Premiered at the Toronto Film Festival September 8,2018
a David Gordon Green film
Plot(Spoiler Alert)
The murderous psychopath known as Michael Myers has been locked up in a psychiatric institution for forty years. Laurie, the woman who survived Myers all those years ago, is haunted by him. Laurie wants Michael Myers dead, so then maybe she can have some peace in her life. Laurie believes Michael will escape and she has been preparing herself for when that happens.
Blaine: After John Carpenter and Debra Hill made the original “Halloween”, they weren’t expecting to continue it with a sequel, but the studio wanted it and fans wanted to get to know Michael Myers more. They developed scripts for two “Halloween” sequels. For “Halloween II”, John and Debra had Michael Myers be the foster brother to Jamie Lee Cutis’ character, Laurie. “Halloween II” took place exactly right after Laurie survived Michael Myers on Halloween night. Laurie was brought to a hospital where Myers was after her and she managed to set him on fire, leaving serious burn marks all over. So Laurie managed to survive Michael Myers twice on the same Halloween night. “Halloween III” was a completely new story and had nothing to do with Michael Myers. “Halloween III” was about these masks doing weird things to kids. John and Debra thought it would be nice to show something different, but the audience didn’t like it. Fans of “Halloween" wanted to see Michael Myers. “Halloween 4", Michael Myers is back and Laurie is dead. How Laurie died was not caused by Michael. Laurie has a young daughter named Jamie and Michael Myers is now after his late stepsister’s daughter. Myers was also after Jamie in “Halloween 5” and she gained some kind of telepathic connection to her uncle Myers. Jamie can sense where Michael is at, but it only happens when he kills someone. This “Halloween” ignores everything that has happened after the first original “Halloween”. Laurie is not Michael Myer's foster sister, she is just the babysitter who survived him back in '78. This is a re-telling of how “Halloween” should have continued after the original. 2018 also marks the 40th Anniversary of “Halloween”.
The original “Halloween” was owned by an independent company called Compass International Pictures. The studio didn’t last long. Three years after “Halloween", Compass fell. All the other “Halloween” movies would go around being distributed by different studios, Universal Pictures and then Galaxy International Releasing. In 1995, Bob Weinstein bought the rights to the sixth movie, “The Curse of Michael Myers”, and all the “Halloween” movies that would come after it. Bob’s studios, Dimension and Miramax owned the rights to five “Halloween” movies. In 2015, the CEO of Miramax decided to make another “Halloween” with Blumhouse productions. Jason Blum, the founder of Blumhouse, thought David Gordon Green should be the one to direct this new “Halloween”. David Gordon Green has done movies in the comedy and drama department, but he had never done horror before. The horror genre was something David wanted to try out. David was eleven when he saw the first “Halloween”. David was hanging out with his friends for a sleepover, they watched “Halloween” and David felt ill all week after watching it. David was working on a film called “Stronger” when he was asked to come over to Blumbhouse to talk about “Halloween”. David rushed over there, sat down with Jason Blum to talk about the project and just like that David got the job. Danny McBride and David Gordon Green had been friends since college and Danny is as big of a horror fan as David. Danny was the first person David told about the new “Halloween” project and Danny wanted to be involved with writing the script. David and Danny also asked their friend, Jeff Fradley, if he would like to collaborate on writing the screenplay. John Carpenter thought it was silly that three comedy writers would be hired to do the screenplay for a slasher film. David, Danny and Jeff would ask themselves what they wanted to see in this movie as they were putting together the script. One of the things that came to their minds was bringing Laurie Strode back, even though they weren’t sure if Jamie Lee Curtis would return. They knew they wanted to make this movie traditional to what “Halloween” is.
David needed to contact Jamie Lee Curtis and lucky thing for him Jake Gyllenhaal, who he worked with on “Stronger" was able to help. Jake Gyllenhaal is Jamie Lee Curtis’ God son and he had told her how creative David Gordon Green is and he has a new “Halloween” movie to talk about. The last thing Jamie Lee Curtis thought she would do was another “Halloween”. Jamie Lee wouldn’t have a career in acting if it wasn’t for “Halloween”. It was Jamie Lee's first movie and she became a star that fast because of it. Jamie read through the script and she saw a story with trauma. Jamie Lee Curtis is 100% bad ass in this “Halloween”, she’s like a general. Laurie has spent years preparing herself for Michael Myers' return so she can kill him. Laurie has had trouble living a normal life after what she went through back in ’78. She saw the dead bodies of her friends and Michael almost killed her too. Laurie has a very protective and secured house. There's a safety room underneath the house, multiple locks at the front door,…..the place looks like Laurie is preparing herself for an atomic bomb and Michael Myers is that bomb. Michael Myers goes on a killing spree on Halloween and Laurie hunts him down like a wild animal.
Judy Greer got an email offering her a role in the new “Halloween” and she read through that email several times because she was confused. David Gordon Green’s name was on that email and Judy is a fan of his work. Judy asked herself why a director who has done comedies be doing a slasher film. Judy was also curious to know if Jamie Lee Curtis was going to be in the movie. Once Judy found out Jamie Lee was going to be the lead in this new “Halloween” she knew she had to be apart of this project. Judy was geeking out a lot about “Halloween”. It’s the scariest movie in her book. Judy wanted to know what her character was going to be doing in the movie. Judy Greer plays Karen, Laurie’s daughter, and Karen has been trying to shut Laurie out of her life because Laurie would train Karen for battle with Michael Myers during her childhood, until child services took her away. Laurie wasn’t allowed to have custody of Karen, but now that Karen is an adult Laurie can see her whenever. Karen thinks Laurie is crazy, but when Michael Myers is after them Karen is lucky that she has been trained.
Karen didn’t get a restraining order against Lauire because her daughter, Allyson, doesn’t want Lauire kicked out of their lives. Laurie doesn’t have anyone else and Allyson understands that things have been hard for her grandmother. Allyson just wants to help Laurie. On Halloween night, Allyson learns what it is like to be in the presence of Michael Myers. Allyson is scared out of her mind, seeing people murdered right in front of her. She is in this nightmare. Like Judy Greer, it was important for Andi Matichak, the actress who plays Allyson, to know if Jamie Lee Curtis was going to be in the movie. Andi was excited Jamie Lee Curtis was going to be in the movie and she was even more excited to learn she was going to play Laurie's granddaughter. Andi was also nervous to be working with experienced actors like Jamie Lee and Judy Greer because she is a big fan of the both of them. Jamie Lee made Andi feel welcomed and gave her a history lesson on “Halloween”. John Carpenter was asked to make a cameo in “Halloween”, but he turned that down. John asked if he could do the music score instead and they were ok with that. David and Danny could hear people in the audience laughing as they were watching the movie and that worried them thinking maybe they made “Halloween" too funny. One of the things that is funny in the movie is Allyson and her boyfriend saying they are going to this Halloween high school party as Bonnie and Clyde, but they go as the opposite sex. Allyson is Clyde and the boyfriend is Bonnie. Didn’t see that coming.
Laurie fights Michael with all of her muscle and shooting that scene was hard on Jamie Lee Curtis. Jamie Lee got a broken rib, a few bruises and cuts while doing that scene, but it was worth it in order to make the scene look good. Michael defeats Laurie during the first round. She falls off the porch and lands on the lawn. Laurie is unconscious, Michael looks at her from the porch, looks away for a few seconds and she has disappeared. That was Danny McBride’s idea. It’s like the ending to the original “Halloween”, when Myer’s psychiatrist, Dr. Sam Loomis, shoots Michael six times. Michael falls off the porch, goes down on the ground and then disappears while Dr. Loomis’ back is turned. Laurie is using some of Michael Myer’s tricks while trying to defeat him. When Laurie reappears, she is hiding in the dark behind Michael Myers and a light is hitting her face. That is what Michael Myers did the very first time he attacked Laurie. Before Laurie attacks Michael, he manages to break the door to the safety room. Karen is pointing a gun up, Michael is out of sight and she is acting like a wimp, but it’s just an act so she can lure in Michael Myers and get a clear shot at him. Karen shoots Michael in the neck, Laurie pushes him down the basement and Karen and Allyson rush up, Michael grabs Karen and Allyson uses the murder weapon against Michael so that he won’t take her mother.
Michael is barricaded to the basement like a bear trapped in a cage. Laurie sets the house on fire so that Michael Myers can burn to death. The slasher films always have one Heroine at the end, but in this “Halloween” the rules have changed and the Heroine has divided into three. Laurie is a Heroine and she has passed that on to her daughter, Karen, and granddaughter, Allyson. The three of them are a team. Andi Matichak wanted to know what it feels like to be a Heroine and Jamie Lee Curtis told her. Michael Myers chooses to be silent and a couple of people want him to say something, but nothing comes out of his mouth. You would think Michael would say something to Laurie while he is trapped in the basement and the house is about to be destroyed, but no.
My rating on “Halloween” is five out of five stars
David Gordon Green, Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer and Andi Matichak at the Toronto Film Festival
