Halloween Ends: Send off to a Scream Queen

By: Kirk Jackson

Advertised as the final chapter, to a long-filled horror series, flooded with multiple cinematic entries (thirteen films as we include this latest installment), spanning over the course of several decades, with the first movie hitting theaters in 1978, and the latest entry, Halloween Ends releasing nation-wide Oct. 14.

Suffering from redundancy, poor writing, misguided direction and overall development from many of the forgettable, filler-spaced sequels from the late 80s, all the way up through the Rob Zombie directed Halloween films of late 00s, the franchise up until recently was in a poor state.

But then Halloween (2018 version) happened. Directed by David Gordon Green and also written by Green, Jeff Fradley, and Danny McBride – they brought new life to a fossilized franchise.

Pitched as a three-part series of films, this newer installment starts out as a clever refresher, essentially eliminating previous sequels and picking up from the original storyline, from which the main antagonist, Michael Myers, terrorized the citizens of fictionalized town Haddonfield 40 years prior.

But per the norm for most slasher-sequels, the follow-up Halloween Kills was abysmal, albeit the movie still garnered much commercial success.

As a famous hip-hop artist famously stated, “You had a spark when you started and now you’re just garbage.”

So now we’re here, the proposed final chapter, the final battle between characters Laurie Strode and Michael Myers, the conclusion to their deranged, drawn-out tale of chaos, death and mayhem.

And while the actress Jamie Lee Curtis, who helped pioneer the term or label of “Scream Queen” stated this is her last appearance in the series, you can never say never in Hollywood.

Whether this truly is the end of Curtis regarding the character of Laurie Strode in the Halloween series, it’s fair to say the actress greatly impacted the horror genre and overall industry in the aspect of its portrayal of women and strong leads in feature films.

Curtis is a trailblazer from the standpoint of standing strong as a lead female protagonist, in a genre often depicting women as damsels in distress, incapable of fighting back.

While it may be the end for Curtis starring in this franchise, the story may indeed continue.

One of the telling quotes from the franchise, “The truth is, evil doesn’t die, it just changes shape,” says Laurie – (from one of the recent installments), only signifies that this will not be the end of the film franchise in spite of the title.

Halloween is celebrated every year. While we may not see sequels spawned out that quickly, do not be surprised to see another addition in the near future.