Just as the Halloween series has by now splintered into several different alternate timelines, David Gordon Green’s new film could’ve concluded on a very different note. And since we’re going to be talking here about the ending that wasn’t, it stands to reason that we’re also going to be discussing details of the ending that was. Consider this your spoiler warning.
While a sequel for the latest Blumhouse production by now feels inevitable, the movie ends on an unusual note of closure as the three generations of the Strode family unite to banish the source of Laurie’s decades-old trauma. An early version of the Halloween screenplay, however, ended things somewhat more ambiguously.
To break it down quickly, the climax of the script sees Laurie engaged in an up-close tussle with Michael Myers that leaves her severely injured. Before the masked killer can finish her off, however, Laurie’s daughter Shanah (eventually renamed “Karen”) shoots Michael in the chest with a crossbow. As the the three female leads manage to flee the scene, Laurie’s ultimate fate is left up in the air, as is that of Michael’s, who may or may not have died from the injury.
It’s an ending that sounds more in line with the unresolved conclusion that the original 1978 movie left us with, and honestly, it seems like this might well have been the more effective way to wrap things up than the relatively neat ending that we got. While there’s some relief to be felt in seeing the Strodes outsmart and obliterate their assailant, horror movies are generally at their most haunting when they don’t offer such clear-cut resolutions, but rather let their demons linger beyond the end credits.
Either way, though, given the numbers that Halloween is currently doing at the box office, there’s little ambiguity on whether Michael will be back once more.