On Second Watch: Revisiting David Gordon Green’s Halloween Trilogy

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A year has passed since David Gordon Green completed his trilogy, which began with 2018’s Halloween and culminated with 2021’s Halloween Kills and 2022’s Halloween Ends. The last time I watched the series was last October, and I was eager to give it another go to see if my opinion might have changed after the long hiatus.

Does this latest iteration of Halloween still hold up?

Serving as a proper sequel to John Carpenter’s original Halloween, Green’s Halloween picks up some 40 years later and finds Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) neglecting life to prepare for a final brawl with Michael Myers. Naturally, things go to pot. A plethora of people die, a third-act confrontation ensues, and Michael supposedly burns to death in a house fire started by Laurie and her daughter and granddaughter.

A few years later, Universal pushed for not one but two sequels — because money talks. As it turns out, Michael didn’t die at the end of Halloween 2018; instead, he emerged from the fire and killed at least 1,122 people en route to his home. (Okay — maybe that’s a generous estimate.)

Laurie spends the movie in a hospital bed, where she watches the residents of Haddonfield fall into anarchy due to Michael’s evil influence. Michael kills Laurie’s daughter vanishes for a few years before re-emerging to after Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) reawakens his bloodlust. Michael’s stopped killing by this point, but Corey’s own violent tendencies bring him back into the fold in Halloween Ends. After more tomfoolery, Michael finally meets a grisly end via a grinding machine that chops his body to pieces. This puts the Boogeyman to rest for the time being.

Green’s Halloween received generally favorable reviews compared to previous entries.