Halloween (2018 film): Difference between revisions

Halloween is an upcoming American slasher film directed by David Gordon Green and written by Green and Danny McBride. It is the eleventh installment in the Halloween franchise, picking up forty years after the events of the original film while disregarding the previous sequels from canon.^[2] Series co-creator John Carpenter serves as an executive producer and creative consultant for the film,^[3] which will be distributed by Universal Pictures, its first involvement in the Halloween franchise since the 1982 film Halloween III: Season of the Witch.

After the release of Rob Zombie's Halloween II, a sequel to the 2007 remake of the original, two consecutive follow-ups went into development from former rights holder Dimension Films, respectively, but neither achieved fruition. As a result, the company lost the rights to the intellectual property, later obtained by Blumhouse Productions with John Carpenter's involvement. Carpenter, who disagreed with the remake's portrayal of lead killer Michael Myers, wanted the next Halloween film to be much more terrifying than the preceding sequels. Filmmakers David Gordon Green and Danny McBride, who were already fans, proposed their vision to Blumhouse and Carpenter. It was accepted and developed into a direct sequel to the original, with Jamie Lee Curtis coming aboard to reprise her role as Laurie Strode after reading the screenplay.

Principal photography commenced on January 13, 2018 in South Carolina, United States. The film is set for release on October 19, 2018.

Taking place forty years after the original Halloween, Laurie Strode once again comes face-to-face with Michael Myers.^[4]

In 2011, it was announced that a sequel to 2009's Halloween II, titled Halloween 3D, would be released on October 26, 2012. At the time of the announcement, there was no director or writer attached to the project. Originally, Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer were labeled as writers but dropped out due to their occupancy on the Hellraiser reboot. The film would pick up where the final frame of its predecessor left off, and would pay homage to the original version of Michael Myers from the 1978 film.^[5] It was dropped from its release schedule on October 26, 2012, as no progress had been made.^[6]

In February 2015, it was reported that Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan would be writing a new Halloween film, described as a "recalibration" rather than a reboot, along with Malek Akkad and Matt Stein producing.^[7] On June 15, 2015, it was further reported that The Weinstein Company was moving ahead with another Halloween sequel, tentatively titled Halloween Returns with Dunstan directing. It would have been a standalone film set to reintroduce audiences to Michael Myers years after his initial rampage from Halloween and 1981's Halloween II, as he was confronted by a new generation of victims while on death row.^[8][9] On October 22, 2015, producer Malek Akkad revealed that the production of Halloween Returns had been postponed, stating that the extra time would result in a better film.^[10] Malek said on the matter, "Although, I have to say, and this is somewhat new news, but unfortunately things happen in Hollywood where you have issues with studios and different variables. We've had to take a step back and now we're trying to re-figure this beast that is the new Halloween. So there is a bit of a delay, but this new Halloween isn't going to be quite what has been announced and what people are expecting, so we're making some changes there as well."^[11] In December 2015, it was announced that Dimension Films no longer had the rights to the Halloween franchise after Halloween Returns failed to go into production on schedule.^[12] The film's cancellation was confirmed at the same time.^[13]

On May 24, 2016, it was announced that Blumhouse Productions and Miramax were co-financing a new film in the franchise. Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum stated that "Halloween is one of those milestone films that inspired everyone at our company to get into the world of scary movies. The great Malek Akkad and John Carpenter have a special place in the hearts of all genre fans and we are so excited that Miramax brought us together."^[14]

When John Carpenter signed on as an executive producer in 2016, he described his intention: "Thirty-eight years after the original Halloween, I'm going to help to try to make the 10th sequel the scariest of them all."^[15] When the rights were acquired by Blumhouse, filmmaker Adam Wingard discussed making a new Halloween film, but ultimately dropped out: "I actually got an email, in confidence, where Carpenter was basically… He actually gave them the thumbs up for me. And I kinda walked away from it like, I just got everything I wanted out of this job. 'This is about as good as it gets.'"^[16] David Gordon Green and Danny McBride were publicised on February 9, 2017 to handle screenwriting duties, with Green directing and Carpenter advising the project.^[17] Carpenter said that he was impressed with the pitch presented by the co-writers, solicited by Jason Blum, proclaiming that "They get it."

Rather than reboot the franchise a second time, they chose to focus primarily on continuing the mythology of the first two films when developing the story,^[3] with Danny McBride stating, "We all came to the decision that remaking something that already works isn't a good idea. So we just have a reimagining instead."^[18] The pitch was created by the writers specifically to present to Carpenter, as they were self-described fans of the original Halloween to begin with. The story was eventually fleshed out so that all of the sequels were ignored from continuity, and the ending of the first film was slightly retconned. According to McBride, "It picks up after the first one, but it's sort of an alternate reality."^[19] Despite Green and McBride's comedy roots, Halloween was distanced from the comedy genre. McBride further elaborated that "this isn't a comedy at all. I think there was, like, maybe one joke on the page, but the rest is straight horror."^[2] Believing that "good horror movie directors are good directors", Jason Blum hired Green for his perceived "amazing" storytelling. No large steps were taken without Carpenter's approval, including the acceptance of the initial pitch and bringing back actress Jamie Lee Curtis.^[20]

Displeased with Rob Zombie's re-imagining and added backstory of murderer Michael Myers, Carpenter wanted to take the character back to his more mysterious roots, describing him as "a force of nature. He's supposed to be almost supernatural."^[21] McBride detailed his approach as humanizing the character, "I think we're just trying to strip it down and just take it back to what was so good about the original. It was just very simple and just achieved that level of horror that wasn't corny and it wasn't turning Michael Myers into some being that couldn't be killed. That stuff to me isn't scary. I want to be scared by something that I really think could happen. I think it's much more horrifying to be scared by someone standing in the shadows while you're taking the trash out as opposed to someone who can't be killed pursuing you."^[22]

In September 2017, Jamie Lee Curtis confirmed that she would reprise her role as Laurie Strode.^[23][4][24] Although Halloween II and its latter installments have portrayed Michael Myers as a familicidal killer and Laurie as his sister, the writers felt that the added motive made Myers less frightening as a killer. As such, they intentionally ignored that aspect of the lore.^[25] They didn't originally know if Curtis would be willing to return, according to McBride, so they "busted our ass on this script to really make that Laurie Strode character something she wouldn't be able to say no to."^[2] Curtis had previously returned as Laurie in the sequels Halloween II (1981), Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, and Halloween: Resurrection. The following October, Judy Greer entered negotiations to play Laurie's daughter, Karen Strode.^[26] Danielle Harris, who played Laurie's daughter Jamie Lloyd in the non-canon Halloween 4 and Halloween 5, tried to convince Blumhouse to insert Lloyd into the film to some extent. The studio declined, to Harris' dismay, "I was okay with it when she had a son... but they're saying it's the last one and... she has a daughter. And it's not Jamie. It's just kind of a bummer, I guess."^[27] On December 7, 2017, Andi Matichak was cast to play Laurie's granddaughter, Allyson Strode.^[28] On December 20, 2017, it was announced that Nick Castle, who portrayed Michael Myers in the original film, would be reprising his role, with actor and stuntman James Jude Courtney set to portray Myers as well.^[29][30][31] On January 13, 2018, Ginny Gardner, Miles Robbins, Dylan Arnold and Drew Scheid were confirmed to play Allyson's friends, respectively.^[31] On January 16, 2018, Will Patton was publicized to have joined the film's roster.^[32] He was later joined by Rob Niter, both actors being announced to portray police officers. At the same time, Rhian Rees was cast as a character named Dana.^[33]

Principal production began on January 13, 2018 in Charleston, South Carolina.^[34] Originally, it was set to begin in late October 2017,^[35][36] but was delayed until January 2018.^[37] Danny McBride stated that the horror of the film will aim to create a sense of tension and dread to the audience rather than relying on graphic violence.^[38] The make-up and visual effects will be provided by Christopher Nelson.^[29]

After previously providing the score for the original Halloween, Halloween II, and Halloween III: Season of the Witch, John Carpenter confirmed in October 2017 that he had made a deal to helm the 2018 release. Regarding his take on the sequel, he said, "There are many options. I'll be consulting with the director to see what he feels. I could create a new score, we could update the old score and amplify it, or we could combine those two things. I'll have to see the movie to see what it requires."^[39]

Halloween will be released theatrically on October 19, 2018.^[3]