Though John Carpenter is the father of the Halloween franchise, he has remained mostly disconnected from the majority of the series' entries. After directing the first film, he slowly took on reduced roles and was pretty much gone by the time Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers rolled around. However, he is now executive producing (and possibly composing) David Gordon Green's Halloweenmovie, and his return to the franchise apparently stems from a desire to stop talking and actually do something good for the slasher property. In a recent interview, Carpenter explained:
You know, you know I talked about the Halloweens for a long time, the sequels --- I haven't even seen all of them. I don't even know what really was there --- but finally it occurred to me: Well if I'm just flapping my gums here, talking about it, why don't I try to make it as good as I can? I could offer advice. I could talk to the director. I like the director very much. I like the script. So, you know, stop throwing rocks from the sidelines and get in there and try to do something positive.
As many horror movie fans likely already know, John Carpenter was heavily involved in the creation of the first Halloween, writing (along with Debra Hill) and directing the film himself. From there, he merely wrote and produced Halloween II and Halloween III: Season of the Witch. After that, he moved on. Even though the horror icon has distanced himself from the franchise on a professional level, he has still made his opinions about the direction and evolution of the franchise known, sometimes with blunt honesty. Now he's ready to dive back in and bring his creative input to its next installment, rather than merely reflect on a series that he hasn't watched in its entirety.
John Carpenter's not kidding around when he admits that he has voiced his opinion about the Halloween franchise over the years. Specifically, he has not shied away from taking aim at Rob Zombie's Halloween reboot, which debuted in 2007 and continued with the 2009 sequel, making the note that Tyler Mane's Michael Myers was too big by comparison to the original Michael.
These new remarks to Rotten Tomatoes seem to highlight all of the stories that suggest we will see a Halloween movie more in-line with John Carpenter's original vision for The Shape and Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) when the sequel debuts later this year. Quite a bit has already been said about the fact that Halloween will ignore all of the continuity established by the films after the 1978 original, which means the series has essentially received a blank slate. With the man responsible for it all back in a seat of power, we will just have to wait and see what Carpenter does with the universe that he started.
The Halloween franchise will return to the big screen later this year when the film premieres on October 19.
