The first trailer for Blumhouse’s Halloween has finally dropped and it brings the promise of some old-fashioned suburban thrills in the vein of the classic original. Though there’s a lot to unpack in it, one section that may stand out to longtime fans of the slasher series is a couple of lines between Allyson and her friend.
When the question’s raised of whether Laurie Strode – grandmother of Allyson and survivor of the first film – is the brother of serial killer Michael Myers, Allyson’s quick to dismiss this notion as a myth. As it turns out, this nod to a plot twist in 1981’s Halloween II is just one of multiple references in the film to the previous sequels, despite the new flick disregarding all movies from the series’ timeline aside from the original.
Here’s what director David Gordon Green had to say about it.
Anyone who’s a fan of any of these films will find nice little easter eggs acknowledging our salute to the filmmakers that have preceded us, in the stories and mythologies as they’ve unfolded. For us, it was a clean slate type of opportunity. Where if there was a little inspiration or mirror image of something, it’s very subtle in the movie. Because we want to start fresh for a new generation, but with great appreciation for the previous.
With the return of Jamie Lee Curtis in the role of Laurie, the balancing act that the upcoming release is pulling between the old and the new may have resulted in a series continuity to rival the X-Men franchise in terms of messiness (the Halloween movies now have at least four parallel timelines; five if you count the standalone Halloween III: Season of the Witch). Still, it’s understandable that Green would rather win over a new generation of horror enthusiasts than remain faithful to the already-muddled continuity of the sequels.
Of course, the best way for Green and Blumhouse to please fans, old and new, may be to simply deliver another nail-biting slasher film, and we’ll get to see how the next Halloween measures up to its predecessors when it hits theaters on October 19th.
