The following story contains mild spoilers for the new Halloween movie. So stop reading now if you want to go into the film completely in the dark. OK?
The creative team behind the new Halloween movie had painted themselves into a bit of a corner. Director David Gordon Green and his co-writer, Danny McBride, knew they wanted to continue the story after the first movie (and ignore all of the sequels that arrived after John Carpenter's classic). But the original film ended on a cliffhanger, with regards to Michael Meyer's fate. They knew they wanted to start their 2018 movie with Michael in a mental institution, but to do that, they had to rewrite the ending of the original. And they almost did. Green explains to Bloody Disgusting:
Even in the script going into production, we were going to refilm the end of the original film from a different perspective. We had this very complicated overhead view of Loomis shooting the gun, Michael going over and then the apprehension, assuming everybody was going to need a little bit to get back up to speed with where we are and we haven't seen the movie in a long time or we've never seen the movie, had to invite everyone to the party and that kind of thing. We kept pushing it off.
For those who might not remember the ending of the original Halloween, Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) enters the house while Michael Meyers is on his rampage, and fires bullets into the psychopath's body. Michael falls off of a second-floor balcony, seemingly to his death. Yeah, right. The camera pans down, and we see Michael, sprawled out on the ground. The next time the camera pans down, though, Michael is gone.
Here, watch it for yourself:
The story continues in Halloween 2, but this new Halloween wants to pick up at a different spot in the storyline, and David Gordon Green tells Bloody Disgusting that they even debated filming scenes with current Jamie Lee Curtis and a body double. But in the end, he says it was John Carpenter who talked Green down, stating:
This was Carpenter actually calming me down on set. I'm like, 'Nobody's going to know what's happening and where we're coming from.' He's like, 'Just trust 'em and leave 'em alone and let 'em figure it out.'
Sage advice. John Carpenter has learned, over the years, to trust the audience. They are smarter than you think, and you don't really have to hold their hand the way some filmmakers fear. And sometimes, you don't have to overthink it. Just let it be.
The new Halloween will be in theaters on October 19, and if you are a fan of the franchise, you should have your tickets already. Meanwhile, bookmark our 2018 Movie Release Schedule to see what else is reaching theaters between now and the end of the year.
