones to express their dissatisfaction about the film. A “Halloween” fan by the username DJ Jones started a petition on Change.org demanding a reshoot of the film, earning almost 13,000 signatures as of Oct. 24.

“‘Halloween Ends’ was NOT a film that the fans wanted,” Jones said. “We love this franchise whole heartedly, and this version of a ‘Halloween’ movie left us sad, mad, disappointed and infuriated. Please give us a movie that shows us what Halloween is really about; our apex predator; the king of slasher movies; Michael Myers!”

Though “Halloween Ends” fails to meet fans’ expectations, it manages to explore an intriguing character arc that reflects some real world circumstances. In a different film, horror fans could have appreciated the narrative more, but as it stands, the movie will remain a major letdown for “Halloween” fans everywhere.