Can it be true? That this is the last “Halloween” slasher film we’ll ever see?
I’m betting against that.
There have been 11 films in the series, the first being 1978’s “Halloween” — co-written, scored, and directed by John Carpenter. It marked the first film role for Jamie Lee Curtis.
The studio’s promo for this latest iteration tells us: “Laurie Strode comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago.”
Final confrontation?
Will Laurie finally send Michael Myers to hell where he belongs?
Or are we being teased into a future series of “Halloween” flicks?
Of course, the story has been relentlessly told and retold with sequels, reboots, remakes, you name it. But we like being scared.
This latest version is intended to be a direct sequel to the original “Halloween” film. Described as a “recalibration,” it ignores the timelines and events in all the previous sequels.
Jamie Lee Curtis returns to the role of Laurie, now a grandmother living in a fortified house in Haddonfield as she awaits Michael’s eventual return from Smith’s Grove Sanitarium where he was sent forty years ago.
Needless to say, Michael escapes and returns to terrorize the inhabitants of Laurie’s small Illinois town. Not only is she in danger, but so is her daughter and granddaughter.
Expect a high body count.
Michael Myers remains the “essence of evil,” relentlessly coming to kill Laurie with the mindless determination of that shark in “Jaws.”
The new film’s director, David Gordon Green, describes this knife-wielding slasher in a hockey mask: “He has no character. He has no personality. He has no interests. He never has. He’s someone that is moving forward and reacting to the world around him, but not with any sort of conscious objective. And how the world around him reacts to his behavior is where our story comes to life.”
“Halloween” (the new 2018 release) is currently getting audiences ready for All Hallows Eve. You can find it serving up chills at Tropic Cinema.
In addition to Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, we have Judy Greer as her daughter and Andi Matichak as her granddaughter.
Nick Castle reprises his role as Michael Myers – and provides the prerequisite eerie breathing sounds. James Jude Courtney steps in to give us the masked shape of Myers, adding lots of “quick, cat-like movements.”
Haluk Bilginer is cast as Michael’s psychiatrist, taking over the case from the Sam Loomis character in the other films.
Will Patton plays the local cop. Jefferson Hall and Rhian Rees are cast as two British journalists trying to arrange a face-to-face confrontation between Laurie and the deranged killer.
The director tells us, “John Carpenter gave me great advice when he read the script for the first time and he kind of gave it his blessing to go forward. He said, ‘Keep it simple and make it relentless.’ I thought those were really good pieces of advice that we tried to adhere to.”
Co-writer Danny McBride sums up the film’s re-invention: “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 to say, ‘We’re making ‘Halloween 2.’ ”
Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com
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