Halloween (2018 film)
Halloween is a 2018 American slasher film directed by David Gordon Green and written by Green, Jeff Fradley, and Danny McBride. It is the eleventh installment in the Halloween film series and a direct sequel to the 1978 film of the same name while effecting a retcon of all previous sequels. It stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Nick Castle who reprise their respective roles as Laurie Strode and Michael Myers, with stuntman James Jude Courtney also portraying Myers. The film also stars Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, and Virginia Gardner. The plot follows a post-traumatic Laurie Strode who prepares to face Michael Myers in a final showdown on Halloween night, forty years after she survived his killing spree.
After the release of Rob Zombie's Halloween II, the 2009 sequel to the 2007 remake of the original, two consecutive follow-ups went into development from former rights holder Dimension Films, respectively, but neither achieved fruition. As a result, the studio lost the rights to the intellectual property, which were later obtained by Blumhouse Productions with John Carpenter's involvement. Carpenter, who disagreed with the remake's portrayal of lead killer Michael Myers, planned on helping the studio to make the next Halloween film into what he believed to be more terrifying than the preceding sequels. Filmmakers David Gordon Green and Danny McBride, who were already fans, proposed their vision to Blumhouse and Carpenter. It was accepted and developed into a direct sequel to the original, with Jamie Lee Curtis and Nick Castle reprising their roles as Laurie Strode and Myers, respectively.
Halloween premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 19, 2018, by Universal Pictures, the distributor's first involvement with the series since . The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with many considering it to be both the best Halloween sequel and a return to form for the series. It grossed over $255 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film in the franchise and the highest-grossing slasher film in unadjusted dollars, breaking a record that Scream had previously set in 1996, as well as setting several other box office records. Two sequels, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends, are scheduled to be released on October 15, 2021, and October 14, 2022, respectively.
Plot
On October 29, 2018, Michael Myers, who has been institutionalized at Smith's Grove Psychiatric Hospital for 40 years following his killing spree in Haddonfield, is being prepared for transfer to a maximum security prison. True crime journalists Aaron Korey and Dana Haines visit the hospital and, during their encounter, Aaron presents the mask that Michael wore in 1978 to him, to no effect. The following day, as he is being transferred, Michael purposely crashes the bus, kills a father and son for their car, and returns to Haddonfield.In Haddonfield, Laurie Strode is still living in fear of Michael; she is drinking heavily, rarely leaving her fortified house and alienating herself from her daughter Karen, whom the state took away from her at age 12. The only person she keeps in contact with is Karen's daughter, Allyson.
On the morning of October 31, Michael sees Aaron and Dana visiting his sister Judith's grave. He follows them to a gas station where he kills them both, as well as a mechanic for his coveralls, and then recovers his old mask from Aaron's car. Deputy Frank Hawkins, who arrested Michael in 1978, tries to convince Sheriff Barker about the danger Michael poses after learning that he has escaped. Laurie also learns of Michael's escape and attempts to warn Karen, but Karen dismisses her concerns, urging Laurie to move on with her life.
Later that night, at a costume party, Allyson finds her boyfriend Cameron cheating on her, and leaves with his friend Oscar. Meanwhile, while babysitting Julian, Allyson's best friend Vicky and her boyfriend Dave are attacked by Michael. Vicky sacrifices herself to protect Julian. Deputy Hawkins and Laurie overhear the incident on the radio and go over to the house. Laurie sees Michael, coming face-to-face with him for the first time in 40 years. Laurie shoots Michael in the shoulder before he flees.
Dr. Ranbir Sartain, Michael's psychiatrist, persuades Sheriff Barker to allow him to help in the hunt for Michael. Meanwhile, on the walk home from the party, Michael finds and kills Oscar, and Hawkins and Sartain arrive just in time to rescue Allyson. Hawkins then tries to kill Michael but Sartain – who has become obsessed with Michael's enigmatic motivations – attacks and leaves Hawkins for dead, and it is revealed that he orchestrated Michael's escape in order to be able to study him "in the wild". However Michael then kills Sartain and Allyson flees from the scene.
Michael arrives at Laurie's house, where she and Karen have gone to meet with Allyson. Laurie manages to get Karen to safety before she engages in a showdown with Michael. Laurie severely injures Michael, but then he stabs her in the abdomen and pushes her over a balcony. When Michael goes to check Laurie's body, he finds it missing. Allyson arrives and calls out for her grandmother, luring Michael and giving Karen the opportunity to shoot him in the jaw. Laurie suddenly reappears and attacks Michael, trapping him inside the basement safe room with Karen and Allyson's help. The trio set the house ablaze, and Laurie says goodbye to Michael before she begins to faint and let her daughters quickly hitchhike a passerby vehicle to take her to the hospital. A final shot of the burning basement is shown, with Michael nowhere in sight. In a post-credits scene, Michael's breathing is heard, indicating that he survived.
Cast
Production
Development
In 2011, a sequel to 2009's Halloween II titled Halloween 3D, was announced for an October 26, 2012 release date. At the time, no director or writer was attached to the project. Originally, Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer were set as writers, but dropped out due to their involvement with a Hellraiser reboot. The film was to pick up where the final frame of its 2009 predecessor left off, and would pay homage to the original version of Michael Myers from the 1978 film. It was dropped from its initial October 26, 2012 date, as no progress had been made.In February 2015, Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan were reported as writing a new Halloween film, described as a "recalibration" rather than a reboot, which Malek Akkad and Matt Stein were producing. On June 15, 2015, The Weinstein Company was reported to be moving ahead with another Halloween sequel, tentatively titled Halloween Returns, with Dunstan directing. It would have been a standalone film set to reintroduce audiences to Michael Myers years after his initial rampage from Halloween and 1981's Halloween II, as he was confronted by a new generation of victims while on death row.
On October 22, 2015, producer Malek Akkad revealed that the production of Halloween Returns had been postponed, stating that the extra time would result in a better film. Malek said on the matter, In December 2015, it was announced that Dimension Films no longer had the filming rights to Halloween, after Halloween Returns failed to go into production on schedule. The film's cancellation was confirmed at the same time. The rights then reverted to Miramax.
On May 24, 2016, Blumhouse Productions and Miramax were announced to be co-financing a new film, with Universal Pictures distributing through the studio's output deal with Blumhouse. Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum called the original Halloween a milestone that had influenced the company to begin making horror films, "The great Malek Akkad and John Carpenter have a special place in the hearts of all genre fans and we are so excited that Miramax brought us together." The rights specifically went to Miramax and Tarik Akkad, who sought out Blum because of his success as a horror film producer.
Writing and pre-production
When John Carpenter, who had co-written the first two Halloween films with Debra Hill and directed the original, signed on as an executive producer in 2016, he described his intention: "Thirty-eight years after the original Halloween, I'm going to help to try to make the 10th sequel the scariest of them all." He discussed his reasoning for revisiting the series for the first time since producing 1982's ' in an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, "I talked about the Halloweens for a long time, the sequels — I haven't even seen all of them But finally it occurred to me: Well if I'm just flapping my gums here, why don't I try to make it as good as I can? So, you know, stop throwing rocks from the sidelines and get in there and try to do something positive." When the rights were acquired by Blumhouse, filmmaker Adam Wingard discussed making a new Halloween film, but ultimately dropped out after being sated by an email of encouragement from Carpenter, "I kinda walked away from it like, I just got everything I wanted out of this job. 'This is about as good as it gets.'" On February 9, 2017, David Gordon Green and Danny McBride were announced as handling screenwriting duties, with Green directing and Carpenter advising the project. Carpenter said that he was impressed with the pitch presented by the co-writers, solicited by Jason Blum, proclaiming that "They get it."Rather than reboot the series again, they initially chose to focus primarily on continuing the mythology of the first two films when developing the story, with Danny McBride stating, "We all came to the decision that remaking something that already works isn't a good idea. So we just have a reimagining instead." The pitch was created by the writers specifically to present to Carpenter, as they were self-described fans of the original Halloween. The story was eventually fleshed out so that all of the sequels were ignored from the new film's continuity, and the ending of the first film was retconned in what McBride likened to an alternate reality. However, he later said that the film still pays tribute to the other follow-ups, despite sharing no direct continuity, "you know like there's so many different versions, and the timeline is so mixed up, we just thought it would be easier to go back to the source and continue from there. It was nicer than knowing you're working on Halloween 11, it just seemed cooler, 'we're making Halloween 2. For fans, we pay homage and respect to every Halloween that has been out there." Despite Green and McBride's comedy roots, Halloween was distanced from the comedy genre. McBride further elaborated that "I think there was, like, maybe one joke on the page, but the rest is straight horror." Believing that "good horror movie directors are good directors", Jason Blum hired Green for his perceived "amazing" storytelling. No major steps were taken without Carpenter's approval, including the acceptance of the initial pitch and bringing back actress Jamie Lee Curtis.
Displeased with Rob Zombie's re-imagining and added backstory of murderer Michael Myers, Carpenter wanted to take the character back to his more mysterious roots, describing him as "a force of nature. He's supposed to be almost supernatural." McBride detailed his approach as humanizing the character, "I think we're just trying to take it back to what was so good about the original. It was just very simple and just achieved that level of horror that wasn't turning Michael Myers into some being that couldn't be killed. I want to be scared by something that I really think could happen. I think it's much more horrifying to be scared by someone standing in the shadows while you're taking the trash out."
Early on, the script for the film had Laurie's daughter Jamie Lloyd from the original continuity's ' and appear alongside Laurie for the first time. However, subsequent rewrites changed her to 'Karen'. Even before those early plans were publicly known, Danielle Harris, who played Jamie, objected, feeling strongly about Laurie having a daughter that was not Jamie, but her appeals to the production company were dismissed.
Casting
In September 2017, Jamie Lee Curtis confirmed that she would reprise her role as Laurie Strode. In contrast to the character's final girl role in the original film, Laurie armed herself and prepared extensively in the time period between films in case Michael Myers returned. Although Halloween II and its later installments have portrayed Myers as a familicidal killer and Laurie as his sister, the writers felt that the added motive made him less frightening as a killer. As such, they intentionally ignored that aspect of the lore. In the film, Laurie's granddaughter Allyson explains how her life has been impacted by Michael's reign of terror 40 years earlier. When a friend hints that they heard Michael was Laurie's brother, Allyson replies, "No, it was not her brother, that was something people made up." The writers did not originally know if Curtis would be willing to return, according to McBride, so they "busted ass on this script to really make that Laurie Strode character something she wouldn't be able to say no to." On why she returned, Curtis stated, "As soon as I read what David Green and Danny McBride had come up with... and the way that they connected the dots of the story, it made so much sense to me that it felt totally appropriate for me to return to Haddonfield, Ill., for another 40th-anniversary retelling. It's the original story in many, many, many ways. Just retold 40 years later with my granddaughter." Curtis had previously returned as Laurie in the sequels Halloween II, ', and '. The following October, Judy Greer entered negotiations to play Laurie's daughter, Karen Nelson. On December 7, 2017, Andi Matichak was cast to play Laurie's granddaughter Allyson.Danielle Harris, who played Jamie Lloyd in the original continuity's Halloween 4 and Halloween 5, contacted Blumhouse with the offer to reprise her role in some way, but the studio went with a different daughter character even though she had begun life as Jamie in the script, to Harris and certain horror publications' disappointment: "I was okay with it when she had a son... but they're saying it's the last one and... she has a daughter. And it's not Jamie. It's just kind of a bummer, I guess."
On December 20, 2017, it was announced that Nick Castle, who had portrayed Michael Myers in the original film, would reprise his role, with actor and stuntman James Jude Courtney set to portray Myers as well. Courtney was suggested to Malek Akkad and David Gordon Green by stunt coordinator Rawn Hutchinson for his ability to do both physical stunts and genuine acting, auditioning afterwards and receiving a phone call in December 2017 affirming that he had landed the role. Green explained to him his vision for Myers's mannerisms, an amalgamation of Castle's original performance and the addition of an efficient cat-like style of movement. Courtney tailored his portrayal to those specifications from observing an actual cat, "I think cats are the most perfect hunting machines on the planet. And the beauty of it is we don't judge a cat for what a cat does. So I sort of carried that movement and the non-judgmental approach to the way I moved as The Shape, which I learned from my cat Parcival." He referred to collaborating with Castle as an "honor", while Castle described it as a "passing of the torch". Courtney used John Carpenter and Castle's work on the original film to determine how the 40 years that transpired between the events of the films would inform the character over time. The December 2017 announcement of Nick Castle's participation was widely reported as his retaking the role of Michael Myers he originated, with James Jude Courtney only doing additional work as the character. However, a 2018 interview with Courtney revealed that Castle's screentime was minimal and that the great majority of the work under the mask was done by Courtney himself, which led to the question of whether the return of original Myers portrayer Nick Castle had been misrepresented by the production.
On January 13, 2018, Virginia Gardner, Miles Robbins, Dylan Arnold, and Drew Scheid were confirmed to play Allyson's friends. On January 16, 2018, Will Patton was publicized to have joined the film's roster. He was later joined by Rob Niter, both actors being announced to portray police officers, as well as British actress Rhian Rees, who was cast as a character named Dana. Speaking of the cast, Nick Castle stated that "What I like about this is they've got some really good young actors. They fleshed out the relationship of Jamie's character with her daughter and her granddaughter. And they made some choices that I think are really bold choices about who these people are and why they are the way they are now."
On July 27, 2018, it was announced that a sound-alike actor would provide a voice-over for Dr. Sam Loomis, who was originally portrayed by Donald Pleasence. In the film, the voice of Dr. Loomis is heard giving advice that Michael be executed, claiming that Michael needed to be killed because there was no point in keeping evil alive. Loomis is featured in a vocal cameo when Aaron and Dana listen to a recording of Loomis, made three months after the events of the original film. Loomis is voiced by sound-alike comedian Colin Mahan.
Additionally, P. J. Soles, who had portrayed Lynda van der Klok, Michael's final victim in the original film, was cast in a spoken cameo role as a teacher.
Filming
Principal production began on January 13, 2018 in Charleston, South Carolina. Originally, it was set to begin in late October 2017, but was delayed until January. Michael Simmonds served cinematography duties, with Paul Daley and Stewart Cantrell operating the camera. According to Danny McBride, the horror of the film aims to create a sense of tension and dread to the audience rather than relying on graphic violence; the make-up and visual effects were provided by Christopher Nelson. Jamie Lee Curtis finished her scenes on February 16, 2018, with the remaining principal photography concluding on February 19, 2018. Response to the film's first test screening led the filmmakers to schedule reshoots beginning June 11, 2018. Filming once again took place in Charleston.Courtney had a week of rehearsal before filming began. Nelson used a life cast of his face to construct the Michael Myers mask and other prosthetics worn by the actor. The mask was weathered and aged to reflect the character's "authentic evolution" since the original. Courtney was involved in every scene featuring Myers, including those of Nick Castle, who was only involved for a minimal amount of filming, which Castle described to the journalists on set as a cameo appearance: "Jim is our Michael Myers now." Castle reprises his role in one scene with Curtis, playing as the character's reflection in a window and did all of Michael Myers' breathing sounds in post-production. Castle expressed that it was the filmmakers' intention to maintain the atmosphere of the original and that, like the 1978 film, "it's very neighborhood-centric... There are a lot of things coinciding that feel like clever ways to introduce a kind of déjà vu of the first one, without feeling like it's being copied. It was the first thing out of their mouths really: 'We want to do it like John did it.'"
Nelson accompanied Courtney throughout filming, providing him with acting advice from his own knowledge of the characters of the Halloween films. Nelson had been interviewed and examined for the film by Akkad and Green after a conversation with Blumhouse producer Ryan Turek, who he was already acquainted with. Collaborating with fellow make-up effects artist Vincent Van Dyke, some of his designs and concepts were initially rejected due to legal complications, which were later straightened out as he began his work on the film. Rather than trying to copy the design of the original mask, he intended on recapturing what he described as the visual "feeling" of it. Because the film is set forty years after the events of the original, he studied the decomposition and wrinkling of forty-year-old masks over time while outlining his take on Myers's look, "You're not creating just a mask. You're creating a feeling that you get that does have an expression... But also the mask looks completely different in every single angle it's ever been photographed at, and I wanted that feeling too." Courtney was hired after Nelson advised Green not to cast a hulking stuntman in the role in compliance with the first film.
Music
After previously providing the score for the original Halloween, Halloween II, and Halloween III: Season of the Witch, John Carpenter confirmed in October 2017 that he had made a deal to score the 2018 release. Regarding his take on the sequel, he said, "I'll be consulting with the director to see what he feels. I could create a new score, we could update the old score and amplify it, or we could combine those two things. I'll have to see the movie to see what it requires."Release
Halloween had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2018, as part of its Midnight Madness section. It was theatrically released on October 19.Marketing
The studio spent an estimated $75.5 million on advertising for Halloween. The CinemaCon film convention premiered exclusive footage on April 25, 2018, garnering positive reactions from those in attendance. The film had a presentation at the San Diego Comic-Con in Hall H on July 20, 2018, with Jamie Lee Curtis, David Gordon Green, Malek Akkad, and Jason Blum in attendance. During the panel, which featured an extended scene and trailer, Curtis discussed how the film ties in with the Me Too movement, describing it as a film about "trauma", stating, " taking back her narrative. She has carried the trauma and PTSD of someone who was attacked And there comes a point where you say, I am not a victim. And this is a person who has been waiting 40 years ."The first trailer for the film was released on June 8, 2018, followed by a second trailer on September 5, 2018.
Merchandising
Trick or Treat Studios obtained the official costume licensing rights for the film. Both Nelson and Vincent Van Dyke joined their design team, who used toolings from the screen-used mold of Michael Myers's mask to adapt it for mass market sale. The company NECA will be releasing action figures of both Michael Myers and, for the first time ever, Laurie Strode from the film.Home media
Halloween was released digitally on December 28, 2018, and was released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on January 15, 2019.Reception
Box office
Halloween grossed $159.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $96.1 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $255.5 million. Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $128.5 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues.In the United States and Canada, the film made $7.7 million from Thursday night previews, the fourth-highest ever for an R-rated horror film after It, It Chapter Two and Paranormal Activity 3. Halloween then grossed $33.3 million on its first day and went on to debut to $76.2 million, marking the second-best ever opening weekend of October and the highest of the Halloween franchise. Its opening performance was also the best-ever for a film starring a lead actress over 55 years old. With its weekend performance alone, the film became the highest-grossing of the franchise. The film dropped 58% in its second weekend but retained the top spot, grossing $32 million. After making $5.5 million on Halloween day, the film then made $10.8 million in its third weekend, falling to fifth.
Worldwide, it earned more than around $100 million, including $12–30 million from 21 markets internationally. It ended up having a global opening weekend of $90.5 million, including $14.3 million from outside the United States. The largest markets were Mexico, Australia, the United Kingdom and Russia. The film made another $25.6 million from international markets in its second weekend, for a running total of $45.6 million.
Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 79% based on 360 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Halloween largely wipes the slate clean after decades of disappointing sequels, ignoring increasingly elaborate mythology in favor of basic – yet still effective – ingredients." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100, based on 51 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, the same score earned by the last Halloween film starring Curtis, , and higher than the "B–" of Rob Zombie's 2007 film. PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it an overall 75% positive score and a 65% "definite recommend," and social media monitor RelishMix noted a "positive buzz" response to the film online.Peter Debruge of Variety felt that the film brings the series back to its roots, calling it "an act of fan service disguised as a horror movie. The fact it works as both means that Green has pulled off what he set out to do, tying up the mythology that Carpenter and company established, while delivering plenty of fresh suspense — and grisly-creative kills — for younger audiences". Writing for The Verge, Bryan Bishop said the film was "better than almost every other sequel in the franchise" and "a fitting coda to a story that began 40 years ago", while Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly described it as "a faithful, fundamental sequel ". In his review for Bloody Disgusting, Joe Lipsett wrote, "All in all, Halloween is a worthy entry in the franchise Everything really clicks at the finale, which makes sense considering the film exists to pit Laurie against Michael. And in this capacity, Halloween doesn't disappoint". Jonathan Barkan of Dread Central wrote, "Halloween pays loving and respectful homage to the 1978 original while making a very bold and decisive claim for its own existence," also noting, "... this is quite possibly the scariest Michael Myers has ever been."
In a mixed review, Eric Kohn of IndieWire criticized the film's dialogue and staging, but said "Carpenter's own Halloween was itself a bumpy ride, made on the cheap, but carried along by the director's firm grasp on his potent themes. The new one works overtime to keep them intact, while communing with the first installment in every possible way — from that famously creepy synth score to the blocky orange credits that bookend the story". RogerEbert.coms Brian Tallerico gave Halloween two out of four stars, writing it "is admirable in its thematic relation to Carpenter's vision, but the no-nonsense, tightly-directed aspect of the influential classic just isn't a part of this one. Carpenter's movie is so tautly refined that the sometimes incompetent slackness of this one is all the more frustrating. As is the complete lack of atmosphere, another strength of the original". Forbes Scott Mendelson thought the film is "not very good or tightly-directed, and it fails as a character play and a scary movie". Christopher Stewardson from Our Culture Mag wrote "Raising some interesting questions about indifference to escalating horror, Halloween draws Michael Myers in the modern world with consideration and calculated frights."
Accolades
The film was the runner-up for at this Toronto International Film Festival in 2018.The film received four Fangoria Chainsaw Award nominations: Best Wide Release, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Makeup FX.
The film was also nominated for Best Horror Film at the Saturn Awards while Jamie Lee Curtis has won Best Actress.
Rhian Rees, who plays Dana Haines, was nominated for Most Frightened Performance at the 2019 MTV Movie & TV Awards.
Sequels
In June 2018, McBride confirmed that he and Green had originally intended to pitch two films that would be shot back-to-back, and then decided against it, waiting to see the reaction to the first film: "We were going to shoot two of them back-to-back. Then we were like, 'Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. This could come out, and everyone could hate us, and we'd never work again. So, let's not have to sit around for a year while we wait for another movie to come out that we know people aren't going to like.' So, we were like, 'Let's learn from this, and see what works, and what doesn't.' But we definitely have an idea of where we would go this branch of the story and hopefully we get a chance to do it."In September 2018, producer Jason Blum said that "we will do a sequel if the movie performs". By October 2018, after the film's opening weekend, McBride confirmed that early development on a sequel had begun.
In February 2019, Collider exclusively confirmed Scott Teems was in talks as the screenwriter, having collaborated with Blumhouse Productions on several projects in development. Teems had also written a story treatment for the film prior to the negotiations. Blum, Akkad and Block will return as producers, while Curtis, Greer and Matichak are expected to reprise their roles.
In June 2019, it was reported that a sequel would begin filming in September 2019, with Green returning to write the script and direct and Curtis, Greer, and Matichak reprising their roles from the 2018 film. In July 2019, the titles and release dates of two sequels were announced: Halloween Kills, set to be released on October 16, 2020, and Halloween Ends, set to be released on October 15, 2021. Green will direct both films and co-write the scripts with McBride, and Curtis will reprise her role in both films. Teems was confirmed as a co-writer for Halloween Kills, while Paul Brad Logan and Chris Bernier were announced to co-write Halloween Ends.
On July 26, 2019, it was confirmed that Nick Castle will return for both sequels for some scenes as Michael Myers with James Jude Courtney again playing Myers for the majority of the films.
On August 26, 2019, it was announced that Anthony Michael Hall would join the cast as Tommy Doyle, a character portrayed by Brian Andrews in the original Halloween film and Paul Rudd in . On August 30, 2019, it was announced that Kyle Richards would reprise her role as Lindsey Wallace from the original film.
On July 8, 2020, it was announced that both Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends have been pushed back a year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Halloween Kills will now release on October 15, 2021, while Halloween Ends will now release on October 14, 2022.