Warning: Spoilers below for Halloween Ends!Halloween Ends includes a compelling story with Corey Cunningham, but it is one that would be better suited for a different Halloween movie. As the stated "last" movie in Halloween franchise, Halloween Ends brings Michael Myers back for one more slasher tale in Haddonfield, Illinois. In addition to the return of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), Halloween Ends includes a new major supporting character in troubled teenager Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell).

In Halloween Ends, Corey is a young man haunted by the guilt of accidentally killing a child while babysitting and is persecuted by Haddonfield's populace for it. Eventually, Corey crosses over the line to become an accomplice to Michael Myers's killing spree. While the potential for such a story in a Halloween film is clear to see, it is ultimately only partially realized in Halloween Ends due to the concluding format of the film's story and the focus on Myers.

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Corey Cunningham's Story Is An Interesting Halloween Movie Concept

Corey Cunningham in Halloween Ends pic

While Michael has long been a depersonalized force of pure evil, Corey is a much more humanized villain through his plight and the connection Corey develops with Michael Myers. Similar to Arthur Fleck's story in Joker, Corey's tale in Halloween Ends indicts society's poor treatment of the downtrodden, with Corey subject to constant harassment and bullying. By coupling Corey's story to that of Michael Myers, Halloween Ends introduces a concept it has never really investigated before in the idea of Michael as a kind of mentor figure.

With the faceless killing machine Michael embodies, Halloween Ends brings in an opposite kind of villain in the killer Corey becomes alongside him. While presented subtly, Halloween Ends suggests Michael's capacity to coldly slaughter anyone in his path could present a temptation to join him in someone whose soul has been darkened by the kind of treatment Corey endures. The mistake Halloween Ends makes is incorporating this concept into movie presenting itself as an ending.

Why Corey's Story Works Better Outside Of A Halloween Finale

Corey Cunningham grinning menacingly in Halloween Ends

With Halloween Ends's twist of Michael Myers being able to spread his evil into other people and the idea of a character like Corey being pulled under Michael's influence is clearly enough for an entire Halloween movie. However, Corey being introduced so late in the series makes his development greatly truncated. With two killers to keep up with in Halloween Ends, getting to know Corey beyond the misery of his life as Haddonfield's most hated citizen is a missing point of character development in his fall. Furthermore, Halloween Ends devotes so much time to investing the audience in empathizing with Corey that his dark turn ends up feeling undercooked by the movie itself being a franchise finale.

Corey's villainous turn and death in Halloween Ends tells a new story for the franchise, but it is unfortunately under-serviced by the movie it is working within. In bringing a new killer pushed over the edge as a partner of Michael Myers, Halloween Ends introduces one of the most fresh ideas it has had in a long time. The downside is that Halloween Ends, as the end of the Blumhouse Halloween trilogy, cannot properly mine that story's potential to its fullest.

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