The following contains spoilers for Halloween Ends, currently in theaters and available to stream on premium tiers of Peacock.
When the Halloween franchise was rebooted in 2018, ignoring the sequels and continuing from the original, fans were eager to see how much would change. Luckily, that film, as well as 2021's Halloween Kills, struck the right balance, paying homage to the older material for nostalgics, but still telling its own story.
This made the new trilogy seem fresh with unique ideas such as Michael Myers being immortal and Laurie Strode being an apex hunter who's hard to kill. The approach crafted an enticing aura of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, leaving everyone curious as to who would win the pair's final fight. Unfortunately, as Halloween Ends caps things, it resurrects two controversial facets of the past movies, totally botching them along the way.
Halloween Ends Brings Back the Psychic Link
In Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Jamie (Laurie's daughter and Michael's niece) was seemingly possessed by his spirit, murdering and wearing a mask like her uncle. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers then had Jamie institutionalized, where it was revealed she had a telepathic link to him. Dr. Loomis would use her as bait, harnessing this skill to try to kill Michael. While fans didn't mind Jamie being his new target, the psychic connection felt like a cop-out to lure Michael. It just didn't fit the essence of that series, which worked better when grounded.
In Halloween Ends, the psychic link is brought back when a damaged Corey (who ends up dating Laurie's granddaughter, Allyson) meets Michael in the sewers. Michael looks into his eyes, and they establish a mental connection, with Michael feeding off Corey's grief, and Corey being empowered. This arc doesn't work, though, because Michael wasn't ever painted as someone with this ability. Sure, he was tough to kill, but he never latched onto anyone's mind in the previous movies, making this feel like a forced arc to have a new Michael with more emotional attachment to the Strodes.
Halloween Ends Revives the Curse
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The fourth and fifth Halloween movies gave rise to the Curse of Thorn angle in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. There, the evil in Michael was found to be something that could be transmitted, as seen with the kid, Danny Strode. He became Michael's apprentice, possessing the power of Thorn, which a cult deduced is passed down to push toxic guys to kill their bloodline. The sinister doctor, Wynn, even wanted to take Jamie's baby to see if the Druid curse was in him too, all as part of his experiment to clone Michael's dark ways. To him, this was an infection he felt would be contagious, but again, this angle didn't resonate well as it deviated from Michael's street-killing vibe.
Halloween Ends plays on this notion in the way Michael infects Corey. In fact, the movie hints Michael's rage has been infecting the town over the years -- making some people angry, some paranoid, turning others into violent killers, and others pushed to end their own lives. This was hinted at with the mob in the last film going wild, and here Michael spreads his "curse" to Corey in full. However, this also needed some more air-time in the past movies rather than just being a subtle, abstract concept. Instead, this new thread comes off as too much to process, rather than the movie explaining why Michael was so powerful and impervious to guns, flames, blades and the like. Simply put, it's another unexplainable element that feels chucked in, making the movie bloated without examining the lore that was laid down previously.
Halloween Ends is currently in theaters and available to stream on premium tiers of Peacock.