The horror genre is in a renaissance, with studios producing new and exciting scary movies from original concepts. Many of the genre's most exciting additions come to us from Blumhouse Productions, including Get Out, Don't Breathe, and Happy Death Day. Now Blumhouse is turning its attention on the 1978 classic Halloween, producing a new sequel set 40 years after the original attack. The new movie will retcon all of the sequels out of existence, instead focusing on paying homage to the John Carpenter classic, and Laurie Strode's journey. Director Nick Castle is returning to play Michael Meyers from the first film, and recently spoke to one specific way the new Halloween feels like the original.
It's very neighborhood-centric, you know, like the first one. It feels a lot like [the first film]. There are a lot of things coinciding [in the new film] that feel like clever ways to introduce a kind of déjà vu of the first one, without feeling like it's being copied. The script had some very clever people working on it.
It looks like Halloween is going back to basics, and focusing on denizens of Haddonfield, Illinois. The original film followed Laurie Strode and her friends on Halloween night. The girls decided to have fun and babysit to varying degrees, with Michael stalking and killing the girls throughout the course of the movie. This small town concept was abandoned in any of the following sequels, including Halloween II.
Like Nick Castle's comments to Halloween Daily News echo what other production team members have teased about the return to Haddonfield. The new Halloween is focusing on Laurie and the other two generations of Strode women. This includes her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak). Allyson and her teenage friends are in the film, likely playing the unsuspecting victims of Michael Meyers' return. As such, the new Halloween will continue feeling reminiscent of the first film, while also revealing how Jamie Lee Curtis' signature character grew up in the current timeline.
It's actually surprising to think about it, but the overall scoop of the Halloween movies never returned to the simplicity of the first film. Halloween II saw Laurie fighting for her life on the same night from hell, this time at a local hospital. H20 followed Laurie as the headmistress of a fancy boarding school, and Resurrection brought a reality TV show into the Meyers house. While Michael was there through it all, no sequel has ever felt quite as connected to the 1978 original.
All will be revealed when Halloween arrives in theaters October 19, 2018, just in time for the holiday of the same name and to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
