David Gordon Green Defends Plot Points of Halloween Ends Following Divided Fan Response

Halloween Ends, the final film in director David Gordon Green’s rebooted Halloween trilogy, arrived in theaters earlier this month to a mixed reception from fans of the series. While the past two entries in the series focused on the battle between masked killer Michael Myers and perennial final girl Laurie Strode, Halloween Ends introduced viewers to a new character named Corey Cunningham, who is played by actor Rohan Campbell. The new direction of the film was met with a tepid response from fans of the series, who wanted a proper final battle between Myers and Strode. Negativity surrounding the film led Green to speak with reporters from MovieMaker.com on what led him to focus on Corey and what he feels Ends says about society.

Going into the scriptwriting process on Ends, Green said that he and the rest of the team behind the film never intended for it serve as a brawl type film between Myers and Strode. Instead, Green reveals that he planned to make a more ambitious film by turning the movie into a love story between Corey and Allyson, Strode’s granddaughter who has been played by actress Andi Matichak. As told in the film, Allyson and Corey have much in common that inevitably draws them together in a romantic relationship. While Allyson is scarred by losing her parents and friends to Myers’ rampage in the first two films, Ends shows that Corey carries his own wounds in the trauma of accidentally killing a child. Green says that the overall message of the film is how society mistreats the most vulnerable. Green points out that the isolation Corey felt following the incident that resulted in the death of a child under his care led him to his own murder spree.

Despite Green’s ambitions, audiences did not show much favor to Halloween Ends. The film currently rests at a 41 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and debuted with a lower-than-expected box office haul of $41 million. The film fared even worse in its second week, generating only $8 million for an 80 percent decline in ticket sales.