**This post contains spoilers**
We’re finally here! It’s time for the final showdown between Michael Myers and Laurie Strode, but what about Corey Cunningham? Corey becomes the number one outcast in Haddonfield after accidentally murdering young Jeremy Allen (Jaxon Goldenberg) during a disastrous night of babysitting. It’s a horrific sight, with Jeremy’s body laying in a pool of his own blood. Jeremey’s mother Mrs. Allen (Candice Rose) is frantically screaming for a response from Jeremy, while Corey helplessly stands at the top of the staircase with a knife in his hand.
The tragedy was an accident, and time is supposed to heal all wounds, right? Corey tries to keep to himself. You can tell he wants to keep a low profile, but Terry (Michael Barbieri) and his gang of hooligans are determined to make Corey’s life a living hell after he refuses to buy them beer.
Little by little, you can see it. Corey is going to snap. He’s angry. Corey is tired of taking the abuse, but there’s still hope! Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) introduces Corey to her granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak).
The relationship between Corey, Laurie, and Allyson starts off well enough. Laurie sees this poor guy, who’s become a villain in Haddonfield. Laurie knows EXACTLY how that feels after the tragic fallout from being one of the main figures, who inspired a lynch mob against Michael Myers in Halloween Kills. Allyson is lonely after the death of her parents and her friends, and she’s one of the few people, who can say she fought and survived Michael Myers. Allyson can be the emotional support system that Corey needs, while Corey helps her recover from the heartache she had to endure in Halloween and Halloween Kills.
So Allyson takes Corey to a Halloween party. He’s having fun, dancing, and Corey is finally coming out of his shell and starting to enjoy himself. But things take a turn for the worst, when Mrs. Allen (Candice Rose) viciously berates Corey about Jeremy’s death. You can see that look of rage on Corey’s face, when he’s leaving the bar.
After another run-in with Terry and his gang, Corey comes face to face with Michael Myers. It’s an eerie scene, where Michael has Corey by the throat, and you see the flashbacks piecing Corey’s story together. This is the big moment, where Corey looked into Michael’s eyes and gave into all the anger and bitterness boiling up inside of him. Michael Myers is not someone to let his victims go free. It’s an unprecedented moment for Myers, because you have to believe he could feel the evil in Corey’s heart.
Corey’s first kill? Well, you could say Corey murdering the deranged homeless man, who wanted Michael’s mask was self defense. Corey’s visibly upset and shaken up after the murder. But it’s only a matter of time before Corey crosses that fine line for standing up for himself and choosing vengeance.
You’ll notice the pattern, when Corey takes a more sinister path for setting a trap for Officer Mulaney (Jesse C. Boyd). It’s the first kill, where the odd partnership between Michael and Corey truly starts to materialize. Corey officially gives up on trying to turn his life around, as he encourages Michael to kill Mulaney. The duo team up to beat and slaughter Mulaney. Corey wants Michael to show him how to kill, as Michael regains his strength, and Corey’s bloodlust gets stronger after this scene.
Corey increasingly becomes more brutal and smarter, with how he chooses to approach his murders. The trap he sets for Terry and his gang, and how he calmly slithered into the radio station to kill Willy The Kid (Keraun Harris) and his receptionist (Diana Prince), are two good examples of seeing how things escalate during Corey’s transformation into a cold- blooded killer.
The big scene where Corey and Michael team up to kill Dr. Mathis (Michael O’Leary), and Deb (Michele Dawson) perfectly encapsulates Michael and Corey’s relationship and Corey’s story. Corey killing Dr. Mathis? It was sloppy and over the top. On the flip side of that, Michael’s approach to murdering Deb was clean and quick. Also, Michael looks at Corey before he stabs Deb to show him how to do it the right way.
The master teaching the apprentice is a key moment during Deb’s death scene, but there’s a lot more going on here. There’s a look of admiration on Corey’s face, when he witnesses Michael murdering Deb. He’s clearly in awe of Michael, as he unwraps the bandages on his injured hand, another strange and ironic connection to Michael. Remember, Michael’s hand is severely injured after Laurie blew parts of it off with the shotgun in Halloween 2018. Corey was already too far gone, so he gravitated towards Michael. Corey sees Michael as a father figure, a role his stepdad, Ron (Rick Moose) failed to fill, no matter how hard he tried.
Corey slowly becomes The Shape, mimicking Michael’s movements and mannerisms. There’s a great callback to the original Halloween film, when a stoic Corey is standing outside near Laurie’s house. He’s waiting for Allyson, and the shot with Corey standing behind the bushes is similar to Laurie seeing Michael standing outside of her house in the 1978 film. Seeing Corey in Michael’s mask was strange. If we’re going down the road of someone directly following in Michael’s footsteps or at least teasing it, you’d have to go all the way back to Halloween 4 and Jaime, and Laurie in Rob Zombie’s Halloween films.
Corey’s mother, Joan (Joanne Baron) undoubtedly played a role in his troubles. Joan was overprotective and had an unhealthy obsession with her son. It’s a twisted mother/son relationship, because Joan couldn’t stand the thought of Allyson taking her sweet baby boy away from her. Corey murdered Joan after she slapped him. Unbeknownst to Joan, her innocent son had already reached a point in his life, where he was determined to punish anyone who disrespected him.
“If I can’t have her, no one will.” Corey’s final words before an attempted suicide to pin his death on Laurie, driving a bigger and more permanent wedge between Laurie and Allyson. Corey and Allyson loved and trusted each other as the only two people in the world, who could make each other happy. Corey knew Allyson was frustrated with Laurie before he stabbed himself. That was his backup plan to punish Laurie with a life of misery and loneliness, if he couldn’t have Allyson. Luckily, his plan backfired, when Allyson came to her senses.
There’s some strong irony with Corey being Michael’s final victim and his final kill. Of all the people in this world, how can you be so stupid to betray Michael Myers? But Corey’s buffoonery after he failed to kill Laurie proved he was reckless, and he was a little bit too cocky for his own good.
Corey could’ve left Haddonfield for good with Allyson. He could’ve had a happy and romantic life with Allyson after he killed the homeless man. That should’ve been his wake up call, but Corey chose vengeance over love and happiness. He wanted to light the match and burn it down.
Early on in the movie, before she realized what he was turning into, Corey had support from Laurie. Laurie was actually willing to help Corey. As the story progresses, Laurie offered professional help for his “infection,” combined with the nonnegotiable condition of staying away from Allyson. He had a strong support system with Allyson, and Hawkins (Will Patton) believed Corey deserved a second chance after Jeremy’s death. The scene after the disaster at the Halloween party with Allyson is one to remember. Corey didn’t want Allyson to waste her time trying to fix him. Allyson had her hands out, with tears in her eyes, basically begging Corey to allow her to comfort him.
Rohan Campbell did a wonderful job capturing all of Corey’s emotions. You can see the rage, the confusion, and the conflict within Corey, and Campbell nailed the more geeky and innocent side of Corey’s character.
Corey made the choice to worship at the altar of Michael Myers, but there’s a chance Corey always had evil in his heart. He didn’t have to kick the door THAT hard, when Jeremy locked him in the room upstairs. It’s an incident that makes you think about what Jeremy’s father, Roger (Jack William Marshall) told Laurie. Roger wanted to forgive Corey for Jeremey’s death, but he saw a different person, when he looked into Corey’s eyes after he murdered the homeless man. It wasn’t the same nerdy kid who mowed his lawn. This version of Corey made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, so maybe the darkness inside of Corey was always there.
Halloween Ends features two boogeymen, and who knows, maybe Michael would’ve eventually succumbed to his injuries and old age in the sewers, if he never crossed paths with Corey. There’s also the babysitter connection between Laurie and Corey. Laurie was a hero for protecting Lindsey (Kyle Richards) and Tommy Doyle from Michael in the 70’s, but Corey became a villain after his dreadful night of babysitting.
Laurie sums up evil, and Michael and Corey’s stories with that final line in her book: evil never truly dies, it just changes shape. For a brief period, Corey was The Shape. There’s almost no chance for another evil infection spreading throughout Haddonfield with Michael and Corey dead, finally bringing peace to a small and quiet town that desperately needed it.
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