I remember the first time I saw the original Halloween and how thrilling it was for me…and that was just on network TV. Seeing it over and over again the past 40+ years, I’ve appreciated it’s simple and yet undeniable horror quality.

The “sequel” in 2019 was great. The callbacks to the original and the absolute brutality of it were what you’d want to continue the story. But let’s face it, with few exceptions, (The Empire Strikes Back, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Dark Knight, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Dawn of the Dead, The Godfather: Part II, Blade Runner 2049, Paddington 2 and the latest, Top Gun: Maverick) sequels usually suck.

Horror franchises like Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and others crank out sequels to make a quick buck but are not generally too concerned about quality. That’s why the 2019 version of Halloween was so impressive, but sadly, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends have not followed suit.

Halloween Kills turned it into a mob mentality movie against Michael Myers and Halloween Ends gives Michael Myers a sidekick. There’s a few interesting angles to the movie but the tone just didn’t resonate with me. It’s a movie so I can suspend disbelief as well as anyone but having characters suddenly do something completely against character just gets under my skin. It’s why Vengeance was not as good as it could have been for me.

It’s been said that this is where Halloween finally ends but we’ve heard that before. Let’s hope they’re right this time.