2018’s Halloween breathed new life into Michael Myers, making for a critical and box office smash that took the franchise in a fresh direction while paying tribute to its past. Buoyed by its success, Blumhouse quickly commissioned back-to-back sequels: Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends. They’ll be released on Halloween 2020 and 2021 and have both now finished shooting. It seems that Halloween Kills is coming along nicely, too, as it’s being reported that the movie is deep into post-production and will be ready to start test screenings as soon as this week.
The story is being reported by Halloween Daily News, who claim that test audiences have been invited to a screening on Thursday evening in Los Angeles. This would follow the pattern laid down by 2018’s Halloween, which was also put before audiences at the earliest opportunity to see how they reacted to it. Blumhouse got some valuable information from the January 2018 screenings, too, which resulted in extensive reshoots and a whole new ending.
But while 2018’s Halloween could technically stand alone (though there are blatant sequel hooks in the conclusion), Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends seem like they have to be read as two halves of the same story (despite what the producers claim). Screening it to audiences this early means that Blumhouse can not only see what works and what doesn’t work, but gives them time to alter Halloween Ends as well. As such, Halloween Kills will certainly go before the camera for reshoots in 2020, and Halloween Ends will see reshoots in 2021.
However they do it, I just hope that they can capture the sense of menace, brutality and danger that made Halloween such a gripping watch. And, while the test screenings will no doubt be tightly controlled and NDA’d, I’m betting we’ll see at least a couple of leaks that’ll give us an idea of what to expect come the film’s October 16th release.
Published: Mar 3, 2020 10:19 am