It appears that the long and storied Halloween franchise will see the villainous visage of Michael Myers slash and stab his way to theaters in an all new rendition. While the last two films saw Rob Zombie give us his directorial serial spin on the classic killer, it appears that after years of dormancy, writers from the Saw films are in line to script the next chapter in the venerable victim-vanquishing series. However, whatever you do, just don’t let the folks working on the film hear you call it a "reboot." In fact, they have a completely different and rather odd "r-word" that they're using to describe the new sequel.
According to a scoop from The Hollywood Reporter, the new Halloween is a go with the Saw IV-VII scribes Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan tasked to write the script for the upcoming film - which at one time was being considered as a 3D sequel to the Zombie-directed films. No other details were divulged about where this new film will head, however, THR’s inside source claims that there is a certain philosophy that’s surrounding the project, at least when it comes to nouns:
Sources say it’s not a remake, not a reboot, and not a reimagining. One source said the project is a "recalibration."
Your guess is as good as mine as far as the demonstrative differences between their definition of a "reboot" and a "recalibration." Personally, I associate the word, "calibration" with the idea of a pairing or adaptation, like with a new mouse to a computer. The computer adapts to the mouse and not vice-versa. Likewise, we could probably presume that this project will look to take the sad, yet ridiculous story of Michael Myers and "calibrate" it to the tropes on which the more transparent, narcissistic modern day life has focused on like cyberbullying, selfies and texting while driving, creating a new kind of tragic villain. Of course, said villain will inevitably go around stabbing random folks, sporting fictitious fortitude and a freaky Shatner mask. It sounds like another reboot to me, but hey, I’m just spit-balling it like anyone.
Plot-wise, we also have nothing substantive regarding how this new version of Halloween will attempt to distinguish itself from either John Carpenter’s classic 1978 original or Rob Zombie’s amped-up 2007 remake. However, the immediate straw to grasp is obviously in the stylistic speculation related to what a writing duo known from the Saw series, as well as 2012’s similarly-themed The Collection, would potentially bring. Could we see a more methodical, vindictive version of Michael Myers, whose plans for his sister Laurie Strode will expand beyond the realm of "stab, stab, stab?"
The Saw franchise, obviously evokes the image of capture and torture, and that could certainly be a new direction for Michael Myers to take towards his obligatory encounters with teenage "red shirts." Dare we even speculate that this Michael Myers will be a bit more of a talker, expressing his childhood-related gripes with more than a sloth and sloppy murderous approach? One would think that something definitively different needs to be brought to the table in order to make this next go-round not turn into another "Hollywood is out of ideas" moment.
