David Gordon Green & Danny McBride's 'Halloween' Will Ignore Almost All The Sequels
A resurgence of the Halloween franchise has been expected for years now. The reboot franchise from Rob Zombie died off, but recently there was talk of the horror series coming back at Blumhouse Productions with the original film's director John Carpenter executive producing. Oculus director Mike Flanagan was rumored to be at the helm, but that changed this past week.
Surprising news surfaced just a few days ago that Eastbound & Down collaborators David Gordon Green and Danny McBride were teaming up to write a new Halloween sequel with the former handling directing duties. Some fans were exciting about this prospect while others were perplexed, but all of them seem to at least be interested in how this new Halloween installment will pan out. Thankfully, Danny McBride just gave us some idea of how they're approaching the movie, and that includes ignoring all all of the franchise's sequels.
Danny McBride recently had interview with CinemaBlend where he was asked about what some thought would be a Halloween remake. But he confirmed, just as John Carpenter did when the project was announced last spring, that this isn't a remake:
"You know, it's not a remake. It's actually, it's gonna continue the story of Michael Myers in a really grounded way. And for our mythology, we're focusing mainly in the first two movies and what that sets up and then where the story can go from there."
As you read, in the same breath, McBride confirms that this is a sequel while also explaining how they're approaching the franchise as a whole. It sounds like the only two movies they'll be accepting as canon are Halloween from 1978 and Halloween II in 1981. The sequel took place just moments after the first movie ended, unfolding in the hours after Michael Myers started killing people around Haddonfield, Illinois as Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) was being cared for in a local hospital.
What is unclear is if this Halloween sequel will pick up where Halloween II left off with a story set in the 1970s or 1980s or if a lot of time will have passed since those events took place and it will take place in modern times. Personally, I want to see the 2018 Halloween sequel set in the past, if only for the visual style and production design to carry over from the first two movies. McBride wasn't forthcoming with any more details, but he did add this:
"Green and I are definitely going to [do] a straight-up horror. Halloween has always been one of my favorite movies of all time. There's a simplicity and an efficiency to that first one that I think allows the movies just to be scary as hell. And so Green and I, our approach is to get back to that."
That sounds like exactly what the Halloween franchise needs at this point. Here's hoping they can get this slasher series back on track when Michael Myers returns on October 18, 2018.