When it was announced that Blumhouse’s Halloween would ignore every previous sequel in the franchise and only address the events of the 1978 original, some fans were upset but mostly it came as something of a relief. After all, the property’s 40-year history is ridiculously complicated for a series that’s essentially the same movie every time.
Speaking with CinemaBlend, legendary star Jamie Lee Curtis – who returns as Laurie Strode in the new film – explained why 2018’s Halloween had to wipe away the prior entries and simply put, it’s because the continuity makes no sense and it would’ve been impossible to make a movie that addressed all of it.
“We wouldn’t have been able to make a 40 year sequel when you’ve given the sequel-ing to random people for the last 40 years – because there is no bible. There is no Halloween bible that those however many sequel filmmakers followed. Each one came up with their own wacky idea for the next movie. And so there was no continuity. It was scattershot, if anything, and didn’t make any sense!”
Curtis is spot-on with her assessment of the franchise’s canon, as the series has continually rebooted and retconned itself. There’s the first two films, which she starred in, the standalone III and then 4-6 – which follow Laurie’s daughter Jamie after her death. H20 and Resurrection came after that, which brought Laurie back to life only to kill her again. Rob Zombie then made a remake and a sequel and finally, we have 2018’s Halloween in which – yes – Laurie’s resurrected yet again.
While the new movie was right to knock the past films out of continuity, director David Gordon Green still managed to honor the entire franchise with various references and loving homages to memorable moments and scenes from the other sequels. And speaking of sequels, 2018’s Halloween looks set to receive its own follow-up, seeing as it’s smashing box office records. So get ready for a new chapter in the ever-changing history of the franchise.
