10 Things You Learn Watching Halloween (2018)
3. It's Full Of Meta Commentary
In its final moments, the film manages to deliver a blistering commentary on the slasher sub-genre as a whole and the 'final girl' trope.
As Laurie's home burns to the ground, the Strode women take to the street and are able to wave down a passing pick-up truck. They hop in the bed of the truck and are driven off to safety.
This sequence is insanely reminiscent of the ending of not Halloween, but the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. In that film, Sally Hardesty (one of the first-ever cases of the 'final girl' trope) manages to escape Leatherface by running out to the street and flagging down a pick-up truck. She hops in the back bed of the truck and is driven away. She's covered in blood and clearly driven to insanity by the sheer trauma of everything she just suffered through, laughing hysterically all the way.
But in Halloween 2018, Laurie Strode, the most iconic 'final girl' of all, is not alone. She is surrounded and supported by her daughter and granddaughter. They are not covered in blood or driven to insanity, instead, they have found solace and security amongst each other as they hold hands. And crucially, the last shot of the film closes in on Allyson holding a knife. Here, they are not the victims but rather the victors, having overcome their trauma together.
It sees the film borrowing a page from Halloween III's book in more ways than one, using the form of the film to offer a commentary on the genre, the trope, and the franchise itself.