The Halloween reboot timeline has come to a close with Halloween Ends, and it made sure to treat viewers with a bunch of Easter eggs and references to other movies in the Halloween franchise and other horror classics as well. The Halloween franchise was brought back to life with a new trilogy, directed by David Gordon Green, which serves as a direct sequel to John Carpenter’s 1978 movie, ignoring all the movies that came after it, creating yet another timeline in the franchise.
The first movie in the trilogy, simply titled Halloween, took viewers back to Haddonfield to reunite with Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and meet her daughter, Karen (Judy Greer), and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak). Michael Myers escaped from Smith’s Grove and returned to Haddonfield for a new murder spree on Halloween night. Halloween Kills begins where the previous movie ended, and Halloween Ends is set four years later. The last film features several Easter eggs and references to the now-ignored sequels and other horror classics.
Halloween Ends’ Blue Credits
Halloween III: Season Of The Witch
Halloween Ends' opening and closing credits leave the traditional orange letters aside and opt for a blue font. This references the forgotten movie in the Halloween franchise: Halloween III: Season of the Witch. David Gordon Green explained this in an interview (via Comic Book):
“Even the font of [Halloween Ends] is blue instead of orange when we’re doing our title sequences, which is a little nod to Halloween III: Season of the Witch, which was its own curveball to the franchise."
The third Halloween movie is the only one that isn't part of the Michael Myers universe, and instead, it introduced the audience to Silver Shamrock. This company produces Halloween masks but is linked to ancient pagan rituals with a plan to kill hundreds of children on Halloween.
Corey Cunningham’s Connection To Michael Myers In Halloween Ends Explained
While Michael Myers' kinship with Corey Cunningham in Halloween Ends will leave fans divided, their connection is crucial to Michael's legacy.
John Carpenter planned to make a different horror movie each year under the Halloween banner. However, when the studio demanded that he bring back Michael Myers for the fourth movie, he quit the franchise he had helped create. has become a cult classic, and the previous Halloween movies in the reboot timeline also featured references to it with the appearance of the Silver Shamrock masks. Halloween Ends went for a more subtle nod.
A Villainous Piano Tune
Mr. Allen Plays A Famous Horror Tune
Halloween Ends opens with a scene set in 2019, one year after the events of Halloween and Halloween Kills. In it, Corey Hunningham arrives at the Allen family’s house to babysit their young son, Jeremy. While Mrs. Allen gives instructions to Corey, Mr. Allen is playing the piano, and the piece he’s playing is not only a nod to villains in film history but also a subtle hint at what Corey would become years later.
Mr. Allen was playing Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor,” which is used to represent villainy in movies, as did classic movies like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932), The Black Cat (1934), and The Phantom of the Opera (1962). It was also played in films like Fantasia (1940), which was terrifying in its own right, and the film Noir Sunset Boulevard (1950), in which its history in horror movies was parodied.
Babysitters Watching “The Thing”
Another John Carpenter Movie Plays On TV
It’s almost a “must” to watch horror movies on Halloween night, and that’s precisely what Laurie Strode did with Tommy Doyle and Lindsey Wallace in 1978 – and so did Corey with Jeremy in 2019. The real reference, though, is in the movies they watched that night: Laurie and the kids watched the 1951 movie The Thing from Another World, based on the 1938 novella Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, and which got another adaptation in 1982 by John Carpenter, titled The Thing.
Since this is a sequel to the original Halloween, they are watching a remake of the same movie Laurie watched in that film.
Corey and Jeremy are seen watching The Thing, a double nod to John Carpenter and the first Halloween movie. It is a fantastic Easter egg since it has multiple meanings. Since this is a sequel to the original Halloween, they are watching a remake of the same movie Laurie watched in that film. However, even more important is that, other than Halloween, John Carpenter's The Thing is considered his horror masterpiece, even though it took years before fans and critics caught onto its brilliance.
Oscar’s Mom’s Fate
The Fallout From Halloween Kills
In Halloween, viewers meet Allyson’s boyfriend and some of their friends, among them Oscar (Drew Scheid), who confesses his feelings to Allyson while they walk back home after a messy Halloween party. Oscar was killed minutes later by Michael Myers, and in Halloween Kills, his mother found his body at the hospital amidst the riot that was taking place there. Unfortunately, Oscar’s mom never recovered from that loss.
At the beginning of Halloween Ends, it’s shown that she hanged herself in a costume like the one Oscar was wearing when he was killed. This wasn't so much an Easter egg as it was finishing off one of the many stories of trauma in Haddonfield. While this Halloween trilogy was about Michael Myers's reign of terror, the final movie was about how a town deals with the trauma the murders left behind, and Oscar's mother was a perfect example of how it can destroy someone.
Laurie’s Newspaper Clippings
This References The Original Murder Of Laurie's Friends In 1978
Jumping to the present year, 2022, Laurie is shown working on her memoir. In her studio, there’s a wall with newspaper clippings of Michael Myers’s past crimes, starting with one that seems to read “Sheriff’s daughter slain,” in reference to the murder of Annie Brackett, Sheriff Brackett’s daughter and Laurie's best friend in 1978. Next is one from 1963, which reads “6 Year Old Kills Teen Sister In Halloween Tragedy,” along with the obituaries of Laurie’s friend Lynda and her boyfriend Bob.
One of these reports is on the demolition of the Myers house, and one from 2018 reads “Myers Manhunt Underway.” There was some criticism of how the reboot timeline seemed to have forgotten about Laurie’s friends, who were murdered in 1978, so Halloween Ends showed that they were definitely not forgotten, and it also revealed that the original Myers’ house was destroyed.
Samhain & The Cult of Thorn
From Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
The title of Laurie’s memoir is a subtle reference to the Cult of Thorn from Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, one of the most criticized elements of the franchise. Laurie’s memoir is titled Stalkers, Saviors, and Samhain, the latter being the link with the Cult of Thorn. Halloween 6 revealed that the reason Michael Myers was evil and somewhat indestructible was that he was inflicted with Thorn, an ancient Druid curse that led him to kill his bloodline on Halloween night.
However, it got out of control, and Michael ended up killing the leader of the cult and the doctors involved in it as well. The entire Cult of Thorn timeline ran from the first and second films to Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. After that last movie, the franchise rebooted and ignored the latter three, only keeping the first two movies canon. This Easter egg at least references the ignored films.
Allyson’s Boss
He Was Mentioned In Halloween Kills
In Halloween Ends, Allyson works at a doctor’s office. She’s waiting to hear back about a promotion, but, unfortunately, Allyson is ed over in favor of Deb (Michele Dawson), a fellow nurse who is having an affair with their boss, Dr. Mathis (Michael O’Leary). This is the first time Dr. Mathis is shown. However, he had been mentioned before in Halloween Kills.
Vanessa (Carmela McNeal) and her husband Marcus (Michael Smallwood), a doctor and a nurse, respectively, complain at the bar about Marcus’ boss behaving inappropriately during a Christmas party. Halloween Ends confirms that Dr. Mathis wasn’t exactly the most professional man at his job. This was a nice little callback, not so much an Easter egg but a moment tying all the characters together and showing how small and connected the town of Haddonfield was at this time.
Sondra’s Fate
One Of Michael Myers's Victims Lived
Halloween Kills has the biggest kill count in the Halloween franchise, but Halloween Ends revealed that not all those who were brutally attacked by Michael in 2018 died. One of them was Sondra Dickerson (Diva Tyler), Laurie’s neighbor, who was attacked in her home by Michael Myers and who stabbed her in the neck with a tube light in one of the most disturbing scenes of the movie.
Every Returning Character In Halloween Ends (& What Happens To Them)
Halloween Ends has a lot of returning characters from the franchise’s long history, so here’s every one of them and what happens to them.
Halloween Ends revealed that she survived but was left with severe damage, and her sister made sure Laurie knew what happened to her. They accosted Laurie in a parking lot of the supermarket, and she saw that Sondra is now wheelchair-bound and unable to talk - another one of the franchise's many sad endings. This is also important in showing the residual trauma that the serial killer left on this small town and its residents - many of whom had to carry on after he disappeared.
Nick Castle’s Cameo
Castle Was The Original Michael Myers Actor
In the Halloween reboot timeline, Michael Myers is played by two actors: James Jude Courtney and Nick Castle, the latter the original actor from Carpenter’s 1978 movie. In Halloween Ends, Nick Castle had another role as the weirdo at the Halloween party who “flashes” Corey when opening his trench coat and revealing a costume depicting human guts (and various condoms hanging from the coat).
This was a great moment for fans of the franchise, as it was cool to see Castle in the movie as someone other than Michael Myers for a change. On a side note, while Castle played Michael Myers in the original film, he didn't play Michael Myers in the reboot trilogy. Instead, James Jude Courtney played Michael Myers, and Castle only supplied the breathing sounds for the serial killer. He also had a small role in the first Halloween in a window scene Easter egg as Michael Myers.
Michael Myers' Goes Pennywise
Michael Myers Sewer Living Pays Homage To It
After killing the Haddonfield mob and Karen at the end of Halloween Kills, Michael Myers disappeared without a trace, but the residents of Haddonfield never forgot about his crimes. Halloween Ends revealed that Michael had been hiding in the sewers of Haddonfield for four years, and, according to the homeless man Corey came across, he took people in there with him, leaving viewers to imagine what he did with the bodies.
The entire idea of dragging victims into the sewers is straight out of the King story.
This is very similar to what IT/Pennywise did in Stephen King's novel (and its adaptations) IT, as the creature lived in the sewers of Derry, Maine, and came out to terrorize the town every 27 years. The entire idea of dragging victims into the sewers is straight out of the King story. While one is demonic and the other is just a hulking serial killer, it is still a terrifying proposition and a nice homage to King's classic tale.
