Not all horror films need some supernatural or paranormal element to them. In fact, some of the genre’s best efforts have been the most simple ones, with a grounded threat that feels real and believable. For many, that’s the scariest thing and it’s what made some of the classics from the 70s and 80s into the iconic films that they are today. Sometimes, all you really need is a psycho with a blade just killing people for no apparent reason.
No one knows that better than John Carpenter, who struck gold with Halloween, one of the greatest horror movies of all-time. It needs no introduction at this point, and as fans will know, the property has undergone some significant changes over the years. Currently, there are 10 entries in the franchise, and with numerous directors coming in to put their own spin on Michael Myers, the character isn’t exactly the same as he was back in the original 1978 flick.
However, if Danny McBride and David Gordon Green have their way, he soon will be. That’s because the filmmakers are busy putting together their Halloween reboot, which was announced earlier this year and caught us all off guard. Not to mention that many were confused at the decision to bring in two people who usually specialize in comedy to resurrect such an iconic horror franchise. You’d think that filmmakers more familiar with the genre would be behind a project like this and as it turns out, that was almost going to be the case.
Speaking to The Movie Crypt to promote his new film Death Note (our review here), director Adam Wingard revealed that at one point, he was going to get behind the camera for the upcoming reboot.
“You know, I almost actually did the Halloween movie that they’re doing. It almost happened, but the deal just kinda fell apart. When I found out those rights were available I was immediately trying to figure out how to get in on that. But ultimately what I realized was I kinda already made my Halloween movie with The Guest. So it felt like it would be retreading on that kind of thing. In a way though, I still want to do a Halloween movie.”
Furthermore, Wingard said that he even got approval from Carpenter himself to make the film.
“I actually got an email, in confidence, where Carpenter was basically… He actually gave them the thumbs up for me. And I kinda walked away from it like, I just got everything I wanted out of this job, you know. Like I just want approval from dad. And I walked away like, ‘This is about as good as it gets.’”
Unfortunately, this didn’t end up panning out, but it’s a neat bit of trivia nonetheless. Besides, with Wingard now having made his interest in getting involved with the franchise public, could we see him possibly hop on board for a sequel, should this new reboot spawn one? Perhaps.
For now, however, we’ve got Danny McBride and David Gordon Green’s vision for Halloween to look forward to, and while we don’t know very much about it just yet, we imagine we’ll be hearing of some updates quite soon as it inches closer to its October 2018 release.
