David Gordon Green's upcoming Halloween movie falls on an unusual and unexpected point on the franchise's timeline. In that, it eliminates pretty much all of the existing sequels, and continues the story right from the events of John Carpenter's original Halloween. Technically, that makes this Halloween 2. Only, there is a Halloween 2. Two of them (when you count Rob Zombie's 2009 sequel, also). Confusing, no? Green expressed this sentiment when he talked about alternative titles for the movie, explaining:
That was a weird discussion. You know, do we call it The Shape? Do we call it Halloween Returns? What do you call it? Technically, it's the third Halloween II. It kind of got to the point where we were like, 'Well, we don't want to not invite anybody. We don't want someone who is unfamiliar with the previous films to think, well, I need to catch up.' So then we just thought, for simplicity, let's just call it Halloween.
Basically, this is what happens when you keep going back to the well of creativity in Hollywood. Predator spawns The Predator, as well as Predators. Batman has to return, or last forever, or begin, or fight Superman, because there are too many movies with his name in the title. And Halloween 11, or whatever number this movie will be, just becomes plain old regular Halloween. Who cares if it messes with your DVD collection?
But by calling this 2018 chapter Halloween, as the director tells EW, what it essentially does is serve as the second half of a story that John Carpenter started in this original film, 40 years ago. And that makes David Gordon Green's movie a suitable bookend. Truthfully, once the new movie is out on home video, you will want to pair it with Carpenter's original, because it completes the story of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and the madman who arrived in her quiet suburban town on Halloween night, oh so many years ago.
In the new Halloween, a documentary crew visits Michael Myers in an institution, reawakening his murderous rage on the eve of Halloween. When the murderer escapes from a prison transport, he begins the track Laurie once again... only, she has bene preparing for his return since that fateful night in 1978.
Jamie Lee Curtis returns for Halloween, where she is joined by Judy Greer, Will Patton and Andi Matichak. It's directed by David Gordon Green, and co-written by Danny McBride, and it opens everywhere on October 19. For the rest of the movies opening in 2019, be sure to bookmark our 2019 Movie Release Calendar, and check it often.
