Back in 2018, the Halloween franchise got a brilliant and surprising rejuvenation. Ignoring most of the established canon, director David Gordon Green established a new timeline in the series, and in doing so reintroduced the epic battle between Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode and the mysterious slasher Michael Myers. Four years later, that story is ready to climax, and tonight we have a fantastic preview of it with the first trailer for Halloween Ends (the arrival of which producer Jason Blum was teasing just a little over a week ago).
Set in the aftermath of Halloween Kills, which saw Michael Myers nearly defeated before going on one of his signature murder rampages, the new movie catches up with Laurie Strode as she seeks revenge not only for the friends she’s lost over the years at Michael’s hands, but also for her daughter – who was slaughtered in the final moments of the last film.
So how will Laurie actually get the upper hand on Michael this time? Obviously we won’t know the full answer to that question until Halloween Ends arrives in theaters, but an interesting aspect of this trailer is that she seems to predominantly be the one executing cat and mouse games. There are two different moments in the footage where Laurie is ready and waiting for Michael as he slowly and silently stalks around, starting with the first big thrill of the trailer – featuring Laurie standing behind a door with a gun drawn:
Of course, one also has to discuss the exciting conclusion of the Halloween Ends trailer. Featuring a sequence that was first previewed earlier this year at CinemaCon 2022, we see a struggle between Laurie and Michael in a kitchen, and he gets very close to sticking her hand in an active garbage disposal. Thankfully, she is able to momentary disable him with a nice reverse headbutt, and she uses her moment of freedom to grab a chef’s knife and stab him straight through the hand.
More to come…