In 1978, John Carpenter’s Halloween kicked off the Golden Age of slasher films that would also give birth to franchises like Friday the 13th. Over 40 years later, the reign of Michael Myers has apparently concluded with Halloween Ends. The Shape has gone on many rampages over the years, with and without Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode, but now that he’s hanging up his knife, the mask is going off too.
No Halloween Ends spoiler talk here, we’ll let you discover that in the movie itself. This is just a look at James Jude Courtney’s Michael Myers without that mask on the set of the movie. One stuntwoman on the film took to Instagram to celebrate the release of Halloween Ends, which opened No. 1 at the box office over the weekend. Check out the second slide:
Michael Myers is usually a menacing presence with an ominous face in the Halloween movies, but in this set image, the man behind the mask is smiling next to the stuntwoman for Andi Matichak’s Allyson Nelson, and they have their arms around each other in the photo. James Jude Courtney has prosthetics all over his face that indicate burns. It honestly feels illegal to see Michael unmasked, but it’s come to the end of the journey, so whatevs, I guess. All bets are off.
James Jude Courtney has been portraying Michael Myers since Jamie Lee Curtis returned to the franchise for 2018’s Halloween and continued to be part of the cast throughout the trilogy. Courtney stands at 6’3, and various angles of him have been caught throughout these three recent movies, but this is a seriously delightful one. The original The Shape was played by Nick Castle, who has a little something to do with Halloween Ends.
Halloween Ends opened at $41 million over the weekend in theaters, even though Universal also made it available on Peacock day-and-date as well. The decision was a controversial one, especially since the movie clearly has a large horror audience. The new release has received mixed reviews overall from critics and audiences alike, but CinemaBlend’s own Mike Reyes gave the movie a 4 out of 5 in his Halloween Ends review, saying that Laurie Strode gets the ending “she deserves” by the time the end credits roll despite the movie itself being unexpected.
One does have to wonder if this really is the end of Halloween. Throughout its many iterations and storylines over the years, Michael Myers has remained a horror staple, and the original is still greatly accepted as one of the best horror movies of all time. James Jude Courtney has positioned himself as the Michael Myers of this generation, but we’ll have to see how long the franchise can remain untouched after Halloween Ends.
