Halloween Ends Reviews: See the First Reactions

This Halloween, everyone’s entitled to one good scare — but the first reviews for Halloween Ends suggest the horror-slasher is more trick than treat. Following 2018’s Halloween and 2021’s Halloween Kills, the final chapter of director David Gordon Green’s rebooted trilogy Ends the 45-year saga of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney) that started in John Carpenter’s 1978 original horror classic. The movie, which hits theaters and is streaming on Peacock tonight, has so far scared up a “rotten” 47% rating with 66 critic reviews on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. (The Halloween Ends Rotten Tomatoes score is fluid and will change as more reviews are added.)

Below, read on for spoiler-free excerpts from Halloween Ends reviews and learn how to watch the new Halloween movie online.

ComicBook.com: “Despite having all the potential to do something new and organic with an intentional conclusion to the narrative, the film instead ends up honoring the franchise unexpectedly — as it’s messy, nonsensical, and leaves us wondering how much longer until we can get a new Halloween reboot.”

ThePlaylist: “After suffering through their third (and supposedly final) effort, Halloween Ends, this viewer is starting to wonder if they just plain got lucky that first time around [with 2018’s Halloween] … Who knows if Halloween Ends will actually conclude the slasher series (let’s not forget that Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter was the fourth of twelve installments). But I’ll say this: even as a fan of the franchise, when the title came up at the end of Halloween Ends, I found myself hoping to God they weren’t kidding.”

Read More ▸ How to Stream Halloween Ends Online ▸ No Halloween Ends Spoilers Review: A Confounding and Convoluted Conclusion

TheWrap: “Even if you take filmmaker David Gordon Green at his word, this new Halloween movie doesn’t put much of a button on the series. It says very little that wasn’t already said in Halloween Kills, a divisive sequel which attempted, with some success, to reframe the whole series as a treatise on multigenerational trauma, culminating with the metaphysical rebirth of Michael Myers as an immortal idea, a despicable living legend … Halloween Ends merely offers an extended, one might say extremely padded, coda to the tale that Green has been telling. The film eventually provides some memorable gore but the ultimate conclusion is unconvincing and perfunctory.”

Collider: “Halloween Ends seems to be an attempt to give Halloween fans something new, something unique, and something a little different from what they had seen before, and unfortunately, it doesn’t work. Halloween Ends makes the story less about Michael and Laurie, and more about Allyson (Andi Matichak) and Corey (Rohan Campbell), which is not something you want out of the final outing between two titans of horror. Even if their final fight is good—great, even—it still leaves the audience wanting more.”

Bloody-Disgusting: “Ends winds up underscoring this trilogy’s disjointed nature. The overarching narrative lacks organic fluidity and even seems to disregard previous entries in specific ways. Save for Laurie Strode, the trilogy relies on the tiresome concept of trauma and its toll on a community as the sole connective tissue. That and the desire to subvert the idea of a Halloween film. On that front, Green more than delivers; this trilogy closer defies expectations and is guaranteed to ruffle more than a few feathers with its bold and often baffling choices … The saga does reach a fitting yet contrived conclusion for the most part; the legacy characters make their final bow, yet the core themes fizzle out. Ends works best as a standalone feature, but its place in the trilogy and the Halloween canon overall is sure to be polarizing.”

CinemaBlend: “The film undergoes a gradual transformation into the sort of Halloween entry with scares and tears that one would expect. That’s only after we’re given time to become familiar with where Allyson and Laurie are in their lives, four years since Halloween Kills dealt them a most tragic hand. By kicking off Halloween Ends in such an atypical fashion, David Gordon Green and his co-writers establish the stakes for some pretty high value payoffs during the more traditional third act.”

Slashfilm: “Halloween Ends settles the series’ score, but it does so in a way that lacks a central logic and that spends an inordinate amount of time on things that fail to matter. It becomes clear in Green’s arc that the intent was to tease an evolving Myers in Kills before decimating the character’s power in Ends, with the tragic side effect of cheapening the conclusion of Laurie Strode’s story. In the end, Halloween Ends boasts strong performances and a great set of first and final scenes, but it is still a Halloween outing that sacrificed Michael Myers’ mystery, the series’ most interesting asset. We’re regrettably given a cheap finality that doesn’t have the set-up it deserves, in a trilogy capper that feels rushed in every way … The new Halloween trilogy ends with a whimper.”

Halloween Ends Streaming: How to Watch Online

Halloween Ends is streaming on Peacock starting October 14th. Peacock Premium ($4.99/mo.) and Peacock Premium Plus ($9.99/mo) subscribers can watch the new Halloween movie for free: there is no additional fee required. 

Peacockis also available for free with ads, but only Peacock Premium andad-free Peacock Premium Plus subscribers will be able to stream Halloween Ends. New subscribers can sign up to watch 10,000 hours of limited content for free. Try Peacock Premium or Peacock Premium Plus here.

What Time Is Halloween Ends on Peacock?

Halloween Ends is expected to be available to stream on Peacock starting tonight, October 13th, at 8pm ET / 5 pm PT.

Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, Rohan Campbell, Kyle Richards, and James Jude Courtney as Michael Myers, Halloween Ends is playing in theaters and streaming on Peacock.