John Carpenter Reveals How He Came Up With Halloween’s Big Brother Twist

As big of a success as 2018’s Halloween released by Blumhouse Productions has been, I remain intrigued as to how its retconning of the Michael Myers-Laurie strode relationship went over with moviegoers. After decades of having accepted them as brother and sister, the latest entry into the franchise disregarded this element, as it followed only the events depicted in the 1978 original.

If you’re decently knowledgeable about the long-running slasher series, then you’re aware of how the previous status quo had actually been established by 1981’s Halloween II. But since David Gordon Green didn’t factor that into his addition to the mythos as just stated, that decision allowed him to explore the Michael-Laurie dynamic from a new perspective.

Last fall, franchise creator John Carpenter was quoted as saying he was probably drunk when he came up with said twist, but he went into greater detail while speaking with ComicBook.com recently, saying:

“Well, the brother reveal was caused by NBC. NBC purchased the rights to show Halloween on network television. But our movie was too short for them. So we needed to add some time. I think we had to add, what was it, eight minutes or something like that, I don’t remember. And there was nothing to add. The first movie was just what I wanted to make. I don’t have anything to add. So I came up with this brother thing. It was awful, just awful. But, I did it.”

To provide greater context to that quote, scenes for Halloween‘s TV cut were actually retroactively filmed while Halloween II was in production, so that’s why there was connectivity in that regard. Personally, I have no real preference when it comes to the sibling argument, as I’ve now seen it from both perspectives.

But if you were vexed by the overturning of the twist, I can understand why, as it’s been so prominent in various sequels and reboots produced in years prior. H20 immediately springs to mind, as do both films directed by Rob Zombie.

For more of non-related Michael and Laurie, be sure to venture out when Halloween Kills arrives in theaters on October 16th, 2020, with Halloween Ends set to follow on October 15th, 2021.