When you’ve starred in one of the most cherished and influential slasher films of all time, perhaps it feels a little redundant to then sit down and actually watch a horror movie. That’s one theory we can offer for why Jamie Lee Curtis of Halloween fame has said that she isn’t a fan of scary flicks.
When the actress spoke with Jimmy Kimmel on his talk show, the host admitted that he hadn’t seen her latest big screen encounter with Michael Myers due to it not really being his genre. And despite appearing in a range of horror productions, from John Carpenter’s The Fog to Prom Night, Curtis seemed to be in complete agreement.
The performer did, however, go on to single out a brief review of the new Halloween that she particularly loved:
“I’m not a big review reader, though people have been calling me and saying, ‘Whoa.’ But then they sent me one that I did see and it was six words, and it says, ‘You will freak the f-ck out,'” Curtis recalled. “And it was from David Fear, Rolling Stone magazine, and I actually wrote the marketing team for Halloween and said, ‘Ya know what guys? I think we’re done.’ Because that’s as good as you’re gonna get. That’s as good for me as [Alien’s tagline], ‘In space, no one can hear you scream.’ You put that up on a billboard, ‘You will freak the f-ck out,’ and you go, ‘Okay, I’ll go.’ It’s a powerful enticement to get you to come into the movies.”
In the wake of her involvement in the first Halloween, Curtis accepted a string of horror movie roles before deciding she was done with the genre, with 1981’s Halloween II serving as a bookend to this chapter in her career. Though Curtis has since reprised her role as Laurie Strode on multiple occasions, none have received the critical acclaim of David Gordon Green’s upcoming feature, with the sequel currently holding an impressive score of 86% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Though it looks like Curtis may actually be finished with the franchise this time, all signs indicate that the eleven-movie property isn’t going to stop with this latest entry, with plans reportedly already underway for a follow-up.
You can see if the new Halloween holds true to Curtis’ favorite review of it when the film hits theaters on Ocotober 19th.