Halloween is a 2018 American
slasher filmdirected by
David Gordon Green and written by Green, Jeff Fradley, and
Danny McBride. It is the eleventh installment in the
Halloween film series, and a direct sequel to the
1978 film of the same name, while effecting a
retcon of all previous sequels.
[4] The plot follows a
post-traumaticLaurie Strode who prepares to face
Michael Myers in a final showdown on
Halloween night.
Jamie Lee Curtis and
Nick Castle reprise their roles as Strode and Myers, respectively, with stuntman
James Jude Courtney also portraying Myers. The film also stars
Judy Greer,
Andi Matichak,
Will Patton, and
Virginia Gardner.
After failing to develop a new Halloween film in time,
Dimension Films lost the production rights for a sequel, which reverted back to
Miramax, which then joined with
Blumhouse Productions. In May 2017, a new installment was officially announced, with original co-creator
John Carpenter's involvement as a composer, executive producer, and creative consultant.
Halloween premiered at the
Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 19, 2018, by
Universal Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with many considering it to be both the best Halloweensequel and a return to form for the series; Curtis' performance was also met with praise. The film has grossed over $183 million worldwide, making it the highest grossing film in the franchise and the highest grossing slasher film in unadjusted dollars, as well as breaking several other box office records. A sequel is in early development.
October 2018, forty years after the massacre in Haddonfield, true-crime
podcasters Aaron Korey and Dana Haines travel to Smith's Grove Rehabilitation Hospital to visit
Michael Myerscurious to talk to him to gain some insight into his psychology before his transfer to a new facility, to no effect. They interview Dr. Ranbir Sartain, a former student of
Dr. Samuel Loomis, and Michael's new psychiatrist. Aaron and Dana then arrive unannounced at
Laurie Strode’s heavily armed and guarded home to an unsuccessful interview. Laurie suffers from
PTSD, and has her life dwindled to isolation after two failed marriages and a turn to
alcoholism. Laurie has spent the last forty years preparing for Michael's return. Michael's transport crashes, and he kills the security guards and a father and his young son checking on the immates before escaping. The following day, on Halloween, Michael murders Aaron, Dana, a mechanic for his clothes and a clerk, at a gas station, and recovers his mask, before returning to Haddonfield. Laurie attempts to warn Karen of Michael's getaway, but she dismisses her concerns.
Later that night, Allyson, Karen's daughter and Laurie's granddaughter, finds her boyfriend Cameron Elam cheating on her at a school-sponsored Halloween dance, and leaves the party with Cameron’s friend, Oscar. Meanwhile, Michael continues his killing spree in a Haddonfield suburb, murdering Allyson's best friend Vicky, her boyfriend Dave, and several neighbors, but is forced to retreat when Laurie and Deputy Frank Hawkins (who arrested Michael in 1978) open fire on him. Laurie convinces Karen and her husband Ray to seek protection in her house.
Allyson encounters Michael shortly after he kills Oscar. She is rescued by Hawkins and Sartain who is now working with the local police. After locating Michael, Hawkins impacts him with his vehicle. Sartain, obsessed with Michael's enigmatic motivations, kills Hawkins before he can kill Michael and abducts Allyson. Sartain reveals that he arranged for Michael's escape to reinforce his perceived role as an 'apex predator' who needs to finish what he started and kill Laurie to reassert himself. Michael soon regains consciousness and kills Sartain and two police officers, while Allyson flees into the woods.
Michael arrives at Laurie's fortified house and kills Ray. Karen escapes to an underground basement and Laurie goes on the offensive. Michael breaks into the house and eludes Laurie. Allyson stumbles inside and enters the basement, where she is reunited with her mother. Although Michael finds them, Laurie and Karen ambush him, trap him inside the basement and set the house ablaze. Laurie, Karen, and Allyson embrace, escaping by hitching a ride in the back of a pickup truck. A final shot of the burning basement is shown, with Michael nowhere to be seen. In a
post-credits scene, Michael's breathing is heard, indicating that he may have survived.
[5][6]
CastEdit
- Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, the sole survivor of Michael Myers's 1978 killing spree, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. She is the mother of Karen and grandmother of Allyson.
- Judy Greer as Karen Nelson (née Strode), Laurie's daughter and Allyson's mother.
- Sophia Miller as young Karen
- Andi Matichak as Allyson Nelson, Karen's daughter and Laurie's granddaughter.
- Will Patton as Frank Hawkins, a sheriff's deputy who arrested Michael following his killing spree in 1978, and teams up with Laurie in an effort to kill Michael once and for all.
- Virginia Gardner as Vicky, Allyson's best friend.
- James Jude Courtney and Nick Castle as Michael Myers / The Shape, the masked figure who stalks and kills teenage babysitters on Halloween night.
- Haluk Bilginer as Dr. Ranbir Sartain, Michael's psychiatrist, who has taken over the role of Dr. Sam Loomis, Michael's former psychiatrist from the first film, and was previously a student of Dr. Loomis.
- Jefferson Hall as Aaron Korey, a true-crime podcaster and Dana's partner.
- Rhian Rees as Dana Haines, a true-crime podcaster and Aaron's partner.
- Toby Huss as Ray Nelson, Karen's husband, Allyson's father and Laurie's son-in-law.
- Dylan Arnold as Cameron Elam, Allyson's boyfriend and son of Lonnie Elam from the first film.
- Miles Robbins as Dave, Vicky's boyfriend.
- Drew Scheid as Oscar, Cameron's best friend.
- Jibrail Nantambu as Julian Morrisey, a little boy whom Vicky babysits.
- Omar Dorsey as Sheriff Barker, Haddonfield's current sheriff following Leigh Brackett's retirement.
- Brien Gregorie as Kevin's Father
2011, a sequel to 2009's
Halloween II titled Halloween 3D, was announced for an October 26, 2012 release date. At the time, no director or writer was attached to the project. Originally,
Patrick Lussier and
Todd Farmer were set as writers, but dropped out due to their involvement with a
Hellraiser reboot. The film was to pick up where the final frame of its 2009 predecessor left off, and would pay homage to the original version of Michael Myers from the 1978 film.
[7] It was dropped from its initial October 26, 2012 date, as no progress had been made.
[8]
In February 2015,
Patrick Melton and
Marcus Dunstan were reported as writing a new Halloween film, described as a "recalibration" rather than a
reboot, which Malek Akkad and Matt Stein were producing.
[9] On June 15, 2015,
The Weinstein Company was reported to be 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.
[10][11] 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.
[12] 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 Halloweenisn't going to be quite what has been announced and what people are expecting, so we're making some changes there as well."
[13]In December 2015, it was announced that
Dimension Films no longer had the filming rights to Halloween, after Halloween Returnsfailed to go into production on schedule.
[14] The film's cancellation was confirmed at the same time.
[15] The rights then reverted back to
Miramax.
[16]
On May 24, 2016,
Blumhouse Productions and Miramax were announced to be co-financing a new film, with
Universal Pictures distributing through the studio's output deal with Blumhouse. Blumhouse CEO
Jason Blumcalled the original Halloween a milestone that had influenced the company to begin making
horror films, "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."
[17] The rights specifically went to Miramax and Tarik Akkad, who sought out Blum because of his success as a horror film producer.
[18]
When John Carpenter, who had co-written the first two Halloween films with
Debra Hill and directed the original, 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."
[19] He discussed his reasoning for revisiting the series for the first time since producing 1982's
Halloween III: Season of the Witch in an interview with
Rotten Tomatoes, "I talked about the Halloweens for a long time, the sequels — I haven’t even seen all of them... But finally it occurred to me: Well if I'm just flapping my gums here, why don't I try to make it as good as I can? So, you know, stop throwing rocks from the sidelines and get in there and try to do something positive."
[20]When the rights were acquired by Blumhouse, filmmaker
Adam Wingard discussed making a new Halloween film, but ultimately dropped out after being sated by an email of encouragement from Carpenter, "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.'"
[21] On February 9, 2017, David Gordon Green and Danny McBride were announced as handling screenwriting duties, with Green directing and Carpenter advising the project.
[22] 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 series again, they initially chose to focus primarily on continuing the mythology of the first two films when developing the story,
[23] 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."
[24] The pitch was created by the writers specifically to present to Carpenter, as they were self-described fans of the original Halloween. The story was eventually fleshed out so that all of the sequels were ignored from the new film's
continuity, and the ending of the first film was
retconned in what McBride likened to an
alternate reality.
[25] However, he later said that the film still pays tribute to the other follow-ups, despite sharing no direct continuity, "you know like there's so many different versions, and the timeline is so mixed up, we just thought it would be easier to go back to the source and continue from there. It was nicer than knowing you're working on Halloween 11, it just seemed cooler, 'we're making Halloween 2'. For fans, we pay homage and respect to every Halloween that has been out there."
[26] Despite Green and McBride's comedy roots, Halloweenwas distanced from the comedy genre. McBride further elaborated that "I think there was, like, maybe one joke on the page, but the rest is straight horror."
[4] Believing that "good horror movie directors are good directors", Jason Blum hired Green for his perceived "amazing" storytelling. No major steps were taken without Carpenter's approval, including the acceptance of the initial pitch and bringing back actress Jamie Lee Curtis.
[27]
Displeased with
Rob Zombie's
re-imaginingand 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."
[28] McBride detailed his approach as humanizing the character, "I think we're just trying to 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 turning Michael Myers into some being that couldn't be killed. 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."
[29]
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