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I wrote in my review of the 2018 reboot of “Halloween” that the team behind the film didn’t “really understand what made the first film a masterpiece.” Not to be that guy, but if the cluttered “ Halloween Kills ” didn’t prove me right then the baffling “Halloween Ends” certainly does. What’s so bizarre about this truly strange sequel is that it's easy to admire its wide swings at doing something different with a trilogy closer, but Green and his team can’t figure out how to wed their undeniable ambition to something that’s coherent. Much like the criticism of the notoriously divisive “Halloween 3: Season of the Witch”—and some of the structure is intentionally a nod to that diversion from the Michael Myers formula—“Halloween Ends” is barely a “Halloween” movie. Rather than directly end what was set up in the previous film, it introduces a new antagonist, and spends way too much time on a half-baked young love story, but it has to come back to Laurie Strode ( Jamie Lee Curtis ), even if the final showdown has been drained of any sense of urgency by the convoluted route these films took to get there. It also doesn’t help that we all know that the title of this film is a lie. There will be another “Halloween” movie somewhere in the future, which will make this even more of an odd tangent in the history of a horror legend. Although “Halloween Pauses” probably doesn’t sound as exciting.

Rather than pick up after the chaos of the last film that left Judy Greer ’s Karen Nelson dead—a stupid choice that still annoys me—“Halloween Ends” opens in 2019 with a new character named Corey Cunningham (the downright bad Rohan Campbell , poorly directed to a dull performance). He’s babysitting for a kid in Haddonfield who’s a little scared by all the murder around town. When the kid decides to play a prank on Corey, it results in an accident that leaves the little scamp dead, turning Corey into a pariah. Three years later, Laurie is working on her memoir—allowing for way too much voiceover about the nature of evil and all that—and living with her granddaughter Allyson ( Andi Matichak ).

After being bullied by a series of marching band tough guys—which might be a movie first—Corey starts to crack, discovering Michael Myers in a sewer, where the two basically become BFFs, unleashing violence all over Haddonfield. The admittedly ambitious idea seems to be that evil is not just in notorious monsters like Michael Myers but could be unleashed in an average babysitter whose life is ruined by an accident. Corey ends up basically infected by the Myers’ evil, but Allyson can’t see his true depravity, falling more in love with the brooding maniac because, well, it’s a movie. To say the love story between Corey and Allyson is underwritten and unbelievable would be an understatement. It’s just poorly executed in every way.

A shocking amount of “Halloween Ends” is poorly executed with clunkier editing, framing, and writing than the other two films, as if the team were hired to make this one as a contractual requirement and were trying to get through it as quickly as possible. What’s more likely true is that Green and his team had a truly ambitious film idea about the nature of evil and how violent loners can be created by fearful societies ... but they also had to make a “Halloween” movie. It’s the two concepts pushing and pulling against each other that tear this movie apart. What starts promising gets dumb, and Green can’t even manage the art of a quality kill, dispatching some victims here with remarkably forgettable monotony—only a DJ gets a death worth remembering. And we know it's all leading to Laurie vs. Michael, something that had such promise in 2018 but doesn’t have any power left. 

If this is truly the end, it’s a whimper, not a bang.

In theaters and on Peacock today.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Film credits.

Halloween Ends (2022)

Rated R for bloody horror violence and gore, language throughout and some sexual references.

111 minutes

Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode

Andi Matichak as Allyson Nelson

Will Patton as Frank Hawkins

Kyle Richards as Lindsey Wallace

James Jude Courtney as The Shape

Rohan Campbell as Corey Cunningham

Omar J. Dorsey as Sheriff Barker

• David Gordon Green

Writer (based on characters created by)

• John Carpenter
• Paul Brad Logan
• Chris Bernier
• Danny McBride

Cinematographer

• Michael Simmonds
• Timothy Alverson

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2021’s Halloween Kills was the Infinity War of the contemporary Halloween franchise — an ambitious movie that expanded the scope of its predecessor, but ultimately felt like an incomplete story. But instead of bringing things home with an Endgame equivalent, Halloween Ends plays out more like Game of Thrones season 8: a rushed entry that skips over important character development, kind of just forgets about plot points from the last two movies, and ends up betraying what made this reboot worth watching in the first place. David Gordon Green’s trilogy-capper does feel like a definitive ending to the Halloween series led by Jamie Lee Curtis, but fans might be begging for someone to take another stab at it rather than ending Michael Myers’ reign of terror on such a sour note.

Did you remember that Michael was a kid who stabbed his sister, killed a few babysitters, left one survivor who spent decades preparing for his return, then found himself trapped in her burning house, but somehow survived, and escaped to murder the survivor’s daughter? Green and co-writer Danny McBride, working this time with Paul Brad Logan and Chris Bernier, assume you don’t, as Halloween Ends kicks off with a whole flashback sequence recapping the entire story so far. The trust issues only get worse from there, as the horror movie constantly reminds viewers not just of moments in Halloween history, but of things that literally happened minutes before, and of character relationships that should be obvious by now.

Everything that isn’t bluntly pointed out is swept under the rug. Michael’s slaying of Karen (Judy Greer)? Don’t worry about it. The whole town enacting mob justice against Michael Myers at the end of Halloween Kills , then losing miserably? What matters is everyone’s still scared and paranoid. Instead of resolution, Halloween Ends picks up four years after the events of Kills , with everyone having forgotten about Michael, and the Strodes mostly on the sidelines. Green and his cohorts reframe the action on an unrelated character, Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell). And as for the Shape, he’s been in hiding, until Corey stokes his thirst for blood.

Despite this entire trilogy supposedly riding on the shoulders of Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode and her trauma, Halloween Ends never dives deeper into the trauma’s significance. It has multiple characters, including Laurie’s granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak), to guilt Laurie into thinking that somehow Michael’s return was her fault for obsessing over him —despite both the audience, and multiple character witnesses like Allyson herself, knowing otherwise. The tonal shift borders on victim-shaming, and a complete betrayal to what was supposed to be the core of this movie.

Thankfully, Jamie Lee Curtis still shines as Laurie, who we meet here at a different point in her life. Four years after her brutal encounter, Ends finds Laurie writing a memoir, baking pies for Allyson, and flirting with Will Patton’s Deputy Hawkins. After two emotionally heavy performances in the previous two films, it is actually delightful to see Curtis get to flex her comedic muscles for a while, delivering some genuinely funny moments that should add fuel to the fire of her recent comments about wanting to do another Freaky Friday.

Though Halloween Ends seems in a big rush to reach the finish line, it dawdles toward the action one might expect from a Halloween movie. That’s because most of the 111-minute run time is spent on Corey, who becomes a social pariah after a deadly incident one Halloween night and gets strangely obsessed with Michael Myers.

If nothing else, the turn is ambitious. Halloween Kills expanded the scope to the entire town, and Halloween Ends makes some bold choices through Corey’s storyline, as the film explores whether evil is something created by one’s environment or something already within us, unshakable, and just waiting to be unleashed. Halloween Ends continues the thread from Kills of asking whether Michael Myers is a 70-something-year-old mentally ill man or evil incarnate, a supernatural being that heals himself through the act of killing and can almost pass on his essence to others.

Unfortunately, Green doesn’t seem interested in answering the big questions. Nor can he find new ways to enliven Michael Myers, focusing on Corey for most of the run time, and using a vastly different and more angsty tone that belongs in a Kevin Williamson Scream script rather than a Halloween one. He discards the modernized John Carpenter visuals and camera work that became essential to his first Halloween sequel for a less creative or energetic film where the camera barely moves.

There is, of course, an actual confrontation between Laurie and Michael, one that arrives too little too late after an hour of following Corey. There are some cool and gruesome kills, but most of them happen off screen or are purposefully undermined by staging. Where Halloween Kills was a brutal slasher that seemed to place us in the shoes of the Shape, David Gordon Green tries everything he can to subvert the primal origins of the premise. There’s almost a sense of shame hanging over the entire movie.

The Halloween saga started by John Carpenter and Debra Hill in 1978 ends in this film, but the end can’t vindicate the existence of this continuation of the story. Even if 2018’s Halloween set out to explore trauma through horror, there’s nothing in Ends that pays off the probing. The trilogy wasn’t ultimately about how evil takes hold of us and creates havoc through paranoia. This was an ambitious trilogy that tried to take the Halloween franchise to new places, but it ultimately falls short, introducing so many ideas that it quickly abandons, while forgetting about the one thing it was always supposed to be about: Laurie Strode.

Halloween Ends opens in wide theatrical release and simultaneously streams on Peacock on Oct. 14.

‘Halloween Ends’ Is a Grim, Gory, and Gooey Goodbye to an Iconic Slasher Franchise

By K. Austin Collins

K. Austin Collins

It isn’t new for a film in the long-running Halloween franchise to wonder whether the villain Michael Myers was born or made. But Halloween Ends — said to be Jamie Lee Curtis ’ final entry in the franchise — is a solid attempt to put a fine point on that idea. The title says it succinctly. You’ve undoubtedly seen (and Curtis knows that you’ve seen) a supercut of the timeless scream queen saying that the latest trio of Halloween movies, helmed by David Gordon Green, is “about trauma.” Halloween Ends , capping them off, is about closure — to the extent that Laurie Strode and the murder-ridden town of Haddonfield, Illinois, can dare to imagine such a thing.

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Halloween Ends is a curious and mostly effective mix of slasher antics and dramatically straight-faced themes. It’s a good enough slasher to provoke laughter in some of its grimmer moments, because the deaths are that ridiculous and the targets are sometimes, unfortunately, a little deserving; this is still, for all its talk about trauma , the kind of movie that makes you root for shitheads to get what’s coming to them, even if what’s coming for them is Michael Myers. And even if they have their reasons for being the way they are — because they were made, rather than born, that way. 

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Halloween Ends

The saga of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode comes to a spine-chilling climax in the final installment of this trilogy. The saga of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode comes to a spine-chilling climax in the final installment of this trilogy. The saga of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode comes to a spine-chilling climax in the final installment of this trilogy.

• David Gordon Green
• John Carpenter
• Paul Brad Logan
• Jamie Lee Curtis
• Andi Matichak
• James Jude Courtney
• 1.5K User reviews
• 305 Critic reviews
• 47 Metascore
• 3 wins & 21 nominations

• Officer Mulaney

• (as Destiny Mone)

• Willy the Kid

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Jamie Lee Curtis Doesn't Give a **** About Michael Myers

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Did you know

• Trivia Producer Jason Blum reiterated that, while it would not be the final film in the series, it will be the last Halloween movie under Blumhouse, with the rights of the film series reverting to producer Malek Akkad following the release of Ends. When Akkad himself was asked about the future after Ends, he half-jokingly quoted his late father Moustapha Akkad , who had always quoted series star Donald Pleasence : when asked how many Halloween movies he was going to make, he laughed and said, "I'm going to stop at 22."
• Goofs When Michael Myers attacks Nurse Deb, stabbing her through the painting, the wires holding her up are visible.

Laurie Strode : Come and get me, motherfucker.

• Crazy credits When the Blumhouse logo/credit is shown, Michael Myers can be seen outside the house.
• Connections Edited from Halloween (1978)
• Soundtracks Midnight Monsters Hop Written by Jack Huddle and Jim Robinson Performed by Jack & Jim Courtesy of Norman Petty Studios By arrangement with Mutiny Recordings

User reviews 1.5K

• travisvincent
• Oct 14, 2022
• How long is Halloween Ends? Powered by Alexa
• How come people are still celebrating Halloween in Haddonfield after the events of the previous 2 films?
• October 14, 2022 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Official Instagram
• Halloween Chấm Dứt
• Savannah, Georgia, USA
• Blumhouse Productions
• Rough House Pictures
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $20,000,000 (estimated)
• $64,079,860
• $40,050,355
• Oct 16, 2022
• $104,374,176

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 51 minutes
• Dolby Atmos

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Halloween Ends Reviews Are Here, See What Critics Are Saying About The Trilogy’s Final Film

Michael Myers is back...

Horror movie fans always delight in the month of October, checking out what new frights the genre has to offer on the big screen while still pulling out the old classics. Halloween is, without a doubt, one of the best horror movie franchises , making this fall particularly exciting given the impending release of Halloween Ends . Jamie Lee Curtis is back as Laurie Strode for a final battle with Michael Myers to close out the trilogy, and the reviews are in to let us know whether or not we can expect satisfactory closure on the Halloween franchise . 

Amongst the things we know about Halloween Ends is that it takes place four years after the events of Halloween Kills , in 2022’s post-pandemic Haddonfield, Illinois. Laurie is forced to confront her past yet again, after Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) is accused of killing a boy he was baby-sitting. Along with Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak also returns as Laurie’s granddaughter Allyson Nelson. Are critics excited about the trilogy’s conclusion ? Let’s see what they have to say, starting with CinemaBlend’s review of Halloween Ends . Mike Reyes rates the movie 4 stars out of 5, saying it's a "bold and satisfying" conclusion that will have fans talking:  

Going into Halloween Ends, I was expecting Jamie Lee Curtis’ ass kicking skills to be at full throttle throughout. If I had gotten the movie I’d expected walking into this screening, I don’t think I would have liked it as much as I did. Rather than making the endgame for Laurie Strode all about killing Michael Myers, this final chapter combines that old chestnut with a more powerful drive: to overcome the darkness that has sat with her ever since that fateful Halloween in 1978.

Aaron Neuwirth of We Live Entertainment agrees that fans will be satisfied, giving it a User Rating of a 7. He posits that for a good chunk of the first half, you might forget you’re watching a Halloween film, but the second half brings the brutality audiences want to see in a number of different ways:

No, this is not an art film disguised as Halloween; it simply marches to a different beat that focuses on the sorrow and downtrodden individuals who get extra jumpy toward the end of October. Still, this movie is not without a sense of fun. There’s plenty of humor and moments bound to allow plenty of viewers to react accordingly. Even a major showdown between Michael and Laurie hits in ways that recall the past and provide some new, satisfying beats. In fact, all of the violent horror on display is depicted in brutal and varied ways, which is what one generally wants on some level with this kind of thing. It only helps to see a certain level of control on display.

Matt Oakes of Silver Screen Riot gives the movie a grade of C+, calling it a mixed bag that isn’t likely to win over any new fans but might be enough of a satisfying conclusion for longtime followers of the franchise. The critic says,

Halloween Ends lives up to its name in unexpected ways, taking a largely unexpected route to the conclusion of the franchise before ultimately caving and offering up exactly what fans expect and want. The kills are strong and there’s some flashy new ideas here though the writing leaves much to be desired.

Peter Gray of The AU Review also calls Halloween Ends “unexpected,” but gives it the middling rating of 2.5 out of 5 stars. This review says Jamie Lee Curtis is better-utilized in this offering than its predecessor, and you have to respect director David Gordon Green for making “a ballsy, uncharacteristic move” to end this trilogy. According to the critic: 

Whilst Ends, at times, doesn’t always feel like a film that belongs in the Halloween canon, it does feel like it has something of a tighter grip on certain motivational actions behind its bloodshed. Kills, for all its faults, enjoyed itself immensely from a gore point of view, amping itself up and displaying no mercy as it offed as many people as possible, and whether or not they were connected to Laurie didn’t seem to matter. Ends has a more specific mentality in its killings.

William Bibbiani of The Wrap says so much of Halloween Ends focuses on Corey's character that it feels more like a backdoor pilot than a continuation of the original film. He says:

Instead of providing any fresh perspectives on Myers and his impact on the long-suffering town of Haddonfield — or its most famous residents, the Strode family — Halloween Ends merely offers an extended, one might say extremely padded, coda to the tale that Green has been telling. The film eventually provides some memorable gore but the ultimate conclusion is unconvincing and perfunctory. Halloween Anecdotally Concludes would have been much more accurate, although the studio’s marketing department would no doubt have hated it.

Tom Jorgensen of IGN wonders if David Gordon Green's exploration of the long-ranging effects of evil gets in the way of bringing Laurie's story to a satisfying end. This critics rates the film an "Okay" 6 out of 10, saying:

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Halloween Ends concludes the Myers/Strode rematch trilogy with an ambitious, if somewhat confused, final chapter. Despite dialed-in performances from Jamie Lee Curtis and franchise newcomer Rohan Campbell, David Gordon Green’s larger exploration of evil and trauma expands on the conversation he started in Halloween 2018 and Halloween Kills at a rate that Ends doesn’t quite have time to keep up with. There are some memorable kills and reverence for the franchise at large, but it stumbles as it brings it to a close.

If you can’t wait any longer to see Halloween Ends , no worries! The movie will be released both in theaters and to those with a Peacock subscription on Friday, October 14. 

Be sure to also check out what other upcoming horror movies are headed our way, and if you want more Michael Myers, check out all of the Halloween movies in order , and see how you can watch them. 

Heidi Venable is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend, a mom of two and a hard-core '90s kid. She started freelancing for CinemaBlend in 2020 and officially came on board in 2021. Her job entails writing news stories and TV reactions from some of her favorite prime-time shows like Grey's Anatomy and The Bachelor. She graduated from Louisiana Tech University with a degree in Journalism and worked in the newspaper industry for almost two decades in multiple roles including Sports Editor, Page Designer and Online Editor. Unprovoked, will quote Friends in any situation. Thrives on New Orleans Saints football, The West Wing and taco trucks.

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Halloween Ends review: Overloaded with therapy-speak, Ends could use more edge

Jamie Lee Curtis feels almost incidental to a final chapter in name only.

Senior Editor, Movies

Before it lumbers to its big showdown — halfheartedly, with all the excitement of a third installment of a third reboot cycle — Halloween Ends is an unusually Michael Myers-free affair. Where's the big guy? He's lurking in the sewers while a completely different drama plays out, one we're supposed to be just as into. You have to go back to 1982's cult-accruing Halloween III: Season of the Witch , about a killer TV broadcast, to find an approach as daring, though don't confuse that for successful.

The good people of Haddonfield, Ill., still talk about Michael (weirdly, they live in a universe that has John Carpenter 's The Thing on streaming, but not Halloween ). All the talking may be the problem: Ends plays more like a psychodrama than a full-fledged horror movie. Career survivor Laurie Strode ( Jamie Lee Curtis , deserving of a smarter sendoff than this) is typing out a book, one she narrates like a morbid Carrie Bradshaw: "I made a promise not to let fear rule my life anymore." Even a bratty preteen knows enough local lore to snap, "Michael Myers kills babysitters , not kids."

Unfortunately for that boy, he doesn't make it past the film's prologue, though he is technically correct. He falls from an upstairs landing to his death, an accidental victim of a kicked-open door, while his watcher for the night, Corey (Rohan Campbell), gets blamed, if not jailed. Corey enters a shadowy half-shaven existence, dreams of college on hold, as the town — zoomer bullies, cops, random people on the street — channels its rage toward him.

That's already too much backstory for a concept that, per Carpenter's model, should be as minimal and sleek as a shark. Meanwhile, there's Laurie's adult granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak), romantically drawn to Corey's pout, even as we suspect there's something not quite right about him. (Let's just say Halloween Ends doesn't have to end, should the producers decide otherwise.)

While Carpenter's percolating theme music emerges unscathed, director David Gordon Green — originally a savior to the franchise after Rob Zombie's missteps — wobbles with his vision, overcompensating for draggy bits with unmotivated gore (ah, the old snipped tongue on a spinning vinyl platter) and surprise blasts of noise. Curtis goes through her final dance, crosscut with scenes from the prior movies, and while it would be bad form to reveal more, you can't help but come up with something better in your head. Perhaps that's the point. Grade: C

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After yawning through 2021’s disappointing “Halloween Kills,” we all wanted the horror reboot series to die a bloody death.

Thank God we left our chef’s knife in the drawer, though. Because when the credits roll at “Halloween Ends,” the actual final chapter that hits theaters and Peacock Friday, you’ll consider taking Wite-Out to the title and changing it to “Halloween Keeps Going, Please.” 

Director David Gordon Green was deservedly lauded in 2018 for his superb first ‘ween film , which restored the Michael Myers vs. Laurie Strode death match to its 1970s gritty glory after a string of bombs in the 1990s and aughts. Here, he wraps up his contributions in an extremely satisfying way. 

HALLOWEEN ENDS

Running time: 111 minutes. Rated R (bloody horror violence and gore, language throughout and some sexual references.) In theaters and on Peacock Oct. 14.

Most surprising are, well, the many surprises. John Carpenter’s 1978 “Halloween,” after all, established the well-worn slasher flick pattern that we now know as well as “Happy Birthday.”

“Ends” starts, as many such films do, at a lovely suburban house in Haddonfield, Ill., with Corey (Rohan Campbell) babysitting a bratty kid on Halloween night. Something horrible happens, but it’s not at all what we come in expecting. It’s much worse.

Some months later, Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) decides to stop running from her boogeyman and moves out of her (now incinerated) bunker in the woods into a spooky blood-red, two-story home in town. I would’ve picked Punta Cana. But Laurie chooses the sort of property that looks like it can’t sell on Trulia because of the pesky quintuple murder that happened in the living room.

She lives with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) and is working on a memoir. When she goes out, the jackass neighbors mock her and call the aging survivor of a serial rampage a “freak show.” (“Halloween” has never been particularly kind to my home state of Illinois.)

Allyson, who works as a nurse, starts up a controversial romance with Corey, whose life has taken a turn for the worse. The two bond over their emotional scars like pain is a piece of pasta in “Lady and the Tramp.” 

All the while, Michael lurks.

Usually by the time most nostalgic series reach their conclusions, the end isn’t so much a competent movie as a shameless fanstravaganza filled with predictable moments for die-hards to clap. Not “Halloween Ends.” Green zeroes in on Corey, someone we’ve never met before, and his complex journey and transformation grab us with gusto.

Campbell, a 25-year-old Canadian actor who’s made no American films till now, is a major talent to watch. As Corey, he morphs from handsome and honor-roll to damaged, unhinged and borderline-possessed with little more than solid acting to rely on. (Carpenter’s classic “Halloween” theme music helps, too.) Yet, even as Corey becomes corrupted and Gollum-like, the audience doesn’t stop believing our guy can be redeemed. Right to the end. Then, duhr, we remember we’re at a horror movie — not “Silver Linings Playbook.” 

And Curtis is strong as ever. Her Laurie has become as battle-hardened as a general on the front lines. There are glimpses of softness beneath her armor, but mostly she exists to be a warrior and protector. Fighting Myers is her raison d’être. Laurie and Michael, as far as opponents go, are up there with Godzilla and King Kong.

What I love about Green’s style is he has both a sense of the grand — he gives Michael’s mask the cinematic weight of Moses’ Ten Commandments slabs — and the goofy. One death in particular, gory though it may be, is a scream. And the transitions, well-edited by Timothy Alverson, give the movie the ceaseless momentum of a highway chase.

Green seems dead-set on closing the book on his “Halloween” trilogy. The final scenes are, pardon the expression, overkill, but they sure are finite. In the past, Michael has plummeted to the ground or been stabbed, shot, burnt and more. But whenever he falls off that horror-se, the optimistic madman gets right back up. 

This time, that’ll take some doing.

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‘Halloween Ends’ Review: It Probably Doesn’t

David Gordon Green wraps up his reboot trilogy for a horror franchise that never stays dead for long.

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By Jeannette Catsoulis

Can we imagine future Halloweens without a new “Halloween”? We might have to, if David Gordon Green’s “Halloween Ends,” the wrap-up film of the reboot trilogy he began in 2018 , plants a full stop on a 44-year-old franchise. Savvy viewers, though, will intuit the title’s missing question mark, understanding that Michael Myers, one of cinema’s fustiest boogeymen, is unlikely to remain interred for long.

And for a spell in “Halloween Ends” it seems as if Green might be offering a creative hand to his possible successors, only to withdraw it in favor of business as usual. Four years have passed since the events of “Halloween Kills,” and Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) has given up the gunslinging-granny look and doomsday prepping in favor of a cottage-core aesthetic and memoir writing. She and her granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak), have inexplicably remained in Haddonfield, Ill., where the townsfolk still blame Laurie for inciting Myers’s last stabbing spree and, presumably, for their plummeting property values.

Also shunned by the locals is Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell), a geeky lad whose disastrous babysitting exploits three years earlier resulted in a dead child, a murder trial and an acquittal. Clearly, he’s perfect boyfriend material, and after saving him from the town bullies, Laurie introduces him to Allyson. Things go swimmingly until Corey encounters Myers one night in a dank cave beneath an underpass and learns there might be more to life than enduring insults and suffocating shame.

At first, Corey’s involvement with the visibly declining Myers (again played by James Jude Courtney) is strangely ill-defined, a cross between caretaker and understudy. But as proximity to evil causes Corey to change — being an acolyte apparently does wonders for the libido — his too-rapid transformation constitutes a missed opportunity for the franchise. By pumping up Corey’s psychological damage, Green could have made a passing-the-torch movie, giving Corey a clear framework for his capitulation to the allure of slaughter. This also would have meshed perfectly with Laurie’s declaration that evil doesn’t die, it just changes shape.

Changing shape, though, is something that exhausted movie properties struggle to do, and Green and his three co-writers soon revert to the comforting beats of the body count. This time, the townspeople — after virtually hijacking the previous installment — have dwindled to a few familiar faces, and there’s a touching reunion between Laurie and a flirty Officer Frank Hawkins (nice to see you, Will Patton, however briefly). He doesn’t know she’s already taken.

The twisted bond between hunter and hunted that’s common to many serial-killer narratives (though rarely more overtly and eloquently than in Bryan Fuller’s terrific TV show “Hannibal” ) has always been this franchise’s backbone. As if attempting to honor that, Green has made a movie that’s less frantic and more intimate than its predecessor, one that unfolds with a mourning finality. For me, its most evocative image is of a severed tongue circling lazily on a record turntable — maybe Green’s way of letting us know that he, at least, has nothing more to say.

Halloween Ends Rated R. Don’t pretend you don’t know why. Running time: 1 hour 51 minutes. In theaters and available to watch on Peacock .

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Halloween Ends: release date, reviews and everything we know about the horror movie

Michael Myers and Laurie Strode face off for the final time.

Trick or treat Halloween fans, the legendary horror franchise is ready to deliver what is being billed as the final chapter in the Michael Myers and Laurie Strode saga, Halloween Ends . 

The capper in a trilogy of movies (2018’s Halloween and 2021’s Halloween Kills ) that were made as direct sequels to 1978’s Halloween. Fans are eager to see the masked maniac and one of the original "final girls" go head to head one last time.

Here is everything that you need to know about Halloween Ends , from when it’s coming out to who’s in it and how you can catch up with the iconic franchise.

When is the Halloween Ends release date?

Halloween Ends releases in the US, UK and most of the world on October 14. US audiences have the choice to see the movie either in movie theaters or on the Peacock streaming service when it premieres. Find out exactly how to watch Halloween Ends .

This is the same strategy that Halloween Kills followed (as well as other Universal movies like Marry Me ). Even with the dual release strategy, Halloween Kills made nearly $50 million in its opening weekend and more than $131 million globally throughout its run.

Is there a Halloween Ends trailer?

Universal Pictures has released the trailer for Halloween Ends . While only a little more than a minute, it has just about everything long-time fans of the series could want as it promises that the saga between Michael and Laurie is coming to an end and teases an intense fight between the two, played over by the franchise's iconic score. Watch the Halloween Ends trailer directly below. 

What is the Halloween Ends plot?

We’ve alluded to it multiple times already, but the bare bones of Halloween Ends is that Michael Myers and Laurie Strode, one way or the other, are going to end their long-time rivalry, presumably with only one left standing.

But, the official synopsis for the movie sets the stage for this final showdown with a bit more detail:

Four years after the events of Halloween Kills , Laurie is living with her granddaughter Allyson and is finishing writing her memoir. Michael Myers hasn’t been seen since. Laurie, after allowing the specter of Michael to determine and drive her reality for decades, has decided to liberate herself from fear and rage and embrace life. But when a young man, Corey Cunningham, is accused of killing a boy he was babysitting, it ignites a cascade of violence and terror that will force Laurie to finally confront the evil she can’t control, once and for all.

Halloween Ends reviews — what the critics are saying?

How does Halloween Ends compare to some of the best entries in the franchise? Unfortunately the general consensus is not well.

What to Watch's Halloween Ends review calls it an "abysmal whimper" to end the recent trilogy, and we're not alone. As of October 14, the movie has a score of 43%, which classifies it as "Rotten," on Rotten Tomatoes . It's not any better over at Metacritic , where Halloween Ends scores a 45.

Though, if we're looking for a positive, it is scoring better than its predecessor, Halloween Kills , which earned a final 39% on Rotten Tomatoes and 42 on Metacritic.

How long is Halloween Ends?

Halloween Ends has a run time of one hour and 51 minutes.

What is Halloween Ends rated?

Halloween Ends is rated R in the US and 18 in the UK for "bloody horror violence and gore, language throughout and some sexual references."

Who is in the Halloween Ends cast?

Jamie Lee Curtis returned to the role that first made her famous for the first time in 16 years with 2018’s Halloween and now gets ready to play Laurie Strode for the last time with Halloween Ends , more than 40 years after she starred in the original. While Laurie Strode is probably Curtis’ most iconic role, she’s also starred in memorable movies like A Fish Called Wanda , True Lies , Freaky Friday and, most recently, Everything Everywhere All at Once .

The other side of the deadly rivalry, Michael Myers (aka the Shape), is played by James Jude Courtney, who has been portraying Myers in this latest trilogy of Halloween movies.

Additional Halloween Ends cast members include Andi Matichak ( Orange is the New Black , Blue Bloods ) as Laurie’s granddaughter Allyson, Will Patton ( Yellowstone , Remember the Titans ) as Officer Hawkins, Kyle Richards (1978’s Halloween , ER ) as Lindsey Wallace and Rohan Campbell ( Virgin River , The Hardy Boys ) as Corey Cunningham.

Who is the Halloween Ends director?

David Gordon Green has overseen this new trilogy of Halloween movies, directing all three, including Halloween Ends . Green also wrote the script for all three recent Halloween movies, along with Danny McBride ( The Righteous Gemstones ); Chris Bernier and Paul Brad Logan are also credited writers on Halloween Ends .

Before taking on the Halloween movies, Green was more known for comedy and drama, having directed Pineapple Express , Eastbound & Down , Stronger , Vice Principals and The Righteous Gemstones . He is expected to continue with the horror genre, though, as he is lined up to direct a new version of The Exorcist and a Hellraiser TV series.

How to watch the Halloween movies

There have been 13 Halloween movies since 1978, from the John Carpenter-directed original to the upcoming Halloween Ends . The timeline and how they all connect can be a bit confusing, but if you just want to know how to watch or rewatch any of the Halloween movies right now, we’ve got you covered:

• Halloween (1978) : available on The Roku Channel (US), Netflix (UK)
• Halloween II (1981) : available via digital on-demand (US), Netflix (UK)
• Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) : available via digital on-demand (US), Netflix (UK)
• Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) : available on AMC Plus & Shudder (US), Netflix (UK)
• Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989) : available on AMC Plus & Shudder (US), Netflix (UK)
• Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) : available via digital on-demand (US), Paramount Plus (UK)
• Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) : available on Paramount Plus (US), Virgin TV Go (UK)
• Halloween: Resurrection (2002) : available on Paramount Plus (US), Netflix (UK)
• Halloween (2007) : available on Netflix (US), Virgin TV Go (UK)
• Halloween II (2009) : available on Tubi (US), digital on-demand (UK)
• Halloween (2018) : available via digital on-demand (US), Virgin TV Go (UK)
• Halloween Kills (2021) : available on HBO Max (US), Sky Go, Now TV and Virgin TV Go (UK)

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Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca , Moulin Rouge! , Silence of the Lambs , Children of Men , One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars . On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd .

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'Halloween Ends': Release Date, Plot, Cast, and Everything We Know About David Gordon Green's Bloody Threequel

Here's everything there is to know about the night HE came home...again.

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When does halloween ends premiere, what is halloween ends about, who will be in halloween ends, did they film halloween kills & halloween ends back-to-back, will david gordon green return to direct halloween ends, will there be a sequel to halloween ends, is there a trailer for halloween ends, will halloween ends be available to stream day & date on peacock.

The 2018 Halloween from director David Gordon Green and horror mega-producer Jason Blum was a surprise hit with everyone and made a nice chunk of change as well. This led Universal and Blumhouse to make the obvious decision to greenlight not just one sequel, but two. The first, Halloween Kills , hit theaters and Peacock on October 15, proving to be a money maker for the studio.

The third installment, Halloween Ends , hits theaters very soon and after that massive cliffhanger ending in Kills , we’re dying to know what happens next in the story of Laurie Strode, Michael Myers, and the town of Haddonfield, Illinois.

Editor's Note: This piece was updated on July 21, to include the trailer.

RELATED: 'Halloween' Movies Ranked From Worst to Best

Halloween Ends is scheduled to hit theaters on October 14, 2022. The film was originally given a release date of October 15, 2021, but after Halloween Kills was pushed back a year the threequel had no choice but to move as well.

On that date, the slasher sequel will be opening against Lionsgate's Wonder spin-off White Bird: A Wonder Story starring Helen Mirren and Gillian Anderson and Call Jane a film centering around the Jane Collective starring Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver .

The official plot synopsis from Universal reads:

This is Laurie Strode’s last stand. After 45 years, the most acclaimed, revered horror franchise in film history reaches its epic, terrifying conclusion as Laurie Strode faces off for the last time against the embodiment of evil, Michael Myers, in a final confrontation unlike any captured on-screen before. Only one of them will survive. Icon Jamie Lee Curtis returns for the last time as Laurie Strode, horror’s first “final girl” and the role that launched Curtis’ career. Curtis has portrayed Laurie for more than four decades now, one of the longest actor-character pairings in cinema history. When the franchise relaunched in 2018, Halloween shattered box office records, becoming the franchise’s highest-grossing chapter and set a new record for the biggest opening weekend for a horror film starring a woman. Four years after the events of last year’s Halloween Kills, Laurie is living with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) and is finishing writing her memoir. Michael Myers hasn’t been seen since. Laurie, after allowing the specter of Michael to determine and drive her reality for decades, has decided to liberate herself from fear and rage and embrace life. But when a young man, Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell; The Hardy Boys, Virgin River), is accused of killing a boy he was babysitting, it ignites a cascade of violence and terror that will force Laurie to finally confront the evil she can’t control, once and for all.

Green let some plot details about the film slip. Unlike Halloween Kills which was set mere moments after the events of the previous film, there will be a four-year time jump. Halloween Ends will be set four years after the events of the previous film and will address real-world events that have happened since 2018 including the COVID-19 Pandemic and what Green called in an interview with Uproxx “peculiar politics.” What exactly Green means by that remains to be seen, but bringing social and real-world issues into the franchise is not entirely out of left field, even looking back at the last two films.

Green has let it be known that Laurie Strode may not be the main driving force of the next film, instead he teased to Fandom that it will be her granddaughter Allyson who will be the main driving force of the movie along with her “considerations and psychology.” It is a bit obvious looking at everything she lost during the last two movies from her father, then her boyfriend, and then her own mother.

Jamie Lee Curtis will once again return as Laurie Strode and Andi Matichak will be back as Allyson. Unfortunately for those two characters, most of the ensemble of the last two films have been killed by Michael Myers , including Judy Greer ’s Karen, Anthony Michael Hall ’s Tommy Doyle, Dylan Arnold ’s Cameron, and Robert Longstreet ’s Lonnie, among others.

Other characters returning that survived the events of the last film include Will Patton ’s Deputy Frank Hawkins, Omar Dorsey ’s Sheriff Barker, and Kyle Richards ’ Lindsey Wallace. Newcomers to the franchise include Rohan Campbell as Corey Cunningham, a young man who has been accused of murdering the kid he was babysitting and serves as the fuse that lights the carnage, and Michael O'Leary as Dr. Mathis.

Initially, that was the plan for the slasher sequels, but it didn’t work out that way. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Andi Matichak revealed that the shooting schedule for Halloween Kills was so intense and so ambitious that it would not have been possible had they shot the two films back-to-back.

James Jude Courtney, one of the actors who plays Michael Myers, revealed that filming is planned to start in January, which would give the final film a tighter turn-around than the previous two installments.

By early March, filming for Halloween Ends had wrapped.

Yes, Green will be indeed returning to direct and co-write the sequel alongside Danny McBride . There will also be two new talents joining the pair in scripting the film with Paul Brad Logan ( Manglehorn ) and Chris Bernier ( The House: A Hulu Halloween Anthology ). Series creator John Carpenter will also return to produce the film and will once again provide the score.

Nope, at least not one with this same team involved. Green sees his three films as three parts of a four part story, with Carpenter’s 1978 original being part one. Green has stated that he hopes Hollywood will let Michael Myers and Laurie rest before resurrecting them once again. Here's what he told Collider:

"My ego says create something that is a four-part series beginning with Carpenter's, 1978 film, and then our follow-up trilogy. I'm sure the mythology takes over and Michael and Laurie will emerge in some new capacity with some new filmmaker, storyteller behind them. But for me, I'll be done. I hope they'll take a little time off before they resuscitate it. But that's just my ego."

Green will be quite busy for the next few years, he’ll be spearheading a continuation of another beloved horror franchise for Blumhouse with a sequel trilogy to The Exorcist with Academy Award nominee Leslie Odom Jr starring and Ellen Burstyn reprising her iconic role as Chris MacNeil. Green also will be working on yet another horror reboot as he will be directing the pilot of the still in development Hellraiser HBO series. He also directed the pilot episode of the Mindy Kaling -produced HBO Max series The Sex Lives Of College Girls and most recently he directed several episodes with his Halloween co-writer McBride for the second season of the popular HBO series The Righteous Gemstones . Green signed on to direct a feature film about the creation of Disneyland for Disney+. So if you are already a fan of Green as a director, you will surely have enough content to satisfy your hunger long after Halloween Ends hits theaters and even beforehand!

The first official trailer for Halloween Ends hit the web on July 19, giving fans their much anticipated first look at the final chapter in David Gordon Green's Halloween trilogy. The trailer begins with a first-person view of Michael Myers walking into a house, similar to the opening scene in the 1978 original, only to be greeted by Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie readily pointing a gun at her longtime adversary. What comes next is a montage of Strode wrestling with Myers, paired with clips of the previous two installments and the 1978 film, before ending with a tense sequence involving Laurie, Michael, and garbage disposal, which is very reminiscent of a particular scene from the now non-canon Halloween H20: 20 Years Later .

It’s too soon to say, but we wouldn’t be surprised either way if it’s a theater exclusive or if it premieres on Peacock the same day it goes to theaters. As of right now Blum would like the final film to be a theater exclusive, but due to the unpredictable nature of everything, nothing has been set in stone.

“I want to go back to traditional windows, but COVID is incredibly unpredictable, and I didn't want to risk it again. I felt like I did that with Freaky , and it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. So I don't want to repeat that experience," Blum told Collider in an interview for Amazon Prime Video’s anthology series of TV films Welcome To The Blumhouse .

KEEP READING: 'Halloween Kills': All of Michael's Kills, Ranked

Halloween Ends is the best of the new Halloween trilogy

By richard urquiza | oct 14, 2022.

After successfully rebooting the franchise with 2018’s Halloween  and then completely botching the sequel with 2021’s  Halloween Kills , David Gordon Green returns with what is perhaps the best entry of the trilogy, Halloween Ends . I know what you’re thinking: any movie can be better than Halloween Kills , how much better are we talking?

In my opinion, the key choice that makes the difference for this movie is the daring decision to introduce the character of Cory (Rohan Campbell). The opening scene shows a 21-year-old Cory arriving at a babysitting gig. Charged with watching an enthusiastic child, the typical spooky occurrences have us thinking that Michael Myers is on the way. However, it turns out the killer had already made his entrance. An innocent prank results in the child’s gruesome demise, and Cory’s life takes a horrible turn.

This is surprising. If you saw the trailer above, or the commercials or even just posters, you know they frame Halloween Ends as an epic battle between Laurie Strode and Michael Myers. You would never have thought that both of their roles, as main character and main villain, would actually be siphoned off by Cory. This might cause an uproar among fans, but personally, I thought it pays off pretty well. It felt refreshing and new.

The trouble with it, and what I suspect may be a major complaint for some audience members, is that Myers himself is not nearly as much of a presence in this film as in past entities of the Halloween series. However, I think by putting more focus on Cory, the film is actually serving the main theme Myers has always represented: the inner evil, the idea that anyone is capable of being a beast.

The movie also does a lot with Laurie. Her involvement with the life of her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) as well as with Cory gives Jamie Lee Curtis plentiful opportunities to show off her abilities as an actor. Her conversations with Cory are particularly gripping, because Cory is basically the main character. Scenes with him always move the plot forward. Laurie’s scenes… eh, not always. I don’t really care much about Laurie’s relationship with Officer Hawkins, and I can only laugh off the scenes of various townsfolk making big leaps in logic and blaming Laurie for the various crimes of Michael Myers.

Cory is the guy who carries the movie. We are introduced to him as a sympathetic man forced into unfortunate circumstances and watch him evolve into a monster. I found his descent into evil far more entertaining than I would have another Myers rampage. I even found the romance between Cory and Allyson not only bearable but actually compelling. At first I thought I’d hate it, because it so blatantly indulged in the love-at-first-sight trope so many movies lean on. But a couple scenes in I sort of started to love it, because I was getting the idea that Allyson was a psychopath herself. Why else would she suddenly become obsessed with a guy she’d only known for a couple days? Also, the fact that a majority of Cory’s victims are people that annoyed her made me think she was pointing Cory in their direction. Well, killing the cop might have been Cory’s idea, but how did he just decide to go for the chatty nurse or douche doctor? Coincidence? I think not.

Allyson definitely has a screw loose, and I liked that. I wish they had lended more into that aspect of her character, as by the end it didn’t really amount to much. And speaking of the end of Halloween Ends …

Spoilers for Halloween Ends  

If this was any other film, Cory would have been the main character through to the end. However, because this is “the final Halloween movie,” the film had to become about Laurie Strode eventually.

To set the scene: Cory, now a full-fledged killer obsessed with Allyson, goes to Laurie’s house to kill her. However, Laurie turns the tables on him, and in the end Cory commits suicide but makes it look like Laurie killed him, thus severing her relationship with Allyson, who arrives just in time to see what Cory wanted her to see. It’s established before that Allyson blames Laurie for some of the things Michael had done to their family over the years. (Again, not really sure how that’s Laurie’s fault, but I digress.)

Personally, I think I would have preferred a story that didn’t end with Cory committing suicide, because his arc begs something more; he needed a more meaningful death. But because his death leads to a change in Laurie’s relationship with her granddaughter, I was down with it.

However, after that Michael appears and has one final (very satisfying) showdown with Laurie. Allyson ends up saving Laurie, which was a total let down. It undermines the obsession Allyson was showing through the movie. I would have preferred a mixed bag ending rather than a happy one, even though I understand why they gave this to Laurie, who kills the monster who has haunted her for the majority of her life, even if her relationship with her granddaughter is ruined. The way things end, Cory and Allyson’s movie-long romance is rendered pointless.

CG kills make me ill

While I enjoyed the subversion of expectations in the script, the deaths left a lot to be desired. I’m no huge fan of slashers, but I know that part of the fun of them is the uniqueness of the killings. With some exceptions, such as the first death in the film or the killings at the scrapyard, most of the deaths are standard stabbings. To be fair, you could argue Halloween Ends  is trying to be realistic. I think that works given Cory’s status as a novice murderer.

However, if you want to go down that route, I do think the murder scenes could have been crafted better. I’m sorry, but digital blood and CGI knives break my immersion. I want to feel that blade break skin and flesh. Give those scenes the slow pace and attention they deserve. Credit where it’s due: the special effects improve significantly for the climax. Laurie’s meticulous takedown of Michael is great; properly gory and wince-worthy. Just a shame that effort didn’t go into the whole of it.

Halloween Ends  is not what people will expect; it sure as hell isn’t what the ads promised, and I suspect some hardcore fans will walk out of the movie disappointed. However, I found Halloween Ends both surprising and refreshing, and much more nuanced than the goofy orgy of blood that was Halloween Kills . There were some boring scenes and hokey writing here and there, but hey, nothing that bad.

And indeed, Halloween did end. Midnight has finally rung, the morning rises on November 1st, and the film kept its promise. No more disappearances of the killer’s body, no more dead fist clutching before a cut to black, and no more post-credit scenes. Halloween has truly ended. For me, that’s the biggest achievement of Halloween Ends . It ended the story, and in a movie industry dedicated to stories that never end, that’s an accomplishment.

Will this truly be the last Hollow’s Eve to be haunted by Michael Myers? Personally, I don’t think so. Maybe 10 years, maybe just five years down the line, that white-painted William Shatner mask will return to stalk adolescents yet again in some new timeline, and it’ll probably suck. However, for now, Halloween Ends on a high note. As one of the major spooktacular releases for this October, I say it is definitely worth a watch.

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'Halloween Ends' director David Gordon Green talks spoilers and the stunt Jamie Lee Curtis insisted on doing herself

• Warning: Major spoilers below if you haven't seen "Halloween Ends."
• David Gordon Green told Insider why it took so long for Michael Myers to show up in the movie.
• He revealed the scene that was originally a DVD extra and said Jamie Lee Curtis insisted on doing her own stunts.

With "Halloween Ends," director David Gordon Green puts a cap on his relaunch trilogy of the iconic horror franchise. And he held nothing back.

With 2018's "Halloween" followed by "Halloween Kills" three years later, Green took us on a blood-soaked ride as he ignored the nine sequels that came out after John Carpenter's groundbreaking 1978 movie and has Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode character patiently waiting 40 years for the return of psychotic killer Michael Myers.

But for "Halloween Ends," Green gets even more daring — introducing a new evil character and giving us less Michael Myers.

The movie catches up with Strode as she's finally come to terms with the loss of her daughter at the hands of Myers, who has not been seen since the events in "Kills."

However, there may be a new evil entering Haddonfield.

We are introduced to Corey (Rohan Campbell) who has been ostracized by the town following the death of a boy he was babysitting. After being bullied through the first half of the movie, and growing fond of Strode's granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak), Corey encounters Myers and becomes the villain's killing protégé.

It leads to a gory ending that finds Strode and Myers having their final showdown.

The movie, currently in theaters and on Peacock, has been bashed by the critics. Variety called it the franchise's "most joylessly metaphorical and convoluted entry" (it has a 40% Rotten Tomatoes score ).

But the way Green sees it, it's no fun doing a franchise like "Halloween" unless you take big swings.

"It's tricky because you want to invite the fans to the party, but you also want to give something that's 100% of your creative energy," Green told Insider over a Zoom chat about his mindset in making the third movie. "You've got to swing for a few, you don't always hit them, but why not take the risk at this point."

Here, we chat with Green about the movie's biggest spoilers, his reason behind why we don't see Michael Myers until well into the movie, the gory scene that was originally planned as a DVD extra, and Curtis' insistence to have Myers smash her face through a prop-glass cabinet.

Green felt opening the movie with a kid's death would grab audiences 'by the throat'

You go and do something in the first 15 minutes of the movie that's very rare in mainstream horror movies: killing a child. Did you get any pushback from Blumhouse or Universal in making that choice?

Once we knew we were going to do a babysitter intro, and we've seen a lot of them, a lot of great ones, I think we needed to do something that grabbed people by the throat a little bit. Or a lot.

And what was really fortunate for me in this creative standpoint, the reason I continue to make movies with Blumhouse, is you get in a room and start pitching ideas and you sculpt them to be even better. It's not like they are these authoritarian corporate figures who are telling you what to do with your movie.

The second we have a rough draft we bring our DP, our production designer, our set designer, our sound mixer, and our producers into a room and we read it out loud and we hear how it goes and then we decide if it's shocking enough.

For this scene in particular did it evolve from, say, the kid breaking a leg to him falling four stories to his death?

No, he always died. There was no softer version. 

Were there different causes of the death? 

No. There were certain intentions that were different. Was Corey more mean? Was the kid really bad and, Corey in defending himself, leads to the kid dying? There were those kinds of questions we were asking. But we always knew it had to end with some ambiguity that the town could point to and say to Corey, "You're a monster." 

Green defends his choice to not have Michael Myers show up until 30 minutes into the movie

Outside of a brief recap at the beginning, Michael Myers doesn't show up until 30-40 minutes into the movie. Was there a discussion on if he should show up earlier?

There was a discussion and even through the editing process. Because you could take certain scenes from earlier and move them around. It just felt right.

Maybe I'll watch it in two years and think that's too long a gap, but it was important to me to develop characters and understand them in their own way and then introduce how Michael relates to that situation. Because he's so exciting when you see him. Myers just gets people shaking. I was worried that was going to distract from the substance of the Corey/Allyson story as it was developing. 

I thought it was a gusty move, but for me, it worked because when Corey goes on his killing spree in the Michael Myers mask, you know what his journey was to get there.

To your point, in the script stage, it was always a question if it would work because we hadn't cast our Corey yet. And if we didn't have a strong Corey cast then nobody wants to hang out in that movie. When we met Rohan and we did rehearsals I was just like, thank God. The guy is layered with vulnerability but he's also tough and physical and can really ride motorcycles. He's handsome without being pretty. He had all these attributes that we were really hoping it would pay off. 

It pays off to the point that, towards the end, I thought what you were doing was introducing us to the new Michael Myers. That Blumhouse would go and make more movies with him as The Shape.

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To be honest, I think from a studio perspective they would have been excited about that. Continue on with him. But we were writing linearly and you get to the point where you know he's got to go. How does he go? We don't know, but he's got to go. He's too evil. And no one sees his death coming. 

Michael Myers might not have special powers, but Green says he's an 'extraordinary human'

So when we meet Michael in this one he's hanging out in the sewers and he's weak. It's almost like Corey rejuvenates Michael and in turn, Michael introduces evil to Corey. Does that mean Michael has special powers? Can he feed off others who are as evil as him?

I like that you're reading into it that way. I've always tried to make sure there's an extraordinary human layer to all of what you just said. To hear from other characters, like at the end of "Halloween Kills," it's Laurie saying, "He's more than a man." That's her philosophy.

In this one, it's Willy the radio DJ saying, "This is all a conspiracy, how can one man survive all that?" We are trying to plant the seeds so that everyone can use their own intuition there. But at the same time, I can make the point: bad boys create bad boys. 

The movie does ask the question, does evil breed evil or does a person's environment create it?

It's like what the father of the child who dies at the beginning of the movie says in the pool-hall scene. It's a line that I added in post to make sure this was clear.

He says, "The kid I knew would never have hurt my son, but the look of the kid I saw at the side of the road, was that always in him or did the town do this to him?" I do want that to be a theme that people take away in terms of the infectiousness of evil. 

But the "Halloween" super fans are going to say Michael giving Corey his evil is a hat tip to the shocking ending in "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" when Jamie touches Michael and in the last scene, she kills her foster mother. 

That's a great ending. 

Did anyone bring that up when going over the script? "We're going straight 'Halloween 4' here."

We would spitball that because that's a movie I enjoy. I see where they were going with that movie and I respect a lot of the choices. But we are ignoring that movie in our trilogy.

We were supposed to see more of Corey's mom's death, the killing of Willy the DJ was originally just a DVD extra

What was the most memorable death scene to do in this movie?

The one that stands out is the DJ. That wasn't supposed to be in the movie. We were doing that for a DVD extra. At the script stage, we decided that would be the one we'd get ridiculous with and keep it for the DVD. 

We shot Corey's mother's death very vividly and that was to be in the movie. But when I got in the edit room, I didn't like the pacing. So now we don't see the mother's death, and that will be on an extended version if we make one. But that one is inspired by "Black Christmas." It parallels the Christmas carolers scene in that movie, but we have trick-or-treaters. 

So we cut that scene and just loved the weirdness of the DJ death. Corey is sloppy and angry, so there's something about watching that. In the edit, we were like, "Are we really going to use this?" It was so wild we had to put it in there. 

Jamie Lee Curtis was heavily involved in crafting Laurie's final battle with Michael Myers (Jim Courtney), she even did '98% of the stunts' in the scene

How did the final battle between Laurie and Michael evolve?

There was a lot of evolution. There was one version that had Allyson infused through the whole fight. But ultimately we pared that all back. I didn't want it to be your average knockdown drag-out brawl without a degree or emotion, without a degree of intimacy between these two characters that have come so far. It needed real moments. Pauses, looks, glances. However you want to look at it, these are two survivors and here we are facing them in a climactic moment. 

We had a scripted idea of where it would go and how it would begin. And then I let the stunt coordinator, Kevin Scott, and his stunt team go on the set and pencil in the geography of how the fight would go down. Then we brought in Jamie and then Jim Courtney to get their takes.

We made it a real conversation even though there are no words spoken in it. 

What kind of input did Jamie bring to the scene?

I would say 98% of the stunts are her doing them. Actually, her double only did two shots. That's Jamie's head getting smashed into the glass. She really went for it.

In fact, her face going through the glass cabinet was her idea. She said, "I want him to grab me by the hair and smash me into the glass." And I was thinking, I still got two more weeks to work with you, I can't have shards of glass in your face. But she did it. That's her face going in the glass. That stunt was her idea. I was reluctant — if not trying to forbid it — but it happened and it looks great. 

What stands out is how slowly Laurie does the slicing of Michael's neck and wrist. 

For the moment when we say night-night to Michael, I thought it was important to be slow and methodical. Let's let it drain. Let's hold hands. Let's look each other in the eye. 

Now, you say looking into their eyes. That moment between them is very similar to Michael looking into Corey's eyes. Are we to believe Laurie now has Michael's evil inside her and must battle it? I mean, she's got Michael's mask sitting on her coffee table now!

It's an amazing insight. It makes me wonder if Corey lived and didn't have a fucked up mom, maybe he could have gotten through that. I think Laurie is smarter than Corey and knows what it takes to put in the work to heal yourself and your community, so I feel she will put every effort into what she needs to do.

But I also salivate over wondering. I mean, the mask is just sitting on the coffee table, somebody's going to fucking pick that up. [ Laughs .]

Hypothetically, if Jason Blum came to you 10 years from now and said, "I got the right script to bring back 'Halloween,'" would you be up for it?

I'm done. But if he said, "I got the script for the new 'Halloween' and it's a Bollywood musical," I'm there.

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Halloween Kills Is Afraid of Itself

High on its own supply, David Gordon Green’s Halloween Kills wants to reimagine the humble slasher flick as both gonzo send-up and social-message movie. Others have certainly done it before him, but rarely with such brazen ambition. You have to admire the effort — even as you survey, mouth agape, the calamitous results. Intended as the middle entry in a proposed trilogy, the film is a sequel to Green’s lean, mean 2018 reboot of John Carpenter’s 1978 horror classic, but in truth, Halloween Kills is worlds removed from the meat-and-potatoes thrills of both its immediate predecessor and Carpenter’s original.

Which is a little funny, because this new movie begins, like many a Halloween sequel, immediately after the events of the previous entry. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) lies bleeding in the back of a speeding truck alongside her daughter, Karen (Judy Greer), and granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak), on their way to the hospital after having set psycho killer Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney) aflame in the cellar of Laurie’s booby-trapped home. Unfortunately, a fire truck is headed in the opposite direction, toward the blazing house, where the brave firefighters will soon free a surprisingly unscathed Michael from the flames and pay for it with their lives.

Eleven dead and decapitated firemen later, the Shape (as he’s traditionally known) is back on the loose. Laurie, meanwhile, lies in a hospital bed alongside Officer Frank Hawkins (Will Patton), a local cop who was supposedly killed in the previous film. Turns out Hawkins is not only still alive, he has a long-standing vendetta against Michael because as a rookie cop back in 1978, he botched numerous opportunities to shoot the wacko dead.

In fact, the entire town of Haddonfield, Illinois — the sleepy suburban hamlet which just one movie ago seemed completely dismissive and ignorant of Michael’s grisly legacy — is now suddenly animated by the thought of confronting this past. Hanging out at a local watering hole, a group of middle-aged survivors of the original attacks decides, along with a few newcomers, to take up collective arms against Michael. They quickly begin pulling the rest of the populace to their cause. This mob rejects authority — the cops, after all, have failed to contain Michael — and they even have a catchphrase they chant in unison: “Evil dies tonight!” Halloween Kills isn’t content to be a Halloween sequel; it wants to be a Purge movie, too.

Sadly, it doesn’t really deliver on either score. As a director, Green isn’t particularly proficient at orchestrating chaos, and his efforts to capture the pandemonium of an unhinged crowd never really feel convincing. He is one of American independent cinema’s treasures thanks to his facility with improvisation, his ability to capture moments of startling intimacy, and his humanism — all of which distinguished his early career and which he managed to deploy a little in his previous Halloween entry. But those qualities aren’t much in evidence this time around.

When they do appear, the film strikes a discordant note. At one point, we see a distraught mother catch a glimpse of her son’s mangled corpse on a hospital gurney — which might have been moving had it not come right after a gleeful scene in which we see Michael shove a knife inside some guy’s eye. There’s no real pathos animating this moment of grief; it’s just another thing the picture throws at us. And for all the unsubtle talk of trauma that runs throughout the movie, it is handled with zero conviction; we can’t miss it, but we also can’t feel it. When humanism starts to seem manufactured, it ceases to be humanism and becomes the opposite: sadism of the most cynical and opportunistic kind. Green should know that. He does know that, which is why his movie appears to be at war with itself.

Halloween Kills doesn’t really work as a slasher flick either. Michael certainly racks up an impressive body count, but Green has mostly abandoned suspense or scares this time around in favor of extravagant, goofy, and predictable bits of gore. The previous film flirted with this too, even as it lovingly executed the graceful camera moves and elegant tension of Carpenter’s original; you could sense it itching to let loose and indulge in flamboyant slaughter. That restraint has now gone out the window. At times, one wonders if the movie is going for pastiche, an over-the-top comment on its own ridiculousness. But it’s too half-assed for that. It’s not funny enough to be an in-joke, and it’s not sincere enough to support any of its bigger conceits.

Still, I do hope Green gets to finish his trilogy. I assume he will, since Blumhouse Productions tends not to spend too much money on these films and doesn’t need a gargantuan hit to make its money back. (Besides, a bad horror sequel never stopped anyone from making another.) There’s a dithering, in-between quality to this entry that makes it feel like it’s primarily passing the time until a big, as-yet-unfilmed climax arrives; surely Curtis won’t spend most of the next movie in a hospital bed. For all its great, genre-transcending aspirations, Halloween Kills is a great big nothing that’s just waiting for something.

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Rent Halloween on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

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Halloween largely wipes the slate clean after decades of disappointing sequels, ignoring increasingly elaborate mythology in favor of basic - yet still effective - ingredients.

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• Entertainment /
• The new Halloween is a slasher movie with an actual message

Director David Gordon Green delivers a very 2018 entry for the 40-year-old franchise

By Bryan Bishop

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Welcome to Cheat Sheet, our brief breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review comes from the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. It has been revised for the film’s wide theatrical release.

Warning: mild spoilers for the Halloween franchise below.

Horror movie franchises aren’t necessarily known for their thoughtfulness. Films that spawn decades of sequels initially become part of the zeitgeist for a reason, no doubt, and broad trends in the genre often reflect the cultural anxieties of the moment. But by the time a film franchise hits installment five or six, there usually isn’t much left to explore, beyond new ways to kill off characters.

That’s never been truer than in the long-running Halloween franchise. John Carpenter’s stylish 1978 original was the prototypical slasher film, with Michael Myers in his signature white mask terrorizing teenagers as an unknowable, unstoppable force of nature. It featured many of the genre tropes that would become commonplace in the decade that followed: Myers targeted teenagers who were having sex or drinking while underage, activities that were off the menu for Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), the “final girl” who eventually stopped him. If slasher films are morality plays born out of America’s latent Puritanical values, Halloween is the film that codified it all.

But in the sequels that followed, anything fresh or exciting was quickly left by the wayside in the pursuit of just knocking out new installments. And attempts to give the series a different look and feel, as Rob Zombie did with his 2007 reboot and sequel, were misguided at best. Creatively, the Halloween well ran dry long ago — which is precisely why David Gordon Green’s new entry, simply titled Halloween , is such an interesting experiment. It’s a franchise-wide retcon, a direct sequel to Carpenter’s original that eliminates all other films from the franchise continuity. That move allows Green and his co-writers, Danny McBride and Jeff Fradley, to build a film that actually has a narrative reason for existing. They don’t squander the opportunity. They use it to explore the long-lasting consequences violence and trauma have on victims, and in the process, they entirely rethink what Michael Myers stands for.

The 2018 Halloween isn’t an entirely successful film, and it won’t provide an easy template for a new generation of revitalized slasher flicks. But it does serve as a fitting coda to a story that began 40 years ago.

What’s the genre?

It’s a slasher film / meta-comedy hybrid. Halloween is rife with gore and violence, but it also has so many laughs that it starts to feel like a genre comedy at times, not unlike Green’s The Pineapple Express . The filmmakers are also acutely aware of the audience they’re playing to, and the film goes out of its way to wink and nod at the other films in the franchise. It’s often subtle and clever; at other times, it’s just distracting. This is simultaneously the funniest Halloween film that’s ever been made and one of the most disturbingly brutal, which makes for a tricky mix at times.

What’s it about?

A meta-slasher / comedy hybrid

The movie wipes away everything but Carpenter’s first film. As it opens, viewers learn that not long after the first film, Michael Myers was captured by the police and has been under psychiatric care ever since. Facing Myers scarred Laurie Strode irrevocably, and though she went on to have a daughter, Karen (Judy Greer), she has lived her life since as a self-made survivalist, preparing for the day when she might need to face Michael again.

That occasion comes when Michael escapes while being transferred to a new facility. From there, he heads straight to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, picking up where he left off, with murder and mayhem on a new Halloween night. Only this time, Laurie’s granddaughter Allyson may also be in danger, and Laurie has to work with Michael’s new doctor, Sartain (Haluk Bilginer) to bring Michael’s reign of terror to an end.

What’s it really about?

It’s about the long-lasting effects of violence and how trauma impacts not just its victims, but the lives of everyone close to them. Laurie went full Sarah Connor after facing Michael and spent her daughter’s entire childhood training her in weaponry and self-defense on the off chance that Michael might one day return. But the cost of that approach has been massive. She’s blown through two marriages and become estranged from Karen. Now, Laurie lives as a hermit in a house in the woods that she’s turned into a mini-fortress, equipped with a panic room and massive amounts of weaponry.

The one person who hasn’t written Laurie off is her granddaughter, but Allyson is constantly caught between Laurie and Karen, with her mother unable to forgive Laurie for essentially hijacking her childhood. Michael has been imprisoned for 40 years, but Laurie has never stopped living with him — and that’s forced everyone close to her to live with him, too. This isn’t just a passing concern in the film, either. The core idea is deeply embedded in Halloween , carrying through from the opening to the final frame. To execute the idea, the movie leaves behind many of the mysteries around Michael Myers that Carpenter established in 1978.

Michael Myers is no longer the morality boogeyman

Michael doesn’t just focus on pot-smoking teenagers this time around; he’s an equal opportunity killer, happy to bludgeon housewives and children as well as the requisite babysitters. That turns the character from a morality boogeyman into a metaphor for the vicious, unexpected cruelty that ordinary life can bring. It makes Michael Myers as a character even more of a cipher — the character’s nickname, “The Shape,” has never seemed more appropriate — but it serves the movie thematically: the kind of random violence and loss he represents in this Halloween is something that can touch anyone at any time, just as real-world violence and tragedy knows no bounds.

Is it good?

There are many things to like in Halloween . Beginning with the opening titles — a faithful homage to the original title sequence — the filmmakers make it clear that they intend to hew closely to the aesthetics Carpenter established. From the score (Carpenter returned to write the music, alongside his son Cody and composer Daniel A. Davies) to the cinematography (director of photography Michael Simmonds shot the film in the same anamorphic aspect ratio original DP Dean Cundey used) to the ever-present use of Steadicam, the film feels tied to the original. It’s striving to be a true sequel, not only with story and characters, but in look and feel.

And while it’s necessary for the movie to bring new elements into the mix, lest it become yet another rehash, it’s the execution of those new elements that lead to some of the film’s troubles. The murders are graphic, cruel, and violent in this film, no doubt intended to underscore the random brutality Michael represents this time around. But there’s a dissonance there, given how audiences are used to taking in these movies and the character of Michael Myers.

Is this a nostalgic slasher throwback, a horror-comedy, or a mature look at trauma?

Like many slasher franchises, the Halloween films turned into a roller coaster ride over the years, with audiences cheering the boogeyman on as he snuffed out cookie-cutter characters in film after film. Going into this movie, it’s easy to assume that’s still going to be the case — just with the added nostalgia of original movie callbacks and the presence of Jamie Lee Curtis. Instead, there’s a viciousness in Michael that’s genuinely upsetting. When he kills two journalists early in the film, for example, it’s as if every expectation that the audience has about what this movie should be gets thrown out the window. As a filmmaking tactic, it’s extremely effective, putting the audience back on their heels and announcing that this movie isn’t going to play by the safe, familiar rulebook. But that clashes with the constant tongue-in-cheek nods the movie makes to other films in the series.

It’s also out of sync with the ever-present comedy in the film, which includes some genuinely funny, laugh-out-loud moments. A young kid named Julien (Jibrail Nantambu), who one of Allyson’s friends is babysitting, steals every scene he’s in with constant one-liners. And a sequence in which Michael stalks a high school nerd (Drew Scheid) is hilarious as well as scary. But all of the film’s facets feel like they’re fighting each other rather than working together. There’s a constant tension: is this a nostalgic slasher throwback, a horror-comedy, or a mature look at trauma? The answer can change from scene to scene — sometimes from line to line — and the resulting movie feels like a mashup of several different, more focused films rather than its own fully formed idea.

This Halloween is certainly better than almost every other sequel in the franchise, though that’s no great achievement in and of itself. It ultimately feels like a decent movie that could have been a very good movie, if only Green had been able to modulate his tone more effectively.

What should it be rated?

It should be (and is) rated R. R for days. R without even a fleeting moment of consideration that it should be anything but an R. Seriously: really, really R.

How can I actually watch it?

Halloween opens in theaters on October 19th. Trick or treat.

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In the first autonomous racing league race, the struggle was real, the apple vision pro’s ebay prices are making me sad, they turned cattle ranches into tropical forest — then climate change hit, i traded in my macbook and now i’m a desktop convert.

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Halloween: The Reckoning of Samhain (2023)

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‘Rosemary’s Baby’ Prequel ‘Apartment 7A’ from ‘Relic’ Director Heads to Paramount+ This Halloween

Get ready to revisit the Bramford apartment building this Fall. Paramount+ today announced that the all-new original film set before Rosemary’s Baby , Apartment 7A , will premiere this Halloween season exclusively on the streaming service.

Set in 1965 New York City, the film tells the story prior to the horror classic Rosemary’s Baby , exploring what happened in the apartment before Rosemary Woodhouse moved in.

Our first look image gives a closer peek at the Bramford. Check it out above.

Directed by Relic filmmaker Natalie Erika James , the film stars Julia Garner ( Ozark, Wolf Man ), Dianne Wiest ( Mayor of Kingstown ), Jim Sturgess ( Across the Universe ) and Kevin McNally ( Pirates of the Caribbean film series). Additional supporting cast includes Marli Siu ( Anna and the Apocalypse ), Andrew Buchan ( All the Money in the World ), Rosy McEwen ( Blue Jean ) and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith ( Wonka ).

In Apartment 7A , “When a struggling, young dancer (Garner) suffers a devastating injury, she finds herself drawn in by dark forces when a peculiar, well-connected, older couple promises her a shot at fame.”

“ Apartment 7A is the perfect way to kick off the Halloween season,” said Jeff Grossman, Executive Vice President, Programming, Paramount+. “Director Natalie Erika James and the prodigious creative team have crafted a chilling and clever new entry into the genre.”

The psychological thriller is a Paramount+ original movie in association with Paramount Pictures and is based on the novel Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin. Directed by James, with a screen story by Skylar James and a script by Natalie Erika James & Christian White and Skylar James , the film is executive produced by Vicki Dee Rock and Alexa Ginsburg, and is produced by John Krasinski, Allyson Seeger, p.g.a, Michael Bay, Andrew Form, p.g.a, and Brad Fuller.

While Paramount+ hasn’t announced the official debut date just yet, expect Apartment 7A to arrive just in time for Halloween as part of the streamer’s Peak Screaming collection that offers a broad and popular lineup of new originals, fan-favorite horror movies and iconic Halloween episodes from beloved series.

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

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‘Kraven the Hunter’ Movie Now Releasing in December 2024

Sony returns to their own Marvel universe with the upcoming Kraven the Hunter , which has been bumped all over the release schedule. This week, it’s been bumped once more.

There was a time when Sony was going to unleash Kraven in theaters in October 2023, but the film was then bumped to August 2024. It’ll now release on December 13, 2024 .

Kraven the Hunter  will be the very first Marvel movie from Sony to be released into theaters with an “R” rating, with lots of bloody violence being promised.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as the title character, Marvel’s ultimate predator.

“Kraven the Hunter is the visceral story about how and why one of Marvel’s most iconic villains came to be. Set before his notorious vendetta with Spider-Man, Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as the titular character in the R-rated film.”

Ariana DeBose  will play Calypso in the upcoming  Kraven the Hunter  movie.

Christopher Abbott  ( Possessor ) is playing The Foreigner, with  Levi Miller  ( Better Watch Out ) also on board.  Alessandro Nivola  ( The Many Saints of Newark ) will play another villain, but character details are under wraps.  Russell Crowe  and  Fred Hechinger  also star.

J.C. Chandor  ( A Most Violent Year ) is directing  Kraven the Hunter .

The screenplay was written by  Art Marcum  &  Matt Holloway  and  Richard Wenk .

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Rosemary's Baby Prequel Apartment 7A to Release on Paramount+ This Halloween

Ozark's Julia Garner will lead the new movie that delves into the infamous apartment at the centre of the 1968 horror classic.

• The classic horror trend continues with a Rosemary's Baby prequel, Apartment 7A , starring Julia Garner. Set for Paramount+ debut before Halloween.
• Dive into events before Rosemary's story, with Garner playing a dancer lured by dark forces. An intriguing lead-up to the legendary film.
• Executive VP at Paramount+ calls Apartment 7A "chilling and clever", setting high expectations for this Halloween season release.

The trend of Hollywood studios banking on the popularity of classic horror movies to rake in the cash continues, as it was recently announced that the 1968 classic Rosemary’s Baby is getting a prequel. Titled Apartment 7A , the film was first teased in 2022 , and is set to debut in time for Halloween on Paramount+, similar to the way Pet Sematary: Bloodlines did in 2023. Starring in the lead role will be Julia Garner ( Ozark ), with Natalie Erika James directing, whose previous credits include 2020's psychological horror film, Relic .

As per Variety , Apartment 7A will examine the events that happened prior to Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse moving into their apartment in the Bramford. Garner will play a dancer drawn into dark forces by the older couple that lives next door, which can only be Minnie and Roman Castevet, portrayed by Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer in the original film. Check out the official logline below.

"Apartment 7A is set in 1965 New York City, and tells the story prior to the legendary horror classic ‘Rosemary’s Baby’, exploring what happened in the apartment before Rosemary moved in. When a struggling, young dancer suffers a devastating injury, she finds herself drawn in by dark forces when a peculiar, well-connected, older couple promises her a shot at fame."

Rosemary's Baby

Premiering on June12, 1968, Rosemary’s Baby was directed by Roman Polanski and starred Mia Farrow and John Cassavettes. It has since gone on to be known as one of the best religious horror movies of all-time , and in 1976, a made-for-TV sequel was released titled Looked What Happened to Rosemary’s Baby . Ira Levin, who wrote the novel the original film was based on, released his own literary sequel in 1997 ( Son of Rosemary ), and in 2016 the film got the remake treatment by way of a two-part miniseries on NBC which starred Zoe Saldana.

Paramount + Executives Call Apartment 7A "Chilling"

While no official release date has been revealed yet, Apartment 7A will also star Dianne Wiest ( Mayor of Kingstown , The Lost Boys ), Jim Sturgess ( Across the Universe ) and Kevin McNally ( Pirates of the Caribbea n franchise). Supporting cast members include Marli Siu ( Everything I Know About Love ), Andrew Buchan ( All the Money in the World ), Rosy McEwen ( Blue Jean ) and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith ( Wonka ). Executive Vice President of Programming at Paramount+, Jeff Grossman, called the film "a chilling and clever new entry into the genre."

"Apartment 7A is the perfect way to kick off the Halloween season. Director Natalie Erika James and the prodigious creative team have crafted a chilling and clever new entry into the genre."

How Sydney Sweeney's Immaculate Is Connected to Rosemary's Baby

News of a prequel to Rosemary's Baby comes hot on the heels of the debut of another horror prequel, The First Omen , which crafted a new story of what happened prior to the events in The Omen , the classic 1976 film directed by Richard Donner. While it failed to capture big box office dollars , The First Omen received high praise from critics and audiences alike, despite comparisons to its twin film, Immaculate , which debuted a couple of weeks prior.

With Apartment 7A not receiving a theatrical release, it will be hard to tell just how much of a success it will be until those first reviews start coming in, but one thing is for certain: with a number of horror releases still to come this year, reports of the genres' demise, as always, have been greatly exaggerated.

Rosemary's Baby is currently available to stream on Prime Video.

#598 - Late Night with the Devil directors Cameron and Colin Cairnes Matt's Movie Reviews Podcast

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Directors Cameron and Colin Cairnes join Matthew Pejkovic on the Matt's Movie Reviews Podcast to talk about their new film 'Late Night with the Devil', a horror mockumentary that stars David Dastmalchian as a struggling late night host whose Halloween episode special releases Hell on earth.      Support Matt’s Movie Reviews PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/2x9tn2k4 Patreon: https://tinyurl.com/54jnzpsn TeePublic: https://tinyurl.com/2p9c5kpn Amazon: https://amzn.to/3JfyGtK    Follow Matt’s Movie Reviews! Website: http://mattsmoviereviews.net Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Matts-Movie-Reviewsnet/151059409963 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MattsMovieReviews Twitter: https://twitter.com/MattsMovieRev  LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/1036986/admin/  Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-1643285 

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