Explaining what the new Halloween is has been a little tricky. The most straightforward way I’ve come up with is to say that it’s a direct sequel to John Carpenter’s 1978 original that completely disregards the many sequels, remakes and reboots (significantly, this one ditches the revelation in Halloween II that Laurie and Michael are brother and sister).
Essentially, it’s as if the only film in the franchise is Halloween and this catches up with the characters forty years later. Still, the sequel also being called Halloween is a bit of a head-scratcher, so it’s no surprise that director David Gordon Green reveals that alternatives were considered at one point.
“You know, do we call it The Shape? Do we call it Halloween Returns? What do you call it? Technically, it’s the third Halloween II. It kind of got to the point where we were like, ‘Well, we don’t want to not invite anybody. We don’t want someone who is unfamiliar with the previous films to think, well, I need to catch up.’ So then we just thought, for simplicity, let’s just call it Halloween.”
Fair enough, though it’s going to be a real headache doing Google searches for these films after a while.
Either way, Halloween is currently set to revive the franchise in a big way. Critics have been raving about this being a true successor to John Carpenter’s original. Given that that film’s one of my favorite movies of all-time, I’m insanely hyped about what’s in store.
That excitement’s been amped up by pretty much every story to emerge from production – from getting the original Michael to reprise the role for one scene (and supply breathing noises), to the new John Carpenter synth score and, obviously, the return of Jamie Lee Curtis as original scream queen Laurie Strode, who’s set to kick ass.
Michael Myers is absolutely one of the horror icons of the 20th century and it’s about time modern audiences learned why he’s so revered amongst fans. With the film reported to be terrifyingly gory and well, just terrifying in general, it’s going to be a long wait until Halloween‘s October 18th release. Still, you can bet I’ll be there opening night.
