Halloween Ends (2022) Production Notes

Four years after the events of last year’s Halloween Kills, Laurie is living with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) and is finishing writing her memoir. Michael Myers hasn’t been seen since. Laurie, after allowing the specter of Michael to determine and drive her reality for decades, has decided to liberate herself from fear and rage and embrace life. But when a young man, Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell - The Hardy Boys, Virgin River), is accused of killing a boy he was babysitting, it ignites a cascade of violence and terror that will force Laurie to finally confront the evil she can’t control, once and for all.

Please note: Some production notes may contain spoilers.

THE SYNOPSIS

This is Laurie Strode’s last stand.

After 44 years, the most acclaimed, revered horror franchise in film history reaches its epic, terrifying conclusion as Laurie Strode faces off for the last time against the embodiment of evil, Michael Myers, in a final confrontation unlike any captured on-screen before. Only one of them will survive.

Icon JAMIE LEE CURTIS returns for the last time as Laurie Strode, horror’s first “final girl” and the role that launched Curtis’ career. Curtis has portrayed Laurie for more than four decades now, one of the longest actor-character pairings in cinema history. When the franchise relaunched in 2018, Halloween shattered box-office records, becoming the franchise’s highest-grossing chapter and set a new record for the biggest opening weekend for a horror film starring a woman. In 2021, Halloween Kills earned the biggest opening weekend for any horror film in the pandemic era and simultaneously set a new record for a non-live event premiere streaming on Peacock. In this unexpected final chapter, set four years after the events of last year’s Halloween Kills, Laurie is living with her granddaughter Allyson (ANDI MATICHAK) and is finishing writing her memoir. Michael Myers hasn’t been seen since. Laurie, after allowing the specter of Michael to determine and drive her reality for decades, has decided to liberate herself from fear and rage and embrace life. But when a young man, Corey Cunningham (ROHAN CAMPBELL; The Hardy Boys, Virgin River), is accused of killing a boy he was babysitting, it ignites a cascade of violence and terror that will force Laurie to finally confront the evil she can’t control, once and for all.

Halloween Ends co-stars returning cast members WILL PATTON as Officer Frank Hawkins, KYLE RICHARDS as Lindsey Wallace and JAMES JUDE COURTNEY as Michael Myers (aka The Shape). The supporting cast includes OMAR J. DORSEY, returning as Sheriff Barker, and new characters played by JESSE C. BOYD (The Walking Dead, Outer Banks), JOANNE BARON (Billions, Euphoria) and MICHAEL BARBIERI (Spider-Man: Homecoming, The Dark Tower).

From the creative team that relaunched the franchise with 2018’s Halloween and Halloween Kills, the film is directed by DAVID GORDON GREEN from a screenplay by PAUL BRAD LOGAN (Manglehorn) & CHRIS BERNIER (The Driver series) & DANNY MCBRIDE & DAVID GORDON GREEN, based on characters created by JOHN CARPENTER and DEBRA HILL. Halloween Ends is produced by series producers MALEK AKKAD, p.g.a., JASON BLUM and BILL BLOCK. The executive producers are JOHN CARPENTER, JAMIE LEE CURTIS, DANNY McBRIDE, DAVID GORDON GREEN, RYAN FREIMANN, RYAN TUREK and CHRISTOPHER H. WARNER.

The returning artists from Halloween and Halloween Kills include director of photography MICHAEL SIMMONDS, production designer RICHARD A. WRIGHT, Academy Award®-winning special effects makeup designer CHRISTOPHER NELSON, editor TIM ALVERSON ace, costume designer EMILY GUNSHOR and composers JOHN CARPENTER, CODY CARPENTER and DANIEL DAVIES. The casting is by TERRI TAYLOR, csa and SARAH DOMEIER LINDO, csa.

Universal Pictures, Miramax and Blumhouse present a Malek Akkad production in association with Rough House Pictures. A Universal Release © 2022 Universal Studios. www.halloweenmovie.com

THE BACKSTORY

Over more than four decades, the Halloween franchise and Jamie Lee Curtis’s character Laurie Strode have reshaped and redefined the horror genre forever. The record-breaking relaunch of the franchise that began with 2018’s Halloween and continued with 2021’s Halloween Kills now reaches its jaw-dropping conclusion with a film that is unlike any Halloween film that has come before. Director David Gordon Green, who has helmed and co-written all three films of the trilogy, and his fellow filmmakers have given each film its own creative signature and narrative and emotional arc, while still providing fans what they love about the franchise. “Audiences expect certain ingredients of a Halloween movie,” Green says, “so we’ve tried to provide that. Sometimes, we have leaned into the trope or the cliches of the mythology, and other times we have put a spin on it.”

Drawing inspiration from franchise godfather John Carpenter for Halloween Ends, Green turned to John Carpenter’s seminal works for character development. “There are a lot of other Carpenter movies that I have referenced within this one,” Green says. “For example, there’s the inspiration of Christine and The Fog. We find our influences in unlikely places. His movies have great bullies and nerds…as well as some of those narrative devices that we have had fun with.”

Four years after the events on the night of Halloween 2018, depicted in the previous two films, Laurie Strode has, after decades of being hunted and haunted by Michael Myers, decided to no longer allow fear to define or direct her life. After Michael killed her daughter, Karen, four years ago, he has seemingly vanished. Laurie has undergone intense therapy and has slowly built a safe, stable, loving home for herself and her 21-year-old granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak). Laurie is finishing a memoir, has developed a trusting friendship with fellow survivor Lindsey Wallace (Kyle Richards), and is even flirting with the idea of dating again. “This movie begins with a Laurie who has actually, finally moved on,” Jamie Lee Curtis says. “There is a moment with Laurie and Lindsey, where Lindsey essentially says, ‘Choose life. You’re doing really well. Keep doing what you’re doing.’ And because of that…Laurie doesn’t see Michael coming.”

Allyson, meanwhile is now a nurse, and is developing a budding romantic relationship with an isolated, outcast young man, Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell), who was accused of killing the boy he was babysitting on Halloween night 2019. The boy’s death occurred under unexplainable circumstances and Corey was acquitted, but his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, now treats him like a pariah. “This story begins with a babysitter and a child on Halloween night that goes terribly wrong,” Curtis says. The opening sequence is a sly inversion of the premise of the 1978 film, where a babysitter, not a child, is a killer’s target. “That sequence is so crazy intense, beautifully shot and visually put together that, just on its own, I think it could have been an Oscar®-nominated short film,” Curtis says.

When Laurie, years after Corey’s acquittal, sees the young man being bullied by some local teens, she comes to his defense, and then both initiates and encourages Allyson and Corey’s relationship. But as their romance develops, Laurie begins to feel uneasy as Allyson begins to pull away from her and Corey’s personality seems to change.

All of this, says director David Gordon Green, deepens the interior lives of the central characters and heightens the terror and emotional stakes of this final chapter. “This film digs into the dramatic world, emotions and mindset of Laurie and Allyson, as well as introducing a new character, Corey, who is Allyson’s love interest…and how that relationship is affected by the horrors of Michael Myers,” Green says.

The film explores how violence ricochets through a family and a community and reverberates long afterward. Wounds may heal but scars remain. Michael Myers may have been coming for Laurie in 2018, but the events of that night shattered hundreds of lives. Allyson lost both of her parents and her then-boyfriend to Michael Myers, young people like Corey have been caught in Michael’s wake and the Haddonfield families of Michael’s many victims are still struggling to heal. Meanwhile, over Haddonfield’s radio airwaves, a local DJ (KERAUN HARRIS, Black-ish) seems to be goading Michael to return. “There’s a lot at play here,” Curtis says. “The conundrum of any kind of trauma is, ‘Can you move on? Are you allowed to move on? Or is the tattoo of grief permanent?’”

Laurie is also grappling with guilt, both her own and that imposed on her by others. Michael may be the killer, but Laurie’s decision to remain in Haddonfield all these years, lying in wait for him, drew him back there. Had Laurie left decades ago, would Michael have ever returned? Would all his victims, including Laurie’s own daughter, still be alive?

That morass of emotion is captured in a scene in which Laurie, after a playful flirtation with Officer Frank Hawkins (Will Patton) at the grocery store, is confronted by Veva Barker (LEILA WILSON), the sister one of Michael’s victims, in the parking lot. The victim, Sondra (DIVA TYLER), was Laurie’s neighbor near the compound in 2018. Sondra’s husband was killed, and Sondra’s now paralyzed and unable to speak. “The woman’s sister says to Laurie, ‘My sister can’t speak, and you don’t even know her name,’” Curtis says. “That hits Laurie at her core. It may not be Laurie’s job to be an angel of mercy and know every victim’s name, but the woman isn’t wrong, either. That woman in the wheelchair isn’t going to have a moment of peace, ever. She will never move on, from the injury and the loss of her husband, and the permanent damage to her life.”

The incident yanks Laurie back into a painful realization. No matter how good her life is now, whatever joy and lightness she may be striving to have, this shadow will always be there, watching and waiting. “It’s heavy, heavy emotional shit in the middle of a horror movie,” Curtis says. And it further distinguishes Halloween Ends from its predecessors. “The 2018 movie was about trauma and about Laurie and her family coming together,” Curtis says. It was a true horror film. Kills was an action movie that felt very heightened. Everything was bigger, louder, darker and more violent. Michael, especially, was more violent. Halloween Ends is a very different movie, and a very emotional one. This is a love story.”

It's a love story on multiple levels, in fact: not only the romance between Allyson and Corey, but also the deep love between Laurie and Allyson, and even Laurie’s compassion for Corey, who, like, Laurie, inspires pity or disdain from the society around them.

When Michael Myers resurfaces and the killing begins, all of that emotion swirls beneath the final confrontation between Laurie and Michael. Their fight is more violent, sustained and physical than anything before in the Halloween canon. Curtis and Green knew it had to be the equivalent of a street brawl—a fight to the finish—one that honored both Laurie’s arc and fan expectations. “Laurie has lost everything,” Curtis says. “You know someone is watching her, but she is forced to become the hunter. When Laurie and Michael begin their battle, it’s brutal. There is both a knitting needle and a hand in a garbage disposal. When she gets the upper hand, she tries to crucify him on the butcher block table with a knife.”

Only one of them survives this fight to the death, so as Curtis and James Jude Courtney, who plays Michael Myers (aka The Shape), prepared for their final scene, their history together, both as characters and actors, and the weight of the moment became overwhelming. “When Jamie and I had our big finale, I pulled her aside and asked her to walk me through the beats,” James Jude Courtney says. “As she did, both of us just started going deep into this emotional place together. Then we had tears coming down our cheeks. This was what was happening between the characters, but it’s also what was happening to us while we acted it.”

THE CHARACTERS

Laurie Strode
Jamie Lee Curtis

After 44 years as Laurie Strode, Jamie Lee Curtis is one of an elite pantheon of artists who have played the same role on film for more than four decades, including Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker and Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. Curtis was just 20 years old when the first Halloween was released in 1978. The character of Laurie— conceived and written by director John Carpenter and late producer Debra Hill, who died of cancer in 2005 at the age of 54— has become the defining role of Curtis’ expansive and lauded career. “We made that first movie for nothing in 1978 in 17 days,” Curtis says. “But, at its core, there was something that has carried on for 44 years. I have spent a lot of time— ever since I rejoined Laurie Strode for this new trilogy—asking, ‘Why me? Why her? What is it about Laurie and Michael that has survived the test of time?’ What I have now come full circle to, appreciated and embraced, is that Laurie is and was everyone’s hope for the possibility of a happy life. She represents everyone’s sister, best friend, daughter, niece and granddaughter.” No one understands better that Laurie is an avatar of a life interrupted, a survivor who has spent her life trying to not let an inexplicable evil chart her path and define her existence.

It’s particularly meaningful that Laurie Strode has become a symbol of female strength, resilience and endurance worldwide, and that the success of this character and these films has helped pave the way for a new generation of strong, layered female film characters, not just in the horror genre, but industry wide. “The legacy of Laurie Strode is directly attributed to Debra Hill,” Curtis says. “Her vulnerability, her intelligence, her strength is in all of those original women in the first film—Linda, Annie and Laurie. Her imprimatur on Halloween is indelible. It’s never to be removed. The gentle soul of Laurie and that fierce warrior spirit are the legacy of Debra. As a feminist, she’d be very proud of how women are represented, how Laurie has evolved as a character—with the deep emotionality, incredible bravery and physical prowess she demonstrates in this trilogy. I know that she’d be incredibly proud of her contributions, which are forever.”

Director David Gordon Green says Curtis has come to define the Halloween franchise, not just because of what she can communicate on screen, but for what she contributes to the making of these films. “Having her in these films as an icon was one thing,” Green says, “but then having her here as a support and a set-den mother—and the creative powerhouse that she is—kept the enthusiasm and the motivation through the long hours and the hard days. She was always there with this great spirit that, inevitably, injects energy to this crew.”

During the production of last year’s Halloween Kills, Laurie was sidelined in a hospital bed, so for Halloween Ends, Green was thrilled to have Curtis fully back in action. “She was so understanding of the stressful schedule and our fast pace,” Green says. “Jamie is always early and prepared. She’s there long before we need her to shoot, getting a sense of what’s going on and our expectations. She is always ready with ideas and curveballs. That helps when things don’t go as expected. She’s always there to help recharge the enthusiasm and the positive attitudes.”

Halloween Ends also marks the end of an era for producer Malek Akkad, whose father, Moustapha Akkad, executive produced the first Halloween in 1978, and every subsequent franchise installment for almost three decades. “It’s difficult to believe that it has been more than 40 years since audiences first experienced the brilliance that is Jamie Lee Curtis,” Akkad says. “Having Jamie return to the role of Laurie Strode has been such a satisfying resolution of the character’s arc, and I cannot fathom going through this journey without Jamie as our North Star. She is compassionate, fierce and wickedly funny, and I adore what she has done and who she aspires us all to become.”

Producer Bill Block has remained captivated by Curtis’ journey over the arc of this trilogy. “When we began preproduction on 2018’s Halloween, no one was more excited than I was to see Jamie back in the role she originated,” Block says. “But what I didn’t anticipate was the extent to which she is a vessel for this character’s grief, pain, loss and triumph. The reason that audiences have developed such an intense relationship with and respect for Laurie is that Jamie never deviates from character motivation—no matter how that makes Laurie look or come across. Her commitment is astonishing, and people respond to her ferocity in spades.”

Producer Jason Blum says it is difficult to overstate the impact that Curtis has had not only on the genre, but on the culture of film itself. “No one hates raves about her more than Jamie herself,” Blum says, “but I can’t let the opportunity pass to let everyone know that she’s simply the best. She gives all of herself to her fellow cast, crew, family and fans, while somehow managing to keep a part of Jamie just for Jamie. There is a brilliance behind that devilish smile, and she’s managed to keep us fascinated by this character for decades while wanting both to protect Laurie and draw strength from her while she defends us from the epitome of evil. The word is used to often, but in Jamie’s case, ‘legend’ is the only one that fits.”

For Curtis, her long journey with Laurie Strode has given her insight not just into who she is, but who we are. “If I have a brand, it’s that I tell the truth, and that I show vulnerability,” Curtis says. “I’ve shown it in my body, in my addiction, and in my personal life. Those qualities are the very ones that Laurie Strode has carried all these years. I am Laurie Strode, at the end of the day. That very vulnerable girl is this 64-year-old woman today. I think that’s why, after all these years, I’m still moved by her journey, by her losses, by her tenacity, by her courage and by her fearlessness. Somehow, she has become everyone’s portal to confront the things that they can’t control. I think that’s why these films will stand the test of time.”

Allyson
Andi Matichak

Living under her grandmother Laurie Strode’s shadow for the majority of her young life, Allyson, played by Andi Matichak, is finally beginning to find her voice. Now working as nurse at the hospital, she’s attempting to build a life apart from Laurie. Now that she has lost her mother, father and then-boyfriend to Michael Myers, Allyson wonders if she has anything left to give or to lose. Living with Laurie has given her a home and an anchor, but it’s an anchor that can feel, at times, like it's dragging her down and preventing her from moving forward. She’s being pursued romantically by Officer Mulaney (Jesse C. Boyd) of the local police force, but she’s not that into him and his persistence is beginning to become irritating. So, when Laurie introduces Allyson to Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell), another Haddonfield outcast who feels that there is no one in this god-forsaken town that can possibly understand him, she finds a kindred spirit who knows what it is like to try and live a normal life, while caught in the wake of a tsunami of violence and pain.

In the first two films of the trilogy, Matichak and Curtis have only shared a handful of scenes. “Between Halloween in 2018 and Halloween Kills, I didn’t have many intimate scenes with Jamie” Matichak says. “One of my favorite things about Halloween Ends is that the progression of events lends itself to allow for those intimate moments. It was refreshing and fun to be able to sink in and work more closely with her this time around. She’s a masterclass in everything she does. From how she handles herself as an actor, to who she is as a professional, and as a person. Jamie’s generosity with her fellow actors is only matched by her attention to the craft. She’s incredibly connected and present. If I could have one scene partner for the rest of my life, it would be Jamie Lee Curtis.”

Corey Cunningham
Rohan Campbell

On Halloween Night 2019, a year after Michael Myers’ Haddonfield killing spree, teenage Corey Cunningham, played by Rohan Campbell, agreed to babysit 10-year-old Jeremy Allen (JAXON GOLDENBERG, Alice), while Jeremy’s parents attended a party nearby. In a terrifying series of unexplained events, Corey was locked in a closet on the top floor of the house and freed himself just as the boy plunged to his death with a knife in his chest. Corey, wracked with guilt and terror, was charged with murder but acquitted. The court found him innocent. The people of Haddonfield, including Jeremy’s mother (CANDICE ROSE, Stranger Things), did not.

A social pariah in Haddonfield, Corey, now 21, is equal parts taunted and haunted, working part time at the mechanic shop owned by his kind stepfather (RICK MOOSE, The Accountant), and trying to deflect the smothering attention of his controlling and critical mother (Joanne Baron).

When Corey is tormented outside a gas station by a gang of teens led by the cruel bully Terry (Michael Barbieri), Laurie Strode intervenes and Corey finds the one person in the town who can remotely understand what he has been through. After Laurie introduces him to Allyson, Corey finds a connection with a fellow kindred spirit who has survived unthinkable loss. “Just like Laurie has been doing the work and trying to move on and live, Corey is dragged back to the past,” Curtis says. “She recognizes Corey as someone with a terrible legacy and feels for him. That’s why she makes contact with him.” But as time goes on, Corey seems to change as his relationship with Allyson deepens, and his influence on Allyson seems to be pulling her away from Laurie and Haddonfield. And Laurie begins to worry that she may have misjudged him.

As the newest member of the principal cast, Campbell had to quickly find his way. “Rohan is unbelievable,” Andi Matichak says. “He had the difficult job of taking on a challenging role while stepping into the final installment of our trilogy in the eleventh hour and holding a lot of energy and space. Even more so with the irreplaceable Judy Greer not returning. It takes a specific and special actor to do that and to do it with grace. Rohan has approached the entire process in an incredibly respectful way given he is a guest in Laurie Strode’s world and it’s safe to say at the end of the day he is very much a part of the family.”

Campbell viewed this as a once-in-a-lifetime experience. “I felt like I was living every Halloween fan’s dream,” Rohan Campbell says. “We shot a lot of nights, so it felt like camping with your friends, except better because your friends are the cool kids and they have to hang out with you. They have no choice.” Campbell says he learned an extraordinary amount working with Jamie Lee Curtis and the rest of the cast and filmmakers, but the biggest surprise was more technical. “Blood,” Campbell says, “is very sticky.”

Campbell and Curtis, interestingly, share a curious Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew connection. Campbell shot to fame playing Frank Hardy in the 2018 reboot of the Hardy Boys, and the reason Curtis first got into acting as a teenager was that a friend recommended that she audition for The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries TV series that ran from 1977 to 1979. “I didn’t get the part—instead just a small role—but I took a month off from college to try break into showbusiness,” Curtis says. “At the end of that month, I got a contract with Universal Studios and quit college. In real life, I also dated Parker Stevenson, who played Frank Hardy on that series.” She even had a connection to Parker Stevenson’s co-star, teen pop heartthrob Shaun Cassidy, who played Frank’s brother, Joe. “I was in Shaun Cassidy’s first band in seventh grade,” Curtis says. “I played rhythm guitar.”

Officer Frank Hawkins
Will Patton

Laurie’s fellow emergency-room victim from Halloween Kills, Officer Hawkins, played by Will Patton, has long lived with the guilt of not finishing off Michael Myers as a young beat cop in 1978. He knows that he alone could have put an end to the reign of terror that The Shape began all those years ago.

Frank has long carried a torch for Laurie Strode, so he’s intrigued, and a little flustered, when he runs in to Laurie at the grocery store. “When Laurie sees Hawkins it has been some time, and there’s a flirtatious reunion there,” director David Gordon Green says. “There’s a joy that we don’t often see with Laurie. It’s so fun to get those two together and see that youthful energy that they share.”

For Laurie, Frank represents a spark of hope. The flirt, they talk about one day going to see the cherry blossoms bloom in Japan. “You see Laurie leave the market with this ebullient smile on her face,” Curtis says. “She has this one happy moment, where she’s feeling pretty, and a boy likes her. Just the little glimmer of hope that maybe they’ll have a chance at a second happiness. Not a happy ending, but a hopeful one.”

Lindsey Wallace
Kyle Richards

No one alive in Haddonfield, outside Laurie Strode’s family, knows how much Laurie has suffered as Lindsey Wallace does. In 1978, Laurie was babysitting Lindsey and Lindsey and her childhood pal Tommy Doyle raced down the street and away from Michael Myers’ blade. Suffering the PTSD of survivor’s guilt, Lindsey has managed to rebuild her life and, in Halloween Ends, has become a beacon of hope for Laurie. Laurie’s champion and best friend, Lindsey encourages Laurie to “choose life” and try to let go of the past.

Portrayed once again by Kyle Richards, Lindsey is not only one of the few survivors of 1978’s Halloween, but also a survivor of Halloween Kills, and was thrilled to rejoin the franchise for this epic final chapter. “This has been such an incredible experience, and I have such an appreciation for it,” Richards says. “When you’re a child you don’t appreciate acting as much. You think that it’s just fun and games. But working with David Gordon Green and his crew there is such a sense of camaraderie. We were just a bunch of creative nomads—people who were there together to make the best movie that we could. It was inspiring to be a part of it.”

Michael Myers (AKA The Shape)
James Jude Courtney

After being set upon by the town of Haddonfield and left for dead, Michael Myers channeled their rage and used it to transcend death itself, killing Laurie Strode’s daughter, Karen, as added revenge. Now hiding, undetected, in the shadows of Haddonfield for the past four years, Michael lives in a cave beneath an underpass, a creature of the darkness. Surviving off little more than rats and sewer water, he is a shell of a creature, a phantom struggling to stay alive. But a chance encounter with a fellow damaged soul allows him to channel their pain and rise again.

When James Jude Courtney began to understand what director David Gordon Green and Oscar®-winning special effects makeup designer Christopher Nelson needed to draw from his performance as The Shape, Courtney looked to his character designers as inspiration. “When I saw the scar tissue, burns and the effects that the elements had to Michael’s body, I talked to David about what that meant for my physicality,” Courtney says. “We trust each other, so we allowed the things that happen to Michael in his cave to start re-empowering me as The Shape. That naturally shifted the way my body moved, my stature and how my muscles and skin reacted.”

Although it is exceedingly uncomfortable for performers to sit in the makeup chair for hours on end as their prosthetics are applied, Courtney found the experience cathartic. The physical transformation, aided by costume designer Emily Gunshor’s wardrobe, proved invaluable. “Watching and feeling the work that Chris Nelson and all these talented people did to me, I began to morph and shift and change into Michael,” Courtney says. “Once I put on Emily Gunshor’s amazing wardrobe, I would sit in it and ferment…and let it take over me. Then, I would be in some altered state the rest of the night.” He pauses. “Dude, it’s better than drugs.”

Although Halloween Ends is the finale of the trilogy and this chapter of the franchise, Green suspects that someday, somewhere, Michael Myers may be resurrected somehow. “I have a feeling that, just as Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula and mummies and vampires and zombies find new ways to have their stories told, Michael Myers has stepped into the lore and legacy of classic movie monsters,” Green says. “One day, he will find a new way to show up in some other shape.”

THE PRODUCTION

The Locations

• Although the trilogy has been filmed in multiple locations throughout the southeastern U.S., the goal has always been to create a cohesive portrait of Haddonfield and its environs. “John Carpenter used Pasadena to pose for Illinois in 1978’s Halloween,” Green says. “We have shot in South Carolina, then Wilmington, North Carolina, now Savannah, Georgia, and we ended in Sylvania, Georgia. We’ve been a bit all over the place, but we have tried to keep some consistency to character and backdrop.”
• The Halloween Ends production headed to Sylvania in northeast Georgia to create the bridge underpass cave where Michael Myers has been hiding for the past four years. “We had to come out to Sylvania for the specific underpass,” director David Gordon Green says. “I needed a big bridge and an area to build an underground dwelling for some sequences. There wasn’t anything in Savannah that I responded to, so when we came an hour and a half outside of town, the location spoke to me. The community was open to shutting down this bridge and letting us spend a few nights.”

THE MUSIC

For Halloween Ends, John Carpenter, the franchise’s godfather and composer of its unforgettable, iconic score, returned to write the music for this final chapter, alongside Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies.

As with the soundtracks to 2018’s Halloween and 2021’s Halloween Kills, the soundtrack for Halloween Ends was recorded in its entirety at John Carpenter’s home studio and Daniel Davies’ studio. “The three of us compose, perform, and record all the music, and everything is mixed by Daniel together with John Spiker,” says John Carpenter. The unmistakable mix of software synths, vintage analogue equipment and live instrumentation provide the signature sound of a Halloween film. However, because Halloween Ends is unlike any chapter that has come before, the soundtrack for this film is expanded to match heightened stakes of this climax to the trilogy. “The main themes have all been passed down from the original Halloween,” Carpenter says. “We have refined them and created new themes for new characters.”

The soundtrack, available for digital release on October 14, 2022, via Sacred Bones (with a physical edition to follow on January 20, 2023), was tracked scene-by-scene but the album itself plays like a stand-alone piece of music. The general atmosphere is one of dread, yet the record includes some groove-laden moments reminiscent of Escape From New York or some of Carpenter’s more dance-able scores.

Throughout the score, exquisite and delicate ambient pieces weave their way between some of the score’s more arresting moments and yet maintain a subtle pop sensibility. The overall achievement showcases three master musicians, one of whom invented the entire horror-synth genre, crafting an evocative, playful and deeply listenable score that honors a legacy and expands on the decades of work that have been leading to this triumphant conclusion.