The horror genre was built on long-running franchises, and there are few quite as beloved as Halloween. Starting with John Carpenter's 1978 original slasher, Michael Myers has served as the thing of nightmares through decades of filmmaking and a whopping ten sequels. The most previous was 2018's Halloween from Blumhouse, which was a direct sequel to the original and started a new timeline. Two more movies are coming, and Jamie Lee Curtis teased that the upcoming Halloween Kills is going to be deeply connected to Carpenter's classic.
Jamie Lee Curtis is returning for Halloween Kills, alongside OG Michael Nick Castle and co-stars Judy Greer and Andi Matichak. Casting announcements show that characters from the 1978 Halloween are going to come back up in the upcoming sequel, and Curtis recently teased how that original movie's contents will be fleshed out. As she put it:
What I love that David and [co-writer] Danny [McBride] and company did is they connected the dots for forty years, now they’re going back to really unpack the first movie, bringing back all those characters whose lives were affected by what happened in 1978.
Do you hear that sound? It's Halloween fans everywhere jumping for joy. Because in addition to continuing the narrative begun with Blumhouse's Halloween, next year's Halloween Kills will also really focus on the events of the original movie. It seems that Laurie Strode wasn't the only Haddonfield resident who was affected by Michael Myers' first rampage through the town.
Casting information for Halloween Kills has slowly been trickling out, and certainly hints at a focus on John Carpenter's Halloween. Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards is reprising her role as Lindsey Wallace, and Anthony Michael Hall will be playing the adult version of Tommy Doyle. Lindsey and Tommy were the kids that Laurie and her friends were tasked with babysitting, and were witness to Michael's original reign of terror. Additionally, Robert Longstreet is playing Lonnie Elam, Tommy's bully from Halloween.
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Blumhouse's Halloween introduced a Laurie Strode who was still struggling everyday to deal with the trauma of her assault. But it looks like she's not as alone as that movie hinted, and it'll be interesting to see how Tommy and Lindsey were affected by their near death experiences.
Later in her conversation with Collider, Jamie Lee Curtis further teased what Halloween Kills will be about, saying:
And then the last movie is the sort of cultural phenomenon of violence, that’s what the third movie ultimately is, a very powerful examination of violence. It comes at it from a slightly different way. You’ll like it…. If you believe in me at all, I promise you what David Gordon Green has come up with as a way to complete this trilogy is sensational.
It looks like 2020 and 2021 will have some very exciting Octobers, at least where movies are involved. Halloween Kills will be followed up by Halloween Ends, creating a bonafide trilogy in the process. The story has already been crafted by David Gordon Green and Danny McBride, and it's something that Jamie Lee Curtis seems thoroughly excited about. And considering how long she's been playing Laurie Strode, that's really saying something.
Narratively, it seems like there are a ton of places David Gordon Green and Danny McBride can take the story for Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends. The first movie focused solely on Laurie's trauma, and the lengths she went to protect her family in decades following surviving Michael Myers' attack. But by the end of Blumhouse's first Halloween sequel, Laurie's instincts were proven correct. Michael escaped Smith's Grove, and came back to his hometown to massacre its inhabitants before getting to Laurie.
Michael was an agent of chaos in the last movie, killing and sparing characters at random during a chilling long shot in the film's second act. But he eventually found his way to Laurie and her family, bringing past traumas to the surface for everyone. But while Laurie's obsession with Michael isolated her from the world and eventually caused Karen to be taken away, she was right. And the trap laid for the killer ended up working... mostly.
I'm especially eager to see how Karen (Judy Greer) has been affected by Michael's attack, and how that's influenced her relationship with her mother. Karen's husband was murdered by Michael outside Laurie's home, and she eventually had to use her childhood rifle to shoot the killer during Halloween's thrilling conclusion. What's more, her daughter was put in danger. Will this repair her relationship with Laurie, or will she be left as isolated as her mother?
Michael Myers is presumably on the loose, after managing to escape Laurie's home during Halloween's finale. The remote cabin was revealed to be a giant trap for the masked killer, with three generations of Strode women managing to lock him in the basement as they set the house ablaze. But Michael was noticeably absent during the last shots of the basement's interior. What's more, his masked breathing could be heard during the film's credits.
It turns out there was always plans for Halloween sequels, depending on the first film's performance. Halloween broke records when it hit theaters, ultimately taking $255.5 million at the box office. David Gordon Green is being given the freedom to go forward with a trilogy, with care being taken to pay tribute to John Carpenter's original movie. And form what's come from the production about Halloween Kills, the upcoming sequel is going back to the franchise's roots.
This will start with the kids that were under Laurie's care during that fateful day in 1978. Tommy Doyle and Lindsey Wallace must have also been scarred from their horrifying Halloween night, and encounter with The Boogeyman. Its especially surprising that Kyle Richards will be reprising her role from the original, as the former child actress is largely known for being a reality TV icon on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Richards and Jamie Lee Curtis had previously expressed their interest in working together and now it's coming to fruition.
Our questions will be answered when Halloween Kills arrives in theaters October 16th 2020, followed by Halloween Ends on October 15th 2021. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
