Soul destroying garbage

What on earth happened to the horror genre?

The Halloween franchise (despite it's continued success) has been redundant since Halloween II...and by that, I don't mean the (godawful) Rob Zombie reboot, or the (uber-lame) Halloween Kills...I mean Halloween II from 1981.

There was little else to do or say after the original sequel (the brother/sister exposition hinted at the artistic poverty that was to come) and Myers was shot, blinded, blown-up and presumably killed...end of story.

Halloween III - Season Of The Witch (1982) was a step in the right direction (and proved that it's makers had a bit more trust in it's audience, let alone creative vision, to just constantly repeat the 'Guy in Shatner mask stabs people' schtick)
But of course, audiences demanded more of the same

(sadly...they got it)

Unfortunately Halloween, unlike the 'Friday The 13th' series (which in retrospect looks almost hitchcockarian) takes itself very serious (despite it's inconsistent structure, constant re-imagination and cancelled/jumbled timelines)
All that's left here, is a po-faced 'Hallmark' message movie (with Myers a mere afterthought)

'Halloween Ends' is no exception...a long, boring, drawn-out pity party...that tries (a'la 'Joker') to give (dangerous) validation to the notion that bullied loners have the 'right' to kill indiscriminately. Myers himself, doesn't even enter the snoozfest til around the 40 minute mark (and becomes a supporting actor in his own franchise?)

None of this would matter, if the film had one performance that rang true...Jamie Lee Curtis (who I'd assume was beyond and/or at least better than all this nonsense) veers between paranoid (lesbian-looking) suicidal type and sweary 'down-with-the-kids' empowered Sarah Conner wannabe. The rest of the cast were just as one-note (or less) and every scenario lacked credibility and/or continuity without the semblance of basic reality to tie it all together.
The tortured lead character went inbetween one murder to the next, dating his (improbably hot) girlfriend, exhibiting all the remorse and emotional depth of someone who'd just parked in a disabled bay.
'Halloween Ends' is the nadir of modern horror cinema. Gone is the pretence of even entertaining audiences with mere 'spam-in-a-cabin' theatrics...now replaced by agendas to suit the 'current thing'
Emo's, Hen-pecked (white) men, psychotically religious (white) mothers, bad white people (in general...apart from empowered woman) Mob-mentality ritualistic-violence and not forgetting comedic potty mouthed black folk, are all catered for, in this clumsy catalogue of jump-scares and largely unimaginative kills) You'd be forgiven for thinking that Ken Loach directed 'Jason X' when compared to the horrible script, continuity, cast and performances in 'Halloween Ends'

A crying shame that audiences didn't crave something a little more than a 'guy-in-a-shatner-mask' back in 1982?
To an extent, they deserve movies like this.