From the moment “Halloween Ends” begins you can just tell that something feels off about the movie. Once the movie really gets going you finally can tell what is really off. The movie plays out much more like a romance movie than a horror movie. On top of that drastic shift in tone, the story is really built upon a strange plot point that is not explained at all. In essence, about 30-40 minutes into the movie one of main characters, Corey, gets kidnaped by Michael Myers and while Michael is in the process of killing Corey, he looks into Corey’s eyes and decides not to kill him. It is implied that Michael transferred his evil into Corey, but it is never actually explained, and it just makes more questions that never will get answered. After this Corey just casually becomes Michael Myers for almost the whole rest of the movie, he even steals and then dawns the iconic mask for himself.

Corey essentially becoming a new Michael Myers is where the movie lost me. The whole point of the “Halloween” franchise is that it is the struggle between Laurie and Michael, and for a movie that was marketed as the final battle between these two foes, it is really a smack in the face of “Halloween” fans for the movie not to be about Laurie and Michael at all.

I think they are only on screen together for ten minutes. The overarching story is about Allyson, Laurie’s grandchild and the aforementioned Corey and their love story. Laurie and Michael do not even get to be the B-plot of the movie. They are relegated to the C-Plot instead. For a movie franchise literally based around those two, the movie does not give nearly enough time for either character.

Before I get any further into my criticism of this movie, I will give it credit for what it does well. The movie is actually interesting and it will keep you hooked the whole way through, and honestly there is not a dull moment where the plot is not moving. Speaking of moving, the pacing of the movie is great and every scene does further the plot, and the movie does not drag on and does not feel like a chore to watch. Finally the acting is really strong, with Rohan Campbell giving probably the best performance. Jamie Lee Curtis and Andi Matichak also mix really well together in the scenes they share.

My biggest complaint on the technical side is that the cinematography is extremely jarring and distracting during a lot of scenes. I am not one that is bothered by jittery camera movements or experimental shots, but watching some of those scenes really made my head hurt.

The soundtrack was also disappointing; of course, the classic “Halloween” track is played throughout the movie, but I think it is very much overdone, and there is really no other sound to the movie in places where there should be.

The kills in “Halloween Ends” were so underwhelming. There were only two times where a kill was genuinely terrifying or done in a good way. All of the other kills were off screen or just plain boring, and they felt like they were straight out of a typical slasher film.

Overall, “Halloween Ends” certainly can keep the audience captivated in its story, and the movie has good acting. Although the plot holes, the refusal to focus on Michael and Laurie, and the lackluster cinematography cause this movie to fail well short of a worthy ending for the franchise. “Halloween Ends” gets a 2/5 from me.