Rohan Campbell Archives

Review: ‘Silent Night, Deadly Night’ (2025), starring Rohan Campbell, Ruby Modine, David Lawrence Brown, David Tomlinson and Mark Acheson

January 13, 2026

by Carla Hay

Ruby Modine and Rohan Campbell in “Silent Night, Deadly Night” (Photo courtesy of Cineverse)

“Silent Night, Deadly Night” (2025)

Directed by Mike P. Nelson

Culture Representation: Taking place primarily in Hackett, Minnesota, the horror film “Silent Night, Deadly Night” (a remake of the 1984 film of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Asians and African Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: After witnessing his parents getting murdered by a man dressed as Santa Claus, a boy grows up to be the same type of murderer.

Culture Audience: “Silent Night, Deadly Night” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching formulaic slasher movies with sluggish pacing and boring characters.

Rohan Campbell in “Silent Night, Deadly Night” (Photo courtesy of Cineverse)

The 1984 horror movie “Silent Night, Deadly Night” is so terrible, it’s become a campy classic, mainly because the movie seems to know that it’s trash. The same can’t be said for the disappointing 2025 remake of “Silent Night, Deadly Night,” which takes itself too seriously to be truly entertaining to watch. This overrated slasher remake thinks it’s smarter than it really is, in a dreadfully dull story about a serial killer dressed as Santa Claus. A supernatural spin to the story and a new ending don’t make the kills and the characters any less boring. The acting performances are so tedious and lackluster, it will make viewers cringe from that sinking feeling of watching a time-wasting movie instead of making viewers cringe with terror.

Written and directed by Mike P. Nelson, the 2025 version of “Silent Night, Deadly Night” is one of several “Silent Night, Deadly Night” movies that haven’t been able to do much with the story except appeal to the lowest common demominator of slasher flicks. The 1984 “Silent Night, Deadly Night” movie (directed by Charles E. Sellier Jr. and written by Michael Hickey) was based on an unproduced screenplay titled “He Sees You When You’re Sleeping,” written by Paul Caimi. There have been several false reports that Caimi wrote a book titled “Slayride” that was adapted for 1984’s “Silent Night, Deadly Night” movie. “Slayride” was actually the original title of Hickey’s “Silent Night, Deadly Night” screenplay before it was made into a movie.

The 1984 “Silent Night, Deadly Night” film (which was despised by most critics) spawned several forgettable sequels. The 1984 film had an underlying message about the dangers of untreated mental illness and the damage caused when trying to deny chilhood trauma. The 2025 “Silent Night, Deadly Night” film just makes the story a stereotypical “evil spirit” horror flick. The 2025 “Silent Night, Deadly Night” also takes entirely too long before the troubled protagonist is shown on a killing spree, which doesn’t happen until nearly halfway through the movie.

The 1984 and 2025 “Silent Night, Deadly Night” movies both have the same concept of a boy who witnesses his parents getting murdered by a man dressed as Santa Claus, and then the boy grows up to also become a killer dressed as Santa Claus. In both movies, his murder spree is triggered when he is forced to dress as Santa Claus at his retail store job, after the employee who normally wears the Santa costume is unavailable to do it. The 1984 movie told the story in chronological order, while the 2025 movie tells the story in non-chronological order, by having disjointed flashbacks.

The 2025 version of “Silent Night, Deadly Night” begins in a similar manner to the 1984 version of the movie. A boy named Billy Chapman and his parents visit Billy’s paternal grandfather in a nursing facility. When the parents aren’t in the room, the grandfather warns the boy about Santa Claus being dangerous.

When the boy and his parents are going home in their car, the father (who’s driving) stops the car for a man who is dressed as Santa Claus. The costumed Santa Claus then slaughters the parents in front of the boy. Billy grows up fearing and hating Santa Claus.

In the 1984 movie, at the time of his parents’ murders, Billy is 5 years old in 1971, and he has a younger brother named Richard “Ricky” Chapman, who was a baby at the time of their parents’ murders. The 1984 movie also shows Billy and Ricky during their time in an orphanage in 1974, and then shows what Billy does in 1984, when Billy is 18, the age when he becomes a serial killer.

The Billy Chapman character in the 2025 version of “Silent Night, Deadly Night” has no siblings, and there are no scenes of his childhood in an orphanage. It’s shown later in the movie that Billy had a foster mother (played by Kristen Sawatzky) after his biological parents were murdered. The movie begins by showing Billy at 8 years old (played by Logan Sawyer) with his biological parents Geoffrey Chapman (played by Erik Athavale) and Tara Chapman (played by Krystle Snow), as they all visit Geoffrey’s unnamed father (played by Darren Felbel) in a nursing home.

The family of three are driving home when they encounter the killer Santa Claus, whose real name is later revealed to be Charlie (played by Mark Acheson), who rear-ends the family’s car before shooting Geoffrey and Tara. In the 1984 movie, the killer Santa Claus got the father to stop the car by pretending to be a stranded motorist with car trouble. The 1984 movie showed 5=year-old Billy escaping into a nearby wooded area, which is why he wasn’t killed.

In the 2025 version of “Silent Night, Deadly Night,” the scenes with adult Billy (played Rohan Campbell), who is in his late 20s, take place between December 20 to December 24 in an unnamed year. Billy as an adult is first seen in a motel bedroom, as he wakes up from a nightmare where he relived the murders of his parents. His childhood is only shown as very quick flashbacks that include a few scenes of teenage Billy (played by Kowen Cadorath) with his foster mother. These short flashbacks are in contrast to the 1984 movie, which goes into detail about misfit Billy’s unhappy childhood in a strict orphanage operated by Catholic nuns.

Unlike the 1984 movie, the 2025 movie shows Billy always hearing the voice of the man who killed his parents. Charlie’s voice can be heard in annoying voiceover narration throughout the movie. The reason for Billy constantly hearing Charlie’s voice is explained in a “reveal” toward the end of the movie. The reason is not schizophrenia but the most obvious supernatural reason why Billy is acting like he is continuing Charlie’s legacy.

At the motel, Billy notices that a state trooper named Max (played by David Tomlinson) and another cop are in the motel’s parking and are looking for him, but they don’t see Billy. It’s soon revealed that Billy has already become a serial killer who is being hunted by police. Billy makes a fast escape and gets on a bus. He ends up in Hackett, Minnesota, where he quickly gets a job at a gift shop owned by a widower named Dean Sims (played by David Lawrence Brown), whose daughter Pamela (played by Ruby Modine) also works in the shop.

Billy got the gift shop job because he stalked Pamela (who’s about the same age as Billy), after seeing her on the bus to Hackett. Billy is completely smitten with her. Pamela knows that Billy is weird and a stalker type, but she doesn’t seem to mind. She half-jokingly warns Billy that her father says Pamela has “explosive personality disorder” because of her tendency to explode with anger.

Pamela isn’t kidding about having a nasty temper: She lands in jail for beating up a boy who bullied her pre-teen nephew at the children’s hockey practice. Billy sees this assault because Pamela invited Billy to go with her to watch this hockey practice. Because Billy is a secret serial killer, Pamela’s violence doesn’t really bother him. “Silent Night, Deadly Night” has a very tepid romance between Billy and Pamela, who do not have believable chemistry together. They are just two emotionally damaged people who are lonely and looking for companionship.

And what a coincidence: Pamela’s ex-boyfriend happens to be state trooper Max, who is at the jail where Pamela is held until she’s released on bail. Another coincidence: A woman named Delphine Anderson (played by Sharon Bajer) was at the hockey practice where Pamela assaulted a boy. Delphine seems to be a concerned citizen. But, of course, she shows up later and reveals a different side to herself.

The gift shop has a tradition of having a Santa Claus meet-and-greet event with local kids. George Vilmo (played by Tom Young) is the employee who usually dresses up as Santa Claus for this event. However, George becomes unavailable this year, so Billy is asked to substitute for George and dress up as Santa Claus. And you know what that means.

Much later, the movie quickly dumps in a backstory for why Billy became a serial killer when he was 17. This backstory should’ve been told much earlier in the film, which makes Billy a hollow mystery for too much of the story. In the 1984 movie, Billy becomes a product of his cruel upbringing and untreated mental illness. As bad as the movie is, the 1984 version of “Silent Night, Deadly Night” had something to say about systemic failures in child welfare.

The 2025 movie tries to give Billy a more “noble” purpose, by making him a vigilante with supernatural powers. By attempting to portray Billy as a more sympathetic villain, the 2025 version of “Silent Night, Deadly Night” just dilutes how terrifying this killer is supposed to be to ordinary people who aren’t doing anything wrong. “Silent Night, Deadly Night” also misses many opportunities to incorporate more Santa Claus lore into the story.

The movie also makes the mistake of telegraphing who is going to get killed next because Billy literally envisions the words ordering him to murder whomever the next victim will be. The 2025 version of “Silent Night, Deadly Night” plods along with tedious repetition and no suspense. This movie, which hints at a sequel, is more like a lump of coal than an appealing gift for horror fans.

Cineverse released “Silent Night, Deadly Night” in U.S. cinemas on December 12, 2025. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on January 27, 2026.

Review: ‘The Monkey’ (2025), starring Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, Christian Convery, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campbell and Sarah Levy

February 17, 2025

by Carla Hay

A scene from “The Monkey” (Photo courtesy of Neon)

“The Monkey” (2025)

Directed by Osgood Perkins

Culture Representation: Taking place in Vancouver, the horror comedy film “The Monkey” (based on the short story of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Identical twin brothers are haunted by a mysterious toy monkey that used to be owned by their father and causes gruesome deaths to the people who become targets of the monkey’s curse.

Culture Audience: “The Monkey” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and filmmaker Osgood Perkins, but some viewers might find the movie’s dark comedy off-putting and awkward.

Theo James in “The Monkey” (Photo courtesy of Neon)

“The Monkey” blends dark comedy with gory deaths in this horror film about a homicidal toy monkey. The movie (whose first half is better than the second half) isn’t that scary and is more about seeing the bizarre ways that people die. “The Monkey” is far from being a masterpiece, but it’s a good-enough option for people who like horror movies about deadly toys.

Written and directed by Osgood Perkins, “The Monkey” is based on Stephen King’s 1980 short story of the same name. Not much was done to expand on the short story, which is why the screenplay often seems thin and repetitive. After writing and directing the grim horror movies “Gretel & Hansel” (released in 2020) and “Longlegs” (released in 2024), Perkins makes his first horror comedy with “The Monkey.”

The results are mixed. The big showdown scene at the end of “The Monkey” drags out for too long and nearly ruins the film, because by this point in the movie, it’s obvious who will live and who will die. However, up until that point, “The Monkey” is a spectacle of creatively staged kill scenes that are meant to be absurdist.

“The Monkey” (which was filmed on location in Vancouver) begins sometime in the early 1990s, by showing an airline pilot captain named Petey Shelborn (played by Adam Scott) frantically bursting into a pawn shop and carrying a creepy-looking toy monkey that is seated with a drum. The monkey has a wind-up screw that makes the monkey play the drums when the screw is wound up. Petey, who has blood on his pilot uniform, doesn’t care about selling this item. He just wants to get rid of it.

Petey tells the unnamed pawn shop owner (played by Shafin Karim): “I need you to take this thing off my hands and make it someone else’s problem … It’s not a toy. Don’t ever call it that … You do not ever want the drumstick come down. Because if it does, we are all fucked to hell.”

The pawn shop owner takes the monkey with curiosity. And the most predictable thing happens next: The monkey still has some of its playing power left over from when the last time it was wound up. The monkey starts playing the drums.

A rat in the shop suddenly chews on a rope, and the broken rope causes the pawn shop owner to be harpooned by a spear that was in the shop. It’s an elaborate booby-trap-styled kill. Petey then uses a flamethrower to try to burn the monkey.

The movie then abruptly cuts to 1999. What happened to Petey? It’s never revealed exactly, but his wife Lois (played by Tatiana Maslany) hasn’t had contact with Petey for years. Lois has bitterly assumed that Petey has abandoned her and their identical twin sons Hal (played by Christian Convery) and Bill (also played by Convery), who are about 13 or 14 years old in 1999.

Why has Lois assumed that Petey is a deadbeat absentee dad? Because of his pilot job, Petey traveled a lot and was an unfaithful husband, according to Lois. She has assumed that Petey ran off with a mistress and started a new life somewhere else. That’s what she has been telling Hal and Bill, who have mixed feelings of resentment toward Petey but also wishing that Petey was still in their lives.

Bill was born first and is a dominant bully to sensitive and introverted Hal. An adult Hal is the narrator of the film. Most of the movie’s scenes that take place in 1999 are about Bill being cruel to Hal. But one day, Hal decides he’s going to get revenge on Bill. And he knows just how to do it.

Before Petey disappeared, he would come home from his airline travels and bring gifts for his Lois and the twins. One day, Hal and Bill are rummaging through things in their home when they discover a wind-up toy monkey that can play a drum. It’s the same monkey that Petey tried to get rid of at the pawn shop. The monkey is mute.

It isn’t long before the twins find out that if the monkey plays the drum, someone nearby will soon die a very violent death. However, as repeated in the movie, the monkey “doesn’t take requests” on who will be the next to die. Therefore, anyone who tries to use the monkey to kill someone might accidentally have someone else killed who isn’t the intended target.

That’s the main reason why watching “The Monkey” is an unpredictable ride. However, movie falls short when it comes to developing characters that viewers will actually care about besides Hal. The deaths in the movie are so freakish, “The Monkey” tends to over-rely on these deaths in substitute for an suspenseful story.

Hal and Bill have a babysitter named Annie Wilkes (played by Danica Dreyer), who takes the twins to a Benihana-type of Japanese restaurant while Lois is on a blind date. (Fans of King’s books will notice that Annie Wilkes is the same name for the villain in King’s 1987 novel “Misery,” which was later made in to an Oscar-winning 1990 movie of the same name.) The monkey is left in the car and starts playing the drums. It’s the first time that the twins see the evil power of the monkey.

Without giving away too much information, at one point in the movie, Hal and Bill have to spend time living with Lois’ brother Chip (played by Perkins) and Chip’s wife Ida (played by Sarah Levy), who don’t want really want to spend time taking care of children. Chip also tells the twins that he and Ida are swingers. You can easily predict that something bad will happen to Chip and/or Ida.

When Bill and Hall find out that they’re in possession of an evil monkey toy, they decide to do something about it. These actions will follow them into their adulthood, which is shown in the second half of the movie. This second half of “The Monkey” is a bit of a tonal mess but has fairly good performances, despite the movie going overboard with nonsensical kills.

The adult years for Bill and Hal take place in 2024. Hal (played by Theo James) is now a single father who works at as a low-paid sales clerk at a general store. Hal is an emotionally aloof loner who has a distant, almost non-existent relationship with his teenage son Petey (played by Colin O’Brien) not because of a custody arrangement but because Hal deliberately does not want to get too emotionally close to Petey. Hal, who sees his son Petey only once a year, still has a lot of unprocessed trauma from his past regarding the toy monkey and Hal’s own absentee father.

Hal’s son Petey (who is about 13 or 14 years old) was born from a fling that Hal had with Petey’s mother (played by Laura Mennell), who doesn’t have a name in the movie. Petey’s mother is married to a pompous self-help guru/author named Ted (played by Eljah Wood), who is a religious expert on fatherhood. Ted has written books titled “Jesus Dad” and “Fatherhood VII.” Hal starts to regret being mostly unavailable to Petey when Hal finds out during his annual visit with Petey that Ted is going to adopt Petey.

Hal and Bill (also played by James) are estranged and have not seen and spoken to each other in years. But in a movie like “The Monkey,” you know that there will be a reason for Hal and Bill to see each other again. Meanwhile, Hal decides to take Petey to an amusement place called Horror Heaven during a father/son excursion that will take place just a few days before Ted officially adopts Petey.

The “daddy issues” are all over this movie because there’s a flimsy subplot about an unnamed cop (played by Paul Puzzella) and his hooligan son Ricky (played by Rohan Campbell), who has been hired to find the menacing monkey. Why can’t this monkey be destroyed? There’s a rushed and not-very-believable explanation for that in the movie.

“The Monkey” walks a fine line between being wickedly laughable and being downright silly. The origins of the monkey are never explained, which is a huge letdown in the movie’s flawed screenplay. The cast members are serviceable in their roles, but the movie starts to lose its edge once the monkey is in the hands of adults, not children. The filmmakers of “The Monkey” obviously want this film to be the start of a series or franchise, but any other stories based on this one should have more reasons to care about the main characters.

Neon will release “The Monkey” in U.S. cinemas on February 21, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on February 12, 2025.

Review: ‘Halloween Ends,’ starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak, James Jude Courtney, Will Patton, Rohan Campbell and Kyle Richards

October 15, 2022

by Carla Hay

“Halloween Ends”

Directed by David Gordon Green

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2019 and 2022, in the fictional Haddonfield, Illinois, the horror flick “Halloween Ends” has a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: Serial killer Michael Myers is on the loose again and will murder anyone who gets in his way.

Culture Audience: “Halloween Ends” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the “Halloween” movie franchise and star Jamie Lee Curtis, but anyone who sees this movie should brace themselves for a disappointing bore that fails in suspense and storytelling.

Andi Matichak and Rohan Campbell in “Halloween Ends” (Photo by Ryan Green/Universal Pictures)

There’s no other way to put it: “Halloween Ends” is a cesspool of bad filmmaking decisions. By now, most horror fans know that the “Halloween” move franchise (which began with 1978’s “Halloween,” directed by John Carpenter) follows the seemingly endless saga of masked serial killer Michael Myers (also known as The Shape), who somehow manages to survive after being shot, stabbed, beaten, and set on fire. Because indestructible Michael Myers has unrealistically escaped death so many times, the “Halloween” franchise now implies that he’s not completely human and there’s something supernatural about him.

In the first “Halloween” movie, Laurie Strode (played by Jamie Lee Curtis), who was a high school student at the time, was a survivor of his Halloween night massacre in the fictional Haddonfield, Illinois. Laurie and some of her teenage peers were babysitting on that deadly night. The Laurie Strode character has appeared off and on in “Halloween” movies ever since, with all reboots and sequels failing to live up to the groundbreaking and terrifying original “Halloween” movie.

“Halloween Ends” has been described as the third movie in a “Halloween” trilogy directed by David Gordon Green, beginning with the 2018 “Halloween” reboot and continuing wth 2021’s “Halloween Kills.” The 2018 reboot of “Halloween” was good enough to show there was potential to restore the “Halloween” franchise back to being critically acclaimed horror instead of the mindless schlockfest that the franchise turned out to be. “Halloween Kills” foreshadowed that the quality of the franchise was sliding back into idiotic territory. “Halloween Ends” is the proverbial nail in the coffin that solidifies the unfortunate pattern of filmmakers ruining the “Halloween” franchise with mind-numbing and silly stories.

“Halloween Ends” was written by Green, Paul Brad Logan, Chris Bernier and Danny McBride. (It’s usually not a good sign when a movie has at least four credited screenwriters, because the screenplay usually ends up having “too many cooks in the kitchen” syndrome.) How bad is “Halloween Ends”? Michael Myers’ killing spree doesn’t begin until nearly one hour into this horrific misfire. There’s not enough Laurie Strode and too much of a dull romance between Laurie’s granddaughter and an accused killer.

The movie begins on Halloween night in Haddonfield in 2019. A 21-year-old college student named Corey Cunningham (played by Rohan Campbell) has been hired to babysit a boy named Jeremy Allen (played by Jaxon Goldenberg), who’s about 9 or 10 years old. Jeremy’s parents (played by Candice Rose and Jack William Marshall), who don’t have first names in the movie, are going out for the night to a Halloween costume party. Corey is nerdy and socially awkward, but he’s also very responsible and has plans to go to graduate school.

Before the parents leave for the party, Mrs. Allen tells Corey that ever since the Michael Myers massacre that took place during Halloween the previous year (as shown in “Halloween Kills”), Jeremy has been very fearful, he’s been wetting his bed, and he’s been hearing voices. Corey tells her that’s a normal reaction that a lot of kids would have. What Corey also finds out is that Jeremy is a little bit of a spoiled brat who likes to get his own way.

Jeremy insists on watching a horror movie on TV with Corey. When the violence in the horror movie gets too intense, Corey decides that they should stop watching the horror movie, which he thinks isn’t appropriate viewing for a child of Jeremy’s age. Jeremy wants to keep watching the horror movie though and says he’s not afraid of the horror movie or Michael Myers.

Jeremy smirks to Corey: “Michael Myers kills babysitters, not kids.” (Apparently, Jeremy never heard what Michael Myers did in 2018’s “Halloween,” where a pre-teen child became a Michael Myers murder victim.) Jeremy puts up a little bit of fuss for Corey telling Jeremy what they can and can’t watch on TV.

The next thing Corey knows, Jeremy goes missing in the house, but Corey can hear Jeremy’s voice taunting him and laughing at him in the distance. Some sloppy film editing then shows Corey locked in an upstairs closet by Jeremy, who is standing nearby in the hallway but who refuses Corey’s demands to unlock the closet door. Corey kicks his way out of the closet with such force, it knocks Jeremy over the stairwell, with Jeremy falling to an instant death on the floor of the house’s foyer.

And what a coincidence: Jeremy’s parents come home just seconds after Jeremy’s fatal fall. When they open the front door, Jeremy’s bloodied and broken body is right in front of them. Jeremy’s mother wails and screams at this gruesome sight. Jeremy’s parents immediately think that Corey killed Jeremy on purpose. A panicked and remorseful Corey is arrested and proclaims that Jeremy’s death was an accident.

“Halloween Ends” then flashes forward to 2022. Laurie now owns a house in Haddonfield, where she lives with her granddaughter Allyson (played by Andi Matichak), who is Laurie’s only grandchild. “Halloween Kills” showed what happened to Allyson’s divorced mother Karen (played by Judy Greer), who was Laurie’s only child. What happened to Karen is also mentioned at the beginning of “Halloween Ends.” Laurie, who is now apparently working on a memoir, is shown in various “Halloween Ends” scenes typing on her laptop computer and reading parts of her memoir in ominous voiceovers.

Laurie says that that she bought the house as “a place to live with love and trust—not a trap, not a place to hide.” Allyson, who is in her mid-20s, works as a nurse at a local hospital. Laurie seems to be at peace with her past and is no longer hiding from Michael Myers. But there would be no “Halloween Ends” movie if Michael Myers (played by James Jude Courtney) were completely out of of Laurie’s life. It’s later revealed in “Halloween Ends” where Michael has been hiding in Haddonfield.

Meanwhile, Corey has had a rough time in Haddonfield because he’s a social outcast who is still thought of as a child killer by many members of the community. Although it’s not shown in the movie, it’s mentioned that Corey went on trial for Jeremy’s death and was found not guilty. Corey’s reputation was ruined anyway.

Corey currently lives with his parents and works as a mechanic in his father’s mechanic shop. Corey’s father Ronald (played by Rick Moose) is easygoing and compassionate, while Corey’s mother Joan (played by Joanne Baron) is domineering and impatient. Both parents firmly believe in Corey’s innocence.

One day, Corey is standing outside a local convenience store, when four teenagers approach him to ask him to buy them some beer. The names of the teenagers are Terry (played by Michael Barbieri), Stacy (played by Destiny Mone), Billy (played by Marteen) and Margo (played by Joey Harris). Terry is the leader of these teenage troublemakers.

When Corey declines the teens’ request to buy alcohol for them, they begin to insult Corey by calling him names such as “psycho babysitter.” Laurie happens to arrive outside and sees this bullying. The teens then begin to taunt Corey and Laurie, by calling them “the psycho and the freak show.”

Corey is holding a glass bottle of chocolate milk, and he gets so angry that he squeezes the glass bottle until it breaks, thereby injuring his hand. The teens just laugh and go into the grocery store. Laurie then takes out a knife and asks Corey if he or she should use the knife to slash a tire of the car that the teens used to get there. Corey then takes the knife and does the tire slashing.

Laurie insists that Corey go to the local hospital, where Corey happens to get medical treatment from Allyson. There’s an immediate attraction between Corey and Allyson, but Corey is too shy to act on it. Corey mentions that he’s a mechanic at the local mechanic shop, and he recently got a used motorcylce, given to him by his father. Allyson uses this information as an excuse to visit Corey at his job so that he can give her lessons on how to ride a motorcycle.

And so begins the most tedious part of “Halloween Ends”: the courtship of Corey and Allyson. This limp romance drags down the movie to the point where viewers will be wondering where Michael Myers and Laurie are. The misleading marketing for “Halloween Ends” makes it look like Laurie and Michael Myers are in most of the movie, but “Halloween Ends” actually takes a long and unwelcome detour into Corey’s world.

Allyson’s estranged father happens to be a Haddonfield cop named Officer Mulaney (played by Jesse C. Boyd), who acts like a stalker by showing up in the same places where Allyson is, and complaining that she never contacts him or returns his messages. Allyson is never happy to see him. Needless to say, Officer Mulaney (who has no first name in the movie) disapproves of Allyson dating Corey.

Laurie keeps an open mind about Corey, because she knows what it’s like to be misjudged. Some people in Haddonfield blame Laurie for causing Michael Myers to come back. There’s a scene where a wheelchair-using, mute, middle-aged woman named Sondra (played by Diva Tyler) and Sondra’s sister (played by Leila Wilson) happen to be in the same store parking lot as Laurie. Sondra’s sister angrily confronts Laurie and says that Sondra is “damaged” because of Michael Myers, and the sister berates Laurie for tempting Michael Myers back to Haddonfield.

As the romance between Corey and Allyson begins to blossom, there are hints that Laurie’s love life could also be heating up. In “Halloween Kills,” it was revealed that a Haddonfield cop named Frank Hawkins (played by Will Patton) was a young rookie on duty during the 1978 Halloween night when Michael Myers went on his massacre. Frank, who’s supposed to be about four or five years older than Laurie, has had a crush on Laurie ever since. In “Halloween Kills,” Frank and Laurie ended up in the same hospital room together, where they discovered their mutual attraction to each other.

Frank is still interested in dating Laurie, but she’s been more hesitant about getting into a romantic relationship with anyone. And so, for much of Laurie’s screen time, Frank is sometimes hanging around like a lovesick puppy who wants some sign of affection from Laurie. Is this a romantic drama or a horror movie?

Because “Halloween Ends” veers so far into being a romantic drama for much of the movie’s scenes, the tone of the movie is very disjointed and awkward. “Halloween Kills” character Lindsey Wallace (played by Kyle Richards), a survivor of Michael Myers’ 1978 massacre, returns in “Halloween Ends” as a good friend of Laurie’s. In “Halloween Ends,” Lindsey is a totally useless character who just stands around and looks sympathetic to Laurie. “Halloween Ends” gives Lindsey no character development or further insight into Lindsey’s life. Sheriff Barker (played by Omar J. Dorsey) from “Halloween Kills” also returns for a smaller role in “Halloween Ends.”

“Halloween Ends” has a yammering radio DJ character named Willy the Kid (played by Keraun Harris), from a local radio station called WURG “The Urge,” and his annoying voiceovers pepper some of the scenes with commentary about the legend of Michael Myers. As soon as this radio DJ character’s voice keeps showing up in the movie, you just know that sooner or later, Willy the Kid will be seen in person, and his fate is easily predicted. There’s also an unnamed, elderly homeless man (played by Blaque Fowler) who lives near some abandoned tunnels in Haddonfield. His purpose in the movie is also very obvious.

Because “Halloween Ends” takes so long for Michael Myers to actually appear, some viewers might be wondering during the first half of the movie if this is a “Halloween” movie spinoff, not a “Halloween” movie sequel. Curtis makes an effort to bring some gravitas and emotional resonance to her role. However, the rest of the cast members’ performances in the movie are mediocre and unremarkable. The scenes of Michael Myers on a killing spree have a “been there, done that” formulaic quality that look like tired retreads of previous “Halloween” movies.

Note to filmmakers of future “Halloween” movies: People want to see a “Halloween” movie to have mostly Michael Myers horror scenes, not lukewarm romance scenes that take up too much of the story and look like something from a bland soap opera. That’s why “Halloween Ends” not only fails to live up to the hype but it’s also a horror movie that lacks edge, originality and truly terror-inducing scenes. In other words, “Halloween Ends” is a ripoff and a complete waste of time.

Universal Pictures released “Halloween Ends” in U.S. cinemas and on Peacock on October 14, 2022.