The horror genre is in a bit of a renaissance at the moment. Rather than stale slashers and predictable sequels, the genre has seen a ton of new and exciting properties hit theaters, and make plenty of money at the box office. Many of the most recent hits come from Blumhouse Productions, including favorites like Get Out, Split, and Insidious. The horror house is now turning its attention on a classic property: Halloween. A new Halloween movie will arrive this October, bringing back OG collaborators like Jamie Lee Curtis, Nick Castle, and John Carpenter. Fans have been wondering what Michael Myers will look like after all these years, and now we've finally got an idea. Special affects artist Christopher Nelson recently teased that the original mask would be back, and looking a bit worse for the wear.
The film takes place 40 years later, so you're not going to have that same mask, it's not going to be this pristine, beautiful thing that it was in 1978. You have to approach it from that standpoint. I had 40-year-old masks that I studied and looked at how they broke down, how they wrinkled, how they did this and how they did that. I also took into account the context of the film. Where is the mask now and where has it been for these 40 years? Without revealing anything, I took that into context. I had hundreds of photos and books.
Now this is interesting. Just like Laurie Strode and the killer himself, it appears that Michael's signature mask is going to have aged 40 years since the original 1978 movie. There hasn't been any images of what Michael would look like in the new Halloween, but hopefully Christopher Nelson was able to craft a terrifying look for the franchise's silent killer.
Christopher Nelson's comments to Halloween Daily News are illuminating, but have the potential to make some hardcore fans a bit nervous. A distressed mask was used in Rob Zombie's two Halloween movies, which aren't exactly beloved by fans of the original franchise. Zombie's use of gore is in stark juxtaposition to the underlying tension and somewhat silly violence of the first two Halloween films.
In contrast, Blumhouse's Halloween is trying to go back to basics. The new sequel will retcon all of the movies besides the original out of existence, and focus on Laurie Strode, as well as her daughter Karen and granddaughter Allyson. Writer Danny McBride has maintained that the new movie will be greatly influenced by the original, and will once again bring the franchise back to a slow suspenseful place.
All will be revealed when Halloween hits theaters October 19, 2018. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
