Having been responsible for some of the best genre films of the 1970s and 80s, John Carpenter is no stranger to seeing his back catalogue sequelized, remade or rebooted without his involvement. And while there have been some bright spots along the way, for the most part, any modern day retreads of his work have tended to be seriously underwhelming.
2005’s Assault on Precinct 13 was an uninspired retread, 2011’s The Thing was a hollow CGI body horror extravaganza, Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake and sequel were straightforward slashers that showed little in the way of originality or inventiveness, and 2005’s The Fog was just awful whatever way you want to look at it.
Meanwhile, new versions of Escape from New York, Big Trouble in Little China and They Live have been stuck in development hell for years, and another take on The Thing is also in the works, but at least this time it looks as though the creator will be involved. So far, only David Gordon Green’s Halloween has come close to recapturing the magic of what made a Carpenter original so great in the first place, and it helps that the 73 year-old has always been so enthusiastic about his successor’s work.
He’s no stranger to lavishing praise upon Green’s spin on the mythology, and in a new interview, Carpenter said that October’s Halloween Kills is nothing short of brilliant.
“It’s brilliant. It’s the ultimate slasher. I mean, there’s nothing more than this one. Wow! Man.”
If the first installment is anything to go by, then there’s every reason to believe that Green has knocked it out of the park once again. The only downside is that fans will have to wait until October to see it, with both Halloween Kills and Ends having been delayed for an entire year.
