Halloween Ends Fan Retelling
Like most fans, I found myself incredibly disappointed with the
Halloween Ends movie, a shoddily-written mess that seemed to disregard the previous movies in favour of rewriting
Christine but with a decrepit and embarrassing version of Michael Myers substituted in for the car. After
the many hints that were dropped about Michael's motives in the preceding movie, not to mention the inevitable confrontation between Michael and Laurie, I expected anything but a movie centered about some random awkward nerd who mutates into the new Michael Myers seemingly overnight because of band bullies.
My disillusion with the movie was so bad that I had originally intended to do a full fanfiction re-write of it, but have since come to realise that I do not have anywhere near the time that this undertaking would require. As such, I decided to instead post the synopsis I had in mind of it.
This retelling directly incorporates
plot elements that Halloween Kills had foreshadowed about Michael Myers' true motives, and also reboots certain elements from the much-loathed Cult of Thorn timeline. Some will surely be turned off by the latter, but I like the idea of a true final movie for the franchise resolving even those long-retconned plot points.
It has been four years since the events of
Halloween Kills. After the culmination of Michael's rampage through Haddonfield, a massacre of over 50 people, the town has become a veritable ghost town. Those who did not leave out of sorrow for the deaths of their loved ones or friends and a desire to start anew elsewhere, have left out of fear. Of the minority that has stayed behind, quite a few are either unable to move out of the town, or have either fallen into nihilism or drug addiction. Among those are Laurie Strode, who has grown utterly despondent after the death of her daughter, and Allyson, who half-heartedly ekes out a meager living for herself and her grandmother Laurie, her only surviving family member, as one of the town's only nurses.
A large group of Haddonfield's current residents have turned to a death cult after being driven mad from trauma and isolation. The cult reveres Michael Myers as a deity and Halloween as a holy day on which he appears in order to slaughter "infidels" for their sins. The cult was formed and is led by one Jim Manson, a manipulative sociopath who formed the cult as a way to exploit the townspeople's fears for his own gain, and uses it as an outlet to sexually prey on young women. Unlike the true believers he has gathered, Manson secretly believes Michael to be deceased and considers him nothing but a useful boogeyman for keeping his flock in line.
Despite a nationwide manhunt, Michael has remained out of sight, but news of strange occurrences have surfaced from time to time. Disappearances of food from people's homes, sightings of a creepy elderly man at night, claims of strange sounds at night, but nothing conclusive.
Unbeknownst to the town, Michael has been hiding in his childhood home all along. Before Judith's death, Michael's father was in the process of constructing a basement for the house, which he hastily boarded up after deciding to sell the home and move away after the sudden tragedy of Halloween 1978. The ever-observant Michael still remembered this even 55 years later, and removed the boards after murdering Karen 4 years ago, before sealing himself underground with a supply of canned food left behind by the home's final owners until he heard the commotion on the surface die down. Since then, Michael has been living in the subterranean depths of the house, only coming out at night to forage for food and supplies when needed.
One home that Michael has particularly enjoyed foraging in, is the home of Mrs. Phyllis O'Leary, a senile widow who lives alone and is constantly haunted by the passing of her husband, Mr. Howie O'Leary 7 years prior. At first, Michael takes advantage of her addled memory and poor hearing, taking food and even occasionally washing himself in her bathroom. However, after being caught by Mrs. O'Leary one night when she was in a particularly confused state, and being mistaken for Howie, Michael develops a strange attachment to her, almost viewing her as a mother figure.
Michael understands that he needs Mrs. O'Leary for his own survival and repeatedly intervenes to help her. Although he is unable to speak, he dials 9-1-1 and leaves the phone on the hook when Mrs. O'Leary falls down, saving her life. He also kills an abusive social worker by crushing his vocal cords and throwing him into Mrs. O'Leary's lit fireplace and repeatedly stabbing him with a fire poker to keep him from escaping, after the man declared his intention to take Mrs. O'Leary away to a nursing home. The latter act being both a pragmatic move to keep his provider around, and also the result of remembering his own silent fury at being forcibly detained at a facility for decades and a desire to save Mrs. O'Leary from such a fate.
One day, a disillusioned and wandering young man named Corey Cunningham shows up in Haddonfield. Corey's drug addiction soon leads to him being chased by two drug dealers seeking to rob him. He runs to the Myers house screaming for help, unaware of its history, before being chased inside after he notices the door is unlocked. Michael Myers appears and kills the robbers before choking Corey. As Michael makes eye contact with Corey, the two forge a psychic bond and are able to briefly read each other's minds, before Corey passes out from lack of oxygen.
A little while later, Corey wakes up on a bed in Judith's room in the Myers house. He turns to see Michael Myers staring out the window as he was doing during the finale of his escapes back in 1978 and 2018, and ignoring him. Corey realises with horror that everything he just witnessed, including the information he gleaned from reading Michael's mind earlier, was real, and flees the house utterly shaken.
Elsewhere, a mysterious man in an all-black outfit, including a hat and facemask that obscures his identity, known only as the Gunslinger, stops at a gas station to refuel his car and stock up on food. The cashier attempts to make smalltalk with him, but he reveals himself to be extremely curt and secretive. The cashier notes to herself that the man's license plate is from several states away, and the man's GPS reveals that his destination is Haddonfield, Illinois, yet another few states away.
While being treated for his injuries at a local clinic, Corey catches the eye of Allyson. Allyson falls for Corey and invites him over to her house. Laurie immediately becomes suspicious of Corey after noticing how shifty and nervous he is and begins to stalk him. Elsewhere, Michael becomes increasingly revitalised and restless after his encounter with Corey and begins emerging from his home more often and taking longer trips, in search of something. This culminates in him killing several night-time joggers after they see him, to prevent them from reporting the sightings to the authorities.
Laurie becomes convinced that Corey is responsible for Michael's recent kills and reports him to the police. A SWAT team attempts to apprehend Corey and chases him into the Myers house. Michael bursts out of the basement just as several officers are about to step on the secret entrance and slaughters the SWAT team, alternately using a broken floor plank as a club and spear/harpoon, saving Corey in the process.
The Michael cult catches wind of Michael's re-appearance and rallies around the Myers house. Although naturally wary of people, Michael accepts the cult after some careful observation, viewing them almost as distant relatives due to their shared mental illness. Jim Manson becomes equally terrified and incensed with this sudden development due to viewing Michael as a threat to his power. He declares to his followers that the Shape is an impostor and attempts to shoot him, only for his gun to jam, an event viewed as divine intervention by the cultists. Michael proceeds to juice Manson's skull like a lemon with his bare hands.
Afterwards, the cult celebrates the return of Michael with a feast and dance around the house, reminiscent of ancient Celtic celebrations of Samhain. Corey joins the cult and fully embraces his newly found connection to Michael. Corey is reluctantly appointed the new leader of the cult due to being the one who coaxed Michael out of his dormant state, while the deceased Manson is marked as a traitor.
After news travels about the deaths of the SWAT officers, a state-wide police mobilisation is ordered to hunt down Michael. The cult catches wind and mobilises to fortify Haddonfield. The cultists swiftly set up barricades and torch police vehicles and ambulances to stop them from entering the town. The Gunslinger arrives in town and carjacks a police officer at gunpoint and later shoots and injures one of the cultists before stealing his robe and car in order to blend in, along with his phone to prevent communication with the other cultists.
A despondent Laurie Strode arrives at the Myers house to face off against Michael. The cult members step back, viewing Laurie's death at Michael's hands as an inevitable sacrifice that the Shape must make himself. Laurie is gravely wounded in the scuffle, but Allyson appears out of nowhere and shoots Michael with a shotgun, seemingly killing him. Corey intervenes to stop Allyson from shooting the downed Michael to ensure his demise, pulling the shotgun out of her hands. Michael suddenly gets back up and stabs Allyson to incapacitate her before choking the wounded Laurie and preparing to stab her in the skull, eager to avenge the permanent injuries he received by her hand, despite Corey's protests.
Just as Michael is about to deal the death blow, the Gunslinger's car pulls up to the Myers house and the mysterious man in black steps out. The cultists prepare to attack him but are ordered to stand down by a shocked Corey, who recognises the man. Michael too freezes in abject shock at the presence of the man.
Corey reveals that the Gunslinger is none other than his grandfather, Peter Myers, who is also Michael's long-lost father. Corey explains that his mother, Elizabeth Myers, passed away while giving birth to him, and his father sunk into a depression and eventually died of a drug overdose, leaving him in the care of his grandfather Peter.
This familial connection is also the reason Michael accepted Corey as an ally, and the realisation that one of his parents was in fact still alive is what gave Michael the hope that once again drove him out of the Myers house, where he had essentially been sitting around and waiting to die after resigning himself to never being able to find his parents, whom he had been searching for ever since he was institutionalised at the age of six.
Michael lets go of Laurie's throat and stares at his father in abject awe. Then, to the shock of everyone gathered, Michael drops his knife and approaches and embraces his father in a hug.
Laurie is at a loss for words, finally realising that Michael's motive for his killings was not pure evil, but rather a desperate attempt from a lost and confused schizophrenic to find his lost family. She also finally realises that the reason Michael relentlessly stalked her in 1978 was due to witnessing her delivering the keys to his home and figuring that she may know where his parents went. This was also the reason his seemingly arbitrary rampages always culminated in him returning to his childhood home, where he proceeded to stare out the front window like a child waiting for their parents to return home from work. The Michael-worshipping cult is equally stunned, realising the man they believed to be a God was nothing more than a deeply troubled and developmentally stunted six-year-old.
Peter explains that after Michael's institutionalisation, he and his wife moved away, unable to face the stigma of having a murderer for a son. Although they had closely followed reports of Michael's two escapes and ensuing rampages, it was only after Michael's final killing spree 4 years prior, which ended with frightened bystanders seeing the Shape staring eerily out of Judith's bedroom window, that Peter finally connected the dots. He reveals that he deduced Michael's hiding spot immediately after his mysterious disappearance was made public, but did not have the heart to tell the authorities about the hidden basement due to blaming himself and not Michael for the entire state of affairs.
Peter apologises to Michael for abandoning him and wearily hugs him back with one hand. As the sounds of sirens from dozens of approaching state police and SWAT cars blare from the horizon, Peter silently produces a handgun from his pocket with his other hand and shoots Michael in the head, killing him. He laments his actions but insists it was the now the least unpleasant way to resolve the sordid situation.
Peter and Corey are taken into custody, and Allyson and Laurie are taken to the hospital. Michael Myers is buried against the livid protests of many former Haddonfield residents, something Laurie reluctantly agrees with after learning Michael's true motives even if she cannot bring herself to say it out loud. The cultists are tried in court but ultimately let off without punishment. Peter and the rehabilitated Corey return to Peter's home to start anew as Allyson and Laurie do the same in Haddonfield. With the spectre of Michael Myers lifted, the town of Haddonfield slowly begins healing.
