‘Halloween Ends’ Ending Explained: The Last ‘Halloween’ Movie Delivers a Gruesome, Definitive Death

After over four decades of playing a game of cat and mouse, Laurie Strode and Michael Myers are facing off one more time in Halloween Ends, which opened in theaters and began streaming on Peacock Premium today.

Directed by David Gordon Green, Halloween Ends is the third and final film in the “H40” trilogy, which began with 2018’s Halloween and was followed by 2021’s Halloween Kills. Four years after the most recent Michael Myers killing spree, the town of Haddonfield has returned to life as normal. But there’s still evil out there, lurking—and it might not be just Michael Myers.

Halloween Ends is the 13th film in the franchise and is meant to be a conclusion for the H40 trilogy. Jamie Lee Curtis has promised this will be her final appearance as Laurie Strode. And while it may not be the end of Halloween forever, it’s certainly the end of an era.

If you’re dying to read up on the thrilling conclusion to this classic slasher franchise, you’ve come to the right place. Scroll down for Decider’s breakdown of the Halloween Ends plot summary and the Halloween Ends ending explained.

Warning: Major Halloween Ends spoilers ahead. Like, basically every Halloween Ends spoiler you can think of. Proceed with caution!

WHAT IS THE HALLOWEEN ENDS PLOT SUMMARY?

The movie opens in Haddonfield, Illinois on Halloween night in 2019—one year after the events of the 2018 Halloween movie and its sequel, Halloween Kills. A young man named Corey Cunningham (played by Rohan Campbell) shows up to babysit a boy named Jeremy, while Jeremy’s parents are at a costume party. Jeremy is a real brat. He plays a mean trick on Corey by pretending to be in danger, luring him into an attic, and locking him in.

Corey, trapped in the attic, begins to panic. When Jeremy won’t let him out, he breaks down the door. The door breaks free, slams into Jeremy, and knocks him off the stair banister, killing him. Jeremy’s parents walk into the house just before he falls to his death. Corey is arrested, but ultimately let off without jail time.

Cut to Laurie Strode (Curtis) in 2022. It’s been four years since the events of Halloween and Halloween Kills, and no one has seen Michael Myers since then. After losing her daughter, Laurie Strode lives with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) in Haddonfield, where she spends her time writing a memoir about her experience with Michael Myers.

Meanwhile, Corey works at a scrapyard for his father. He keeps his head down but is still known around town as the babysitter who killed a kid. Laurie witnesses a group of marching band kids—yes, really—assaulting Corey outside a gas station, and gives him a ride to the hospital. It just so happens that Allyson works at the hospital, and, immediately sparks fly between her and Corey. She invites him to a costume party at a bar and loans him a scarecrow mask. They have a nice time—until Corey runs into Jeremy’s mom, who yells at him for killing her son.

Corey walks home from the bar and gets jumped by those marching band bullies. They throw him over an overpass, and though he survives, he has the misfortune of landing right next to the sewer tunnel where Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney) has been hiding out for four years. Micheal drags Corey into his hideout, and is ready to kill him—but then Michael sees something in Corey’s eyes, perhaps a hint of a serial killer kindred spirit. Either that or Michael Myers uses some sort of latent supernatural ability to possess Corey. It’s not super clear. Either way, Michael lets Corey go. As Corey runs away, he’s confronted by an aggressive homeless man with a knife. In the scuffle, Corey stabs and kills the man.

Instead of telling his girlfriend that he ran into the man who killed her mother, Corey takes Allyson on a date to the diner. The couple is harassed by Allyson’s ex, a cop. After the date, in retaliation, Corey lures the cop down to Michael’s hideout and offers him up for Michael to kill. Corey asks Michael to “teach him” the ways of being a serial murderer. The two of them team up, with Corey in his scarecrow mask, and murder Allyson’s terrible boss and coworker.

Meanwhile, Laurie is growing suspicious of Corey. She sees something in his eyes that reminds her of Michael. She suspects he is “going down a dark path.” Obviously, she’s right—Corey also kills his own mother and a radio DJ who was rude to him. But Corey convinces Allyson that Laurie wants him dead, and persuades her to leave town with him. After a big fight with Laurie, Allyson backs a bag to leave.

Distraught, Laurie calls 911 to report her own suicide. She points a gun to her head. The camera cuts away, and we hear a shot fired… but it turns out Laurie shot a pumpkin. Corey, thinking Laurie is dead, steps out of his hiding place, wearing the Michael Myers mask. That was exactly Laurie’s plan. Laurie and Corey fight. Laurie is not aiming to kill, and offers to get Corey help. But Corey insists that if he can’t have Allyson, then “no one can.” Then he sticks a knife in his own throat.

Laurie quickly pulls the knife out, just as Allyson walks into the house. She sees her grandmother standing over her boyfriend’s dead body, and assumes the worst. She walks out, leaving Laurie alone in her house… or is she?

The real Michael Myers arrives. He takes back his mask and snaps Corey’s neck for good measure. Then he attacks Laurie.

DOES LAURIE STRODE DIE IN HALLOWEEN ENDS?

No. Everyone’s favorite final girl makes it to the very end. That said, a lot of people do die—read on to find out who.

WHO DIES IN HALLOWEEN ENDS?

Lots of people, including (spoiler alert) Micheal Myers. But with the exception of Michael, the characters who die are new ones, rather than anyone from the original film. Both Kyle Richards and Will Patton, whose characters were both in the original 1978 movie, survive.

The complete list of people who die in Halloween Ends is: Jeremy the kid; a homeless man; Allyson’s ex, the cop; a nurse and a doctor from Allyson’s hospital; Corey’s mother and father; Willy the radio DJ; all four marching band bullies; Corey; and, of course, Michael Myers.

HOW DOES MICHAEL MYERS DIE IN HALLOWEEN ENDS?

Michael and Laurie face off in Laurie’s kitchen. Eventually, Laurie gets Michael pinned to the kitchen island, with a knife stuck through each of his hands. She pulls out a knife and slits his throat. But he’s Michael Myers—he’s not dead yet. Michael gets Laurie by the throat, choking her. It seems as though he might kill her… but then Allyson rushes in.

Allyson came back. She breaks Michael’s arm and rescues her grandmother. They stab him some more and watch as he bleeds out on the table. He seems pretty dead, but, as Allyson says, “Not dead enough.” Laurie and Allyson strap Michael’s corpse to their car, and the entire town of Haddonfield drive in a procession to the scrap yard. “That’s not how this works,” one police officer observes. “It is tonight!” another responds.

In a scene of biblical-like crucifixion, the town carries Michael’s body to the scrap metal shredding machine. They all watch as Michael Myers is absolutely pulverized into oblivion. Surely, surely, there’s no way he’s coming back from that one.

WHAT IS THE HALLOWEEN ENDS ENDING EXPLAINED?

After that ritualistic body disposal, Allyson leaves Haddonfield. Laurie stays behind and finishes her book. She writes that “evil doesn’t die, it changes shape,” which could possibly be a hint that the Halloween franchise will someday continue. (Though the cast and crew have been very clear that the “H40 trilogy” is now complete.)

Deputy Frank Hawkins (Will Patton), who first arrested Michael in 1978, stops by Laurie’s to deliver a basket of vegetables. It’s a reference to an inside joke when they were flirting at the grocery store earlier in the movie. Laurie hints that she will join Frank on his trip to Japan. The two sit on Laurie’s front porch, enjoying a quiet moment. The camera cuts to shots of Laurie’s empty house, finally, at peace. With that, the movie ends.

And no, there is no Halloween Ends end-credits scene. Phew! That’s it, folks!  All’s well that ends well… except for all those people murdered by Michael Myers.