This week on Belated Sequels we’re looking at a sequel that retconned (ignored) seven previous instalments in an attempt to revive and humanise a character who had become legend.
Halloween (2018)
Previous Installments: Halloween (1978), Halloween II (1981), Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988), Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989), Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995), Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), Halloween Resurrection (2002)
Time since last installment: 40 years!
In actual fact it’s only been 16 years since Halloween Resurrection, but ignoring the fact that there are so many sequels to the original, and acknowledging that this one serves as a direct sequel to it, this is technically the most belated sequel I’ve featured yet.
I always think it’s a weird idea to name a sequel the same as the original film. The Thing (2011) did it and there have also been some subtle variations like, The Fast and the Furious (2001) vs Fast and Furious (2009) and Final Destination (2000) vs The Final Destination (2009).
It’s just confusing. Stop doing it!
Anyway, you’ll notice I didn’t include the two Rob Zombie movies in the “previous instalments” list. That’s because technically they’re remakes as opposed to sequels so they don’t apply to this post.
Moving on...
I actually love all of these films (not Resurrection so much). The original is my favourite horror movie of all time and after Hans Gruber from Die Hard (1988) I’d be confident to say that Michael Myers is my favourite movie villain of all time.
If you’re a fan of the franchise you’ll know that the third film, “Season of the Witch” is the only movie out of the lot that doesn’t follow the Michael Myers storyline (although he does appear in an advert for the original film on TV in one scene). The others however do and are all good movies in their own right.
Over the course of 20 odd years their combined efforts turned a character who started out as a six year old kid who killed his sister on Halloween night into an un-killable, mythical, demon-like icon.
Why then did they decide to crap over all the other sequels?
Well, there are a few reasons as it turns out...
From intended sequels that ended up not being made, to the rights of the franchise being lost by the studio it was all a bit of a bumpy road getting to this point.
As luck would have it, all of those things eventually lead to John Carpenter (the co-writer and director of the first film) becoming involved again for the first time since Halloween II in 1982. He, along with the writers of this movie (one of which being actor, Danny McBride) decided to take the character of Michael Myers back to his routes, making him less of an un-killable monster and more human. Oh and they also wanted him to be scarier than before...
When I heard this film was happening I was 50% excited and 50% apprehensive as always. I hate to sound cynical but I’ve just become used to disappointment when it comes to long awaited sequels and remakes.
I was also into the idea that they were attempting to humanise Myers which was kind of refreshing after he’d become this immortal Jason Vorhees-like character.
The fact that they were attempting to make him more human definitely peaked my interest as it seemed like they intended to make a film to end the whole saga and de-mystify the character of Myers. Unfortunately it was all a lie! They had two more sequels ready to go, but we’ll get to that shortly.
I actually really enjoyed the film.
I thought the story was good (although it has a few holes), I loved that they brought Jamie Lee Curtis back as Laurie Strode, I loved even more that Nick Castle who played Michael Myers in the original movie was back in the Captain Kirk mask and I loved the violence! It doesn’t pull many punches when it comes to that which is always refreshing in this day and age. However, I did think the obsessed doctor idea was a bit far fetched and I found the podcasters who go to visit Michael at the mental hospital really annoying! The rest though I was 100% behind.
If you’ve seen Halloween H20 you’ll know that the Laurie Strode in that movie is very different to the one in this film. It’s cool how they totally spun her character around from being a living-in-fear “victim” to a ready-for-anything badass! It was an interesting way to go but it really works.
[SPOILERS BELOW]
My biggest issue with the film was the ending. Not the “trapped in the basement, house on fire” ending, but rather the very last scene where it’s implied that Michael might survive after the fire crews head over to put out the inferno. I watched the film thinking it was finally going to end the story but in actual fact it was just setting up another two sequels.
It’s not that I don’t enjoy watching these films, I do. I just feel like “when will it end?” In another 20 years when they’ve made another 8 sequels in this timeline and decide they don’t like where it’s ended up, will they reboot it again? Who knows?!
As much as I would’ve preferred this movie to have tied everything up, I will inevitably watch whatever sequels they continue to throw out.
“Halloween Kills” is due for release in October and reintroduces the characters of Tommy Doyle and Lindsey Wallace who were the kids Laurie was babysitting in the original. Actress Kyle Richards is even reprising her role as Lindsey which is pretty cool. I wonder if they’ll both survive to go on to appear in the next instalment, “Halloween Ends” which is currently in pre-production...?
The biggest question though is will it actually end? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Was this film worth the wait? I’m gonna say yes, but I still wish they’d left Michael to burn to death in that basement.
What do you think? Let me know below.👇
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