Spooky new movies for the season: Halloween Ends, Deadstream and Speak No Evil
(Oct. 30, 2022) — “Halloween Ends” puts the finishing touches on David Gordon Green’s trilogy. After excising the plots from all the films but the original “Halloween (1978),” Green counts his three films as the definitive ending to the Laurie Strode story. Played again by Jamie Lee Curtis in “Halloween Ends,” she lifts a bizarre plot above mediocrity.
“Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)” took an approach most fans loathed. Removing Michael Myers completely and making the film an anthology of short stories was, at the time, a puzzling choice. However, forty years later, it is now looked back on as rather good stand-alone horror film.
“Halloween Ends” certainly takes a page out of “Halloween III (1982)”’s choice to do something completely different. In fact, it takes a page out of several different horror franchises. Green must have watched “Friday the 13th: Part VI,” “Freddy vs. Jason,” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street: Part 2” to get his inspiration for the script.
The opening sequence may be the film’s best. Corey (Rohan Campbell), a junior college student, gets a Halloween gig babysitting spoiled, rich kid Jeremy. During an ill-begotten game of hide-and-seek, there is an accident and Corey is blamed. Fast forward a few years to present day and Corey, inexplicably still living in Haddonfield, is the town pariah. Local high school bullies torment him while Laurie’s granddaughter Allyson’s crush goes initially unrequited. On top of that, Corey’s parents are awful people. With this kind of life, why wouldn’t he go seeking out Michael Myers?
4 decades of Halloween
Audiences have been going to see movies in the Halloween series for 45 years. We expect Michael to start killing early and not let up until late in the final act. In “Halloween Ends,” Green opts instead to barely give Michael any screentime prior to the final act. While the plot in the first two acts is watchable, sidelining Laurie and Michael in favor of Corey and Allyson is a big misstep.
While certainly better than last year’s “Halloween Kills,” the conclusion to the Laurie vs. Michael saga feels like a missed opportunity. Maybe Green should have saved his copycat killer plot for his own “Season of the Witch.” B-
Streaming options for Halloween
Filming yourself doing anything these days could potentially garner thousands, or even millions, of views. A decent living can be had if you’re willing to cater to specific tastes. In “Deadstream,” streaming on Shudder, Shawn Ruddy (Joseph Winter) has done just that. Yet, after angering most of his viewers with a stunt gone wrong, Ruddy is now set to win them back by spending the night in a haunted house.
Armed to the gill with expensive equipment, Ruddy locks himself inside and begins to broadcast. Not long after, he begins to experience strange occurrences. To give much more away would ruin what thin plot exists. However, I cannot recall a movie with such a high amount of both laughs and frights. If you want to hoot and be scared, stream this! A-
From Denmark with weird
Another Shudder original, “Speak No Evil,” hails from Denmark. A Danish family meets a Dutch family while on holiday in France. Good times are had, and they promise to keep in touch. Six months later, the Dutch family sends an invite for the Danes to bring their daughter for a weekend.
If there is any ill will towards the Dutch by Danish director Christian Tafdrup, it is clearly on display here. The Dutch family is all kinds of strange right off the bat, and they only get weirder. Most people, myself included, get the Danes and Dutch mixed up. I had no idea it was even possible to drive from Denmark to the Netherlands. We do, however immediately side with the Danish family. At the same time, we are both angry at the Dutch family, but also wondering if a lot of the problems stem from a simple cultural misunderstanding.
As the third act brings everything into focus, we start to wish we had just stayed in Denmark. A-
Jeff Mellinger
Jeff Mellinger is a screen writer and film buff. He holds a BA in Film Studies and an MFA in film production. He lives in Concord.