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Nick Castle

John Carpenter’s Halloween Returns to Theaters Worldwide this September

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Celebrating its 40th anniversary, John Carpenter’s 1978 horror classic is being re-released in advance of David Gordon Green’s sequel, and will return to theaters beginning September 27th, 2018.

Read on for details, theaters and ticketing information.

From the press release:

LOS ANGELES, CA – Cinelife Entertainment, the event cinema division of Spotlight Cinema Networks, has teamed up with Compass International Pictures and Trancas International Films Compass International Pictures and to bring John Carpenter’s seminal 1978 classic back to select theaters worldwide beginning September 27, 2018.

In the film, the villain, Michael Myers, has spent the last 15 years locked away inside a sanitarium under the care of child psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis. On October 30, 1978, Myers escapes and makes his way back home to Haddonfield, turning a night of tricks and treats into something much more sinister for three young women, including Laurie Strode, the star-making role for Jamie Lee Curtis.

The original Halloween will be released on over 1,000 screens in over twenty countries across the globe. “I’m thrilled to have the original make its way back into theatres, as we prepare for the release of the sequel. Having both back in theatres this fall is remarkable,” says director John Carpenter.

Fans will be treated to view big screen presentations of the restored and remastered digital print, created under the supervision of the world-renowned cinematographer, Dean Cundey.

“We are thrilled to be a part of the 40th anniversary celebration, working with Compass International Pictures and Trancas International Films to bring the most fear-provoking and enduring horror movies of all time to cinema screens around the globe,” said Mark Rupp, Managing Director, CineLife Entertainment.

The release of John Carpenter’s Original Halloween comes just ahead of the release of Halloween (2018) – the direct sequel to John Carpenter’s classic. Jamie Lee Curtis and Nick Castle reprise their roles as Laurie Strode and Michael Myers, respectively. It is set for release on October 19th, a week before the 40th anniversary of the original Halloween release date.

For theaters and showtimes, please visit CineLifeEntertainment.com.

Halloween: 40th Anniversary Trailer (60 Seconds) from CineLife Video Showcase on Vimeo.

Halloween: 40th Anniversary Trailer from CineLife Video Showcase on Vimeo.

Actresses Judy Greer & Andi Matichak Talk Halloween from the Set

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Image Courtesy of Universal Pictures

“One of the things I responded to immediately when I read the script was the character of Laurie Strode being the star of the movie,” said actress Judy Greer this past February 1, 2018 while on the set of director David Gordon Green’s then-shooting 2018 reimagining of Halloween. “I was just really happy because sometimes with a situation like this it’s like a cameo, and what I thought was so badass about what the screenwriters did was making it a multi-generational, female empowered movie, and Jamie Lee Curtis’s character is again the star.”

The first film in the slasher franchise in nine years, the simply titled Halloween is set for release by Universal Pictures this coming October 19, 2018. Co-written by Jeff Fradley, Danny McBride and director Green (see our interview with the latter two here), the entry is intended as a direct sequel to John Carpenter’s seminal 1978 film of the same name. Trancas International Films’ Malek Akkad, Blumhouse’s Jason Blum and Bill Block produce, with McBride, Green and star Curtis serving as executive producers, along with Ryan Freimann and series originator Carpenter, who also serves as the film’s composer.

Green’s Halloween as reported boldly picks up directly forty years after the original (subsequently ignoring all previous sequels), with a slight twist to the narrative: series’ boogeyman Michael Myers (reprised here by originator Nick Castle and joined by stuntman James Jude Courtney), as opposed to having disappeared into the suburban night as he so famously did in Carpenter’s classic, was apprehended by the authorities, and has been incarcerated ever since.

Incarcerated, and waiting, although if the film’s first trailer (below) is any indication, Myers isn’t the only one. Now a recluse by design, protagonist Laurie has spent the past four decades preparing for The Shape’s inevitable return.

Seated across from us in a house on a tree-lined street in Charleston, South Carolina, Greer was joined by actress Andi Matichak, the duo who in this iteration of the Halloween mythology portray two-thirds of the now multi-generational Strode clan: Laurie’s daughter Karen, and her granddaughter Allyson, respectively.

“My relationship with my mom is very estranged,” offered Greer, whose prolific career includes several notable television series and feature films ranging from Jurassic World to the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp, of her scripted relationship with series final girl and now matriarch Laurie, “and we would be estranged completely if she didn’t constantly try to reach out, and by reaching out I mean, check up on us to make sure that we’re always safe. (In this film) she feels like a real watchdog over me and my daughter, so I try then to protect my daughter from (who) I think is this crazy woman who raised me.”

Greer’s knack for comedy, even in discussing these heavier narrative elements of Halloween, shone through. Naturally funny, as was relative newcomer Matichak, the duo riffed with the ease of familiarity. A good sign, given the ‘mother/daughter’ relationship required of both by the script.

“In rehearsal we came up with a ton of backstory,” said Greer of the effects of Michael Myers on the Strode clan. “Even though this stuff might not come up in what you see on the screen, it’s really helpful for us to try and figure out where this all came from, and we decided that Laurie was really tough on me. She just has never been able to let go of that horrifying night (in 1978) and brought it into all of her relationships (afterwards), and because I’m pretty much the only relationship that she really has, it just all got focused on me towards the end, as people started to drop out of her life and she retreated from society. So it was a really rough childhood for me, and eventually at a young age I was removed from the house so I could have a better and more normal life. Again, this is stuff that we’ve mostly come up with in our own backstory (for the characters).”

Image Courtesy of Universal Pictures

Of the holiday of Halloween, “I think it’s safe to say that it’s always been a weird time of the year (for the Strode women) and it’s always been a time of reverence,” said Matichak, who as an actress was at the time giving her first interview ever. “Specifically (for) our family. If you can imagine Haddonfield forty years later, Michael Myers has become a myth and a legend. I mean it happened, but (the town has become) so desensitized. I’m sure that there are Michael Myers masks that kids wear on Halloween – probably not in Haddonfield – but in towns over, so I feel like we’ve been the butt of a lot of conversation. Friends at school come up (to my character) and are like, ‘Yeah, your grandma was murdered,’ and I’m like, ‘No, she survived,’ and they say, ‘All her friends were killed (though), right?’ It’s horrible, but it’s definitely not lost on our family, and it definitely dictates the way we live our lives.”

Questioned as to whether her character serves as a mediator between Laurie and Karen, “I would say so,” replied Matichak. “(My character’s) been kind of caught in between (them) since I’ve been a kid and like any kid, you do want a relationship with everyone in your family, and if Laurie’s making an effort, which she has been since (my character was) born, then yeah. I’ve always wanted to have some sort of peace.”

“What’s nice about her,” added Greer of Matichak’s character as written, “is that seeing Allyson at this age, she’s her own woman, and she can reach out to her grandma whenever she wants. If we were finding her at eleven or twelve that’s something (else), but now she has access to phones and can say, ‘Screw you, mom. I want to talk to my grandma. I want to have her at this event. I want to have a relationship with her.’ So I like that.”

Matichak was asked, ‘What does Allyson want to do with her life?’

“Allyson wants to get through her senior year of high school, alive,” laughed the actress.

As for Laurie’s evolution from the innocent yet resourceful teenager we met in Carpenter’s classic to the 2018 version, “She is a very intense character as we find her forty years later,” allowed Greer.

Image Courtesy of Compass International Pictures

“That event really shaped her life and drove her to be the woman she is now,” Matichak added, “and I think it’s pretty in line if you imagine a tragedy like this happening. I could take a lot away from (Jamie’s performance) in the first one, and I feel like Allyson is kind of a spawn of Laurie at seventeen as well. I think she sees a lot of herself in me, and that’s part of the reason why she and I are trying to have a relationship.”

Image Courtesy of Universal Pictures

Asked her thoughts in regards to becoming part of the Halloween film series, Greer said, “Well, it’s very flattering, with a legacy like this and all of these strong female characters. I think we can all agree that now is the time for strong women to come out and fight, and Laurie being a badass has only grown in our telling of the story.”

When queried as to their reaction at seeing Nick Castle as Michael Myers up close and personal, Matichak stated, “(It was) terrifying, but he’s the kindest, nicest man.”

Regardless, Castle’s performance in the original film still for Matichak packs a wallop.

“We actually went and saw it in theaters here with the entire cast and crew,” said the actress. “I just got chills thinking about it. It was insane. I had my knees in my chest the whole time. Watching it on TV or my laptop is one thing, but it’s different on the big screen.”

“It’s really dark and it’s really scary, except you can sometimes see a palm tree here and there,” teased Greer of the original’s use of Pasadena, CA (and its flora) as a stand-in for the fictional Illinois town.

“In the original you can see palm trees?” asked Matichak. “I missed that.”

“That’s good, that means you’re really into the story,” Greer responded, playfully riffing. “One day I stopped by this set before I actually started shooting, and I heard David saying, ‘We have to move the cameras because I can see a palm tree,’ so in that way it won’t be like the original.”

All joking aside, when queried in regards to her character’s outlook on Michael Myers himself, Greer stated, “(My character) in this film is a therapist, so she’s educated in what a sociopath is, and I think for her, coming from that background and that education she’s like, ‘Well, he’s this or that disorder, (and) in that facility he’s not getting out (and) he’s being treated.’ I think my mom’s idea of Michael Myers and the actual Michael Myers in my (character’s) mind (are different).”

As for the physical demands of her role, Matichak revealed, “It’s been tough. They make me jog a lot. I think this is production’s passive progressive way to tell me to lose a little bit of weight. (In all seriousness it’s) definitely been a challenge, but it’s been incredible. I’m so excited to be here.”

Assuming the cinematic surname of ‘Strode’ additionally requires mastery of another hallmark of the series: a healthy scream.

“In the audition process there were some really intense scenes,” offered Matichak, “but I guess I wasn’t really screaming my head off in those. Since we’ve been on set here there have been nights with a lot of screaming. It’s definitely been a marathon so far, but so much fun.”

Image Courtesy of Universal Pictures

The pair is asked whether or not the script in anyway speaks to America’s fascination with real life serial killers (as evidenced by the current popularity of true crime programming such as “Making a Murderer,” “Mindhunters”,” etc.), and if so, how does Myers fit into it?

“For me, Myers is like the epitome,” answered Greer. “It’s interesting because in a movie like this, in a horror film, you really get to see it all happening.”

As for how the residents of Haddonfield (in a world forty years removed and one which now brims with a constant barrage of tragic world events served up 24/7 via the world wide web) view Myers’ crimes, Matichak said, “All of these tragedies happen, and because we’re so desensitized to it, we kind of forget about it. A few days later, a few weeks later, you’re not thinking of the victims (or) what they’re going through (or) what the families are going through, and this kind of puts you in those shoes. Forty years later, this is where we stand. This is who we are, for better or for worse, and I think that that’s done really nicely in this movie.”

Greer added, “Because so much time has gone by (in this narrative) and this person or ‘Shape’ or whatever you decide to call him has been locked up for so long, we feel pretty safe and pretty good about ourselves. We took care of that problem a long time ago, so we are much desensitized to this one horrific night. As far as how it speaks to the greater desensitization that’s happening (in our world), my hope is that this movie kicks so much ass that it will scare the shit out of everyone, even the most hardened (of) souls.”

Given that Myers is as much an element to series as the pagan holiday itself, Matichak was asked, ‘In real life, are you a fan?’

“Yes!” she replied. “I was so terrified of (the film) Halloween, solely because my mom beat it into my skull that this was the scariest movie of all time, so for years I grew up terrified of the movie, but I definitely celebrated the holiday. We’d do a big event on Halloween night. My mom would make a ton of chili and a lot of margaritas for the adults while the kids got candy.”

As to whether there were any potential Myers memories associated, Matichak concluded, “There were a couple of years in a row that this happened, and I think that it had to be one of sister’s asshole friends, but somebody put on the Myers mask and would stand in the corner of our front yard for hours. My mom lost her shit. She called the cops, and he ran into the woods! So yes, we were definitely fans of the holiday, (and) I was raised to really embrace it.”

Myers Showdown! Nick Castle and James Jude Courtney Talk Halloween from the Set

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The Shape returns to Haddonfield on October 19, 2018, and we sat down on set earlier this year to chat with the two men who’ve donned the iconic mask for this entry, which serves as a direct sequel to John Carpenter’s classic 1978 film Halloween: originator Nick Castle and actor James Jude Courtney.

Co-written by Jeff Fradley, Danny McBride and director David Gordon Green (see our interview with the latter two here), 2018’s Halloween is produced by Trancas International Films’ Malek Akkad, Blumhouse’s Jason Blum and Bill Block, with McBride, Green and star Jamie Lee Curtis serving as executive producers, along with Ryan Freimann and series originator Carpenter, who also serves as the film’s composer.

Green’s Halloween as reported boldly picks up directly forty years after the original (that’s right, subsequently ignoring all previous sequels), with a slight twist to the narrative: series’ boogeyman Michael Myers, as opposed to having disappeared into the suburban night as he so famously did in Carpenter’s classic, was apprehended by the authorities, and has been institutionalized ever since.

Image Courtesy of Universal Pictures

Institutionalized and waiting, in this case for traumatized survivor Laurie Strode (Curtis), who herself has spent the last four decades preparing for what she believes will be Myers’ inevitable return. Actresses Judy Greer and Andi Matichak join the fray as Laurie’s daughter and granddaughter, Karen and Allyson, respectively, as do actors Will Patton, Virginia Gardner, Miles Robbins and Dylan Arnold, among others.

‘What have you got all over you?, we asked  Castle and Courtney upon their entrance, as each were attired in a pair of cinema’s most infamous dark blue, and decidedly unkempt, coveralls.

“Dirt and blood,” replied Courtney.

“Yeah, we’ve been at it,” added Castle of the demands of the role, of which out of his five acting credits, two reside in the Halloween series. (Outside of acting, Castle is primarily known as a screenwriter – he penned the script for Carpenter’s nihilist 1981 classic Escape from New York – and as a director, for the 1984 cult favorite The Last Starfighter, in addition to other films).

“It’s a little bit of a mystery,” offered Castle, now seventy-years old, when asked of how his return to the role of cinema’s arguably most famous slasher came about. “I know that somebody suggested it from my end, which is, I have an agent doing horror conferences, Sean Clark, (who’s) a great guy in that business and he knows the world. He said, ‘Why aren’t you doing this thing coming up?’ And I said, ‘No one asked,’ and he said, ‘I’m just going to ask around.’ A few weeks later and Sean said, ‘Nick, you’re going to get a call and they’re going to ask you if you want to play The Shape.’”

As for Courtney, whose previous suit work includes a turn as the Der Kindestod creature in the 1998 “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” episode “Killed by Death,” “He has a stunt background, so he’s doing a lot of the physical work on the show,” said Castle. “I’m coming down to bless the set, and to do a couple of shots here and there.”

With forty years and a $9,700,000 budget difference in films, Castle was asked, ‘Has there been any directorial difference in instruction as to how to play the character?’

“It’s funny, because at both times there was very little communication in terms of that,” Castle allowed. “First of all, Myers is expressionless so really it’s about how are you going to move. I was just telling some other friends here of when I was going to do the first shot (in the original film), (which was) a night time scene, (where) Myers was crossing the street going after Laurie, that it was a determined walk…not in a rush or anything like that, and I went out in the street and stopped and went back to John and said, ‘So John, this is my first shot.’ Basically, I was asking, ‘What is my motivation?’ Something stupid, just like an actor, and John said, ‘Just go over there and (then) walk here.’ That was it. John’s embellished since then. I don’t know how true this is, but he’s said (since), ‘I always liked the way Nick walked,’ and I just kind of thought, ‘Oh, I don’t know what that means: I walk like a killer?’”

As for Courtney’s approach to the role, and in particular to the more violent aspects, he offered, “I learned how to kill from a mafia hitman who lived with me when he got out of prison. I was writing his life story, so he went to see the movie I did: it was called The Hit List. It wasn’t a big movie or anything, and when we walked out he was like, ‘Jimmy, it was a really nice movie but that’s not how you kill people.’ I’ve been complimented many times here on set on how efficiently I kill, and all I did was take what he taught me.”

“Why Malek and David brought me in,” he continued, “is because it’s just the way I move. It’s a place that exists (and) my job was to find that place. It’s a living, breathing place so when I go into that place everything is natural. I just do what that space dictates, which was created by Nick and John and Debra (Hill), and (which) has lived and breathed all (of) these years.”

Image Courtesy of Universal Pictures

Given that passage of time, the duo was queried as to whether or not they felt if age had changed that space in any way.’

“Michael Myers is carrying the space for the shadow that most human beings are afraid to look at,” observed Courtney. “Most human beings are afraid to look at the fact that there’s a killer inside them, (and) that there is someone capable of heinous acts. For me, when we were (shooting) in the mental institution before Myers broke out, all I focused on was his energy that’s been building and festering and expanding, and I just held that space from again what Nick had created, and I just let it grow and grow because Myers has become more powerful. He’s defying death. He’s defying any type of restrictive condition so to me, from my perspective, what Nick created has just gotten stronger.”

Stronger, but also older. In this continuity, Michael Audrey Myers will turn sixty-one years old this year, and will celebrate his birthday on the very date of Green’s Halloween release. Given the character’s advancing age, can he still take a beating?

“He’s a bad motherfucker, man,” stated Courtney. “He’s a bad dude. I’ve got to tell you, even old fighters don’t lose their punches. I got in the ring with Joe Brown on the set of Far and Away, who was Rocky Marciano’s sparring partner for seven of his eight title fights, and he said, ‘C’mon Jim, you can throw better than that,’ and I threw hard at him, man. And that old man’s (punches) kicked like a mule, and that’s when he sat me down and said, ‘A fighter never loses his punch.’ I think it’s the same with Myers. He’s not going to lose his strength, his virility, his power and his focus. He’s taking the hits.”

With a strict attention to continuity, as evidenced by the prosthetic FX appliance Courtney was wearing over his left eye (a result of the Myer’s character being stabbed with a coat hanger in the ’78 film – see our interview with FX artist Chris Nelson here for more on that), we asked Courtney, whose skills include decades of martial arts and pugilist training, if the resultant loss in depth perception was making his job difficult.

“Well, day by day it got better and by the third or fourth day, when I was fighting a gentleman with a crowbar, I started adjusting,” answered the actor. “Normally I track movement from my left eye, but (because of the appliance) I couldn’t see anything until it came into my right eye’s field of vision. But I think it’s really gifted me too, because it takes me into a space where I’m seeing the world from a different perspective.”

Image Courtesy of Universal Pictures

We had to know, ‘In this latest iteration, is Myers supernatural?’

“In that he can take a lot of punishment,” said Castle, “they keep it pretty real. I have seen some of the sequels where they suggested other worldly reasons for his power, but this one does not have that.”

With the films previous sequels obliterated within this narrative thread, so too are Laurie and Michael’s familial ties, which had been set up in director Rick Rosenthal’s 1981 sequel, Halloween II. The pair was asked, ‘Is Laurie then just another victim Myers missed?’

“I can safely say without giving too much away that he knows her,” answered Castle.

Courtney expounded, “I think it goes back to human nature. We all have obsessions, compulsions, fixations…why doesn’t Michael get to have one? It’s interesting (because) in the original film Laurie notices him when nobody else does. She’s always the one who sees him, (from) the classroom (to) around the hedge, and everyone else is kind of distracted, so is there kind of like a reciprocal thing there, where she’s kind of the only one who notices him?”

“I think like I said that she’s on his list, and some of that is like the first one, which I think is the right way to play (it),” said Castle. “A lot of things are vague, in terms of his evil and stuff like that, (and) his motivations for things (and) why he does things, but I think in the process of reading the script a number of times I get the sense that yeah, that’s in his mind, too.”

“It’s really important to note that (real-life dictators) Pol Pot and Joseph Stalin didn’t consider themselves evil,” Courtney offered of Myers’ own perception. “There’s a judgement where people are saying, ‘Well, this is evil,’ but Michael Myers is just being who he is. He’s being true to who he is, and that’s an awesome space to occupy, man. I can’t tell you how incredible it feels.”

Of wearing the mask forty years later (the original was little more than a modified William Shatner ‘Captain Kirk’ mask purchased for a buck ninety eight at Burt Wheeler’s now defunct magic shop on Hollywood Boulevard, whereas the 2018 version was sculpted as an aged-down recreation of it by an Academy Award winner), Castle told us of the masks, “They have the exact same dimensions, (and) I think they did a great job.”

“I can tell you,” added Courtney, “when Christopher (Nelson) brought it to the set and when I got to put it on (for) the first time it was, ‘Wow! This is really perfect for killing.’ There’s so much in that, do you know what I mean? It just closes you off from the world and then, something big happens man. It’s powerful.”

“From my perspective, Michael Myers operates so instinctively and he has such an incredible intuition about him,” Courtney concluded. “I mean, my mafia friend, he could walk into a place and tell you everything about the people in it, because his life depended on him reaching out that way. I think Michael Myers is the epitome of someone who can reach out and feel everything around him, and then hiding behind that mask makes it all the more private and personal.”

Exclusive Photos & Interview: Director David Gordon Green & Co-writer Danny McBride Talk Halloween from the Set

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On February 1st of this year, HalloweenMovies sat down with writer and director David Gordon Green and writer Danny McBride (two creatives and ex-college buddies whose past work lays primarily outside of the horror genre) on the set of Halloween in Charleston, South Carolina, in order to discuss their approach (along with co-writer Jeff Fradley) in bringing not only Michael Myers back to the screen, but in delivering a Halloween film which posseses direct ties in narrative and style to Carpenter’s 1978 classic.

Jamie Lee Curtis & David Gordon Green

“All of the films from the seventies: it’s truly a decade that I geek out about,” effused forty-three year old Green, whose most known for helming the comedic drama series “Eastbound & Down” starring Halloween co-writer McBride. “Suspiria and Halloween were the two films that really hit me in my youth. I always look at my age between eleven and seventeen, when I was just absorbing things and digging through things. Music to me was The Doors and movies to me were horror films like Suspiria, Halloween and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It was a time where I was so effected by the things I was seeing, and I’ve really retained them, even when I was in my twenties and even in film school, those early teen years meant so much to me.”

Meant so much that at one point, prior to director Luca Guadagnino’s helming of the upcoming 2018 remake of Dario Argento’s Suspiria, that Green was enthusiastically attached to write and direct his own retelling of the giallo horror classic, of which he’d intended to be a faithful adaptation, complete with portions of the original score by Goblin which he’d prememptively licensed.

“Creatively, Suspiria was a big one,” Green said, “and that was very exciting. I actually I wrote it with our (Halloween) production sound mixer Chris Hubert, but our version was very expensive and never ended up getting made. But Luca has now taken it on and has made a nice name for himself as a director. I wrote him the other day and asked him when I get to see it, because I need a peek.”

The eleventh film in the long-running franchise, 2018’s Halloween is intended as a direct sequel to John Carpenter’s seminal film of the same name. Trancas International Films’ Malek Akkad, Blumhouse’s Jason Blum and Bill Block produce, with McBride, Green and star Jamie Lee Curtis serving as executive producers, along with Ryan Freimann and series originator Carpenter, the latter who also serves as the film’s composer. In it, series star Curtis returns to her role of embattled final girl Laurie Strode, as does Nick Castle to his role of Michael Myers. They are joined by Judy Greer as Karen Strode, Laurie’s daughter, and Andi Matichak as Allyson Strode, Laurie’s granddaughter.

As for the trio’s scripted approach to the latest Halloween film, the first installment in nine years and the second time in the franchise, not counting Rob Zombie’s films, in which the narrative discounts the existence of previous sequels, McBride stated, “I think it’s kind of cool to see what different filmmakers will do with a property that is so well known. I would rather have that approach to Michael Myers than everyone just continuing some storyline and just trying to regurgitate these things. I think it’s more interesting to have someone like David or Rob Zombie to just come and put their own stamp on it, for better or for worse. I think that’s a more interesting way for a franchise to stay alive than to just continue to beat the same drum over and over again.”

With Marvel having successfully done the same quite recently with the Spider-Man franchise, and fans of it happy to accept the various director’s unique interpretations of that universe, will Halloween aficionados do the same? Green’s hopeful.

“We have so much respect for the entire franchise, and that went into what we’re trying to engineer; literally a love of horror movies and a love of every Halloween movie across the board,” said the director. “We were trying to come up with what our take would be and really just found an original path that more or less takes the first one as our reality, (and) how we meet our characters in a different phase of their life under the reality of this traumatic event, and (how they) have to come to terms with some of these issues. Horrifically, in many circumstances, and that’s kind of the fun of how we launch off. There’s a lot of things that we haven’t revealed. Obviously a lot of the fun is (in) those reveals, and seeing how these things unfold, how these characters interact with one another and who they have become, and hopefully to honor the franchise in what we’ve painted in our very unique portrait.”

Does this portrait address the fate of Dr. Loomis?

“It does, yes,” succinctly allowed Green.

Given the trio’s similar background in lighter fare (the previously mentioned series “Eastbound & Down,” McBride’s well known turns in the feature films Tropic Thunder and Pineapple Express, and Fradley with the series “Vice Principals”), the conversation turned towards the similarity of scripted timing in both comedy and horror.

“We have talked about that a lot,” said McBride, “(and) that transition wasn’t that hard to make because I think with comedy you have to be very aware of where the audience is so you can decide what’s going to work next for them and what’s not going to work for them. I think when it came to pacing scares or even just the suspense or tension of a sequence, I think it’s very much engineered the same way. (You have to) have your finger on the pulse of exactly where you’re expecting the audience to be, so you can play with their expectations of where they think it is going to go next.”

With the latest Halloween revolving around three generations of Strode women (matriarch Laurie, daughter Karen and with focus high-school granddaughter Allyson), McBride offered, “I think that came up organically the very first time David and I talked. With the first Halloween, no one had been in a situation with Michael Myers before, so there’s this innocence, so I think by having multiple generations, we were able to cast a teenager who can give us that. (She’s) never seen violence like this so she has been able to have a normal life (and) have friends and not be constantly afraid, so I think it was a way to keep what was cool from the first Halloween, that sort of innocent ‘in’ to the story.”

While freeing themselves from any responsibility to the loose continuity of the previous sequels’ story-lines (from Halloween 4, 5 & 6’s The Curse of Thorn concept to Keri Tate’s dispatch of Myers…er, an EMT in H20/Halloween: Resurrection to Rob Zombie’s 2007 reboot and 2009 sequel), the trio do plan to pay homage to the series as whole.

“Anyone who’s a fan of any of these films will find nice little Easter eggs acknowledging our salute to the filmmakers that have preceded us,” stated Green. “For us (though), it was a ‘clean slate’ type of opportunity, where if there was a little inspiration or mirror image of something, it’s very subtle in the movie because we want to start fresh for a new generation, but with (still a) great appreciation for the previous.”

(Writer’s note: check out mark 2:06 in the film’s trailer for such an example, and you’ll spot trick or treaters sporting Silver Shamrock masks from 1982’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch).

The subject of onscreen violence is broached, in that while Green’s Halloween is intended to serve as a direct sequel in tone and style to Carpenter’s nearly bloodless classic, the slasher subgenre as a whole has historically ramped up the savagery, often is its hallmark, as the years have progressed.

“It’s something we’re really monitoring and playing with in production until we get into post,” communicated Green. “We’ve got Chris Nelson (see our interview with him here), who’s an incredible makeup and effects artist, so right now as were filming we’re keeping in mind first and foremost tension and anxiety, which I think are the greatest elements this film can offer. Even the scene we’re working on today, we’ll do takes where it’s less blood and more blood just to see how it unfolds in the editing process. For me, the original Halloween was my first horror film, and it means a lot to me, just in terms of my enthusiasm for the genre. From a splatter-slasher film to a psychological thriller, I love all those elements, so I’m learning every day and exploring every day, and I’ll know a lot more in a couple of months when I start to put the footage together to see the degree of gore, but we are in certainly very capable artistic hands.”

As for executive producer Carpenter’s guidance, “His advice was brilliant: ‘Make it relentless,’” said Green. “He had notes, which is something I was extremely nervous about. We worked very hard on the script, and we were all very excited. It’s one thing for three movie nerds, me, Danny and Jeff (Fradley), to geek out over the opportunity of maneuvering within this property, (and) another to basically go kiss the ring of the godfather and see how that goes. I was sweating bullets.”

“It’s very similar to how we do the TV show,” opened up Green of their scripting process. “We sit in a room, and luckily we’ve all known each other since college so we don’t get tired when the other person speaks, and we will just outline and discuss and talk about it, and get an outline we like. Then we just divide the outline up. Everybody takes chunks and so by the time the script is finished you have no idea what you wrote (or) what somebody else wrote. It’s all just one cohesive thing.”

Pertaining to their script, and in particular to the character of Myers, “I’d like to know as little about him or his history and abilities as possible,” the director offered. “I think there was a reason he was called The Shape (in the original) because in some ways he’s more of an essence than he is a traditional character. (It’s in) finding that line between natural and supernatural worlds, and (in a) mysterious and un-verbalized (way) as we can. In some ways it’s like a film like Jaws. There’s not a lot of personality in the shark. Technically he’s very elusive, and we’re trying to keep that as our framework and not get too much into who he is (or) why he is (or) what he’s been doing.”

McBride chimed in, “I was pushing for the removal (of the familial mythology set up in Halloween II) right off the bat. I just felt like that was an area where he wasn’t quite as scary anymore. It seemed too personalized. I wasn’t as afraid of Michael Myers anymore, because I’m not his fucking brother so he’s not coming after me. So it just seemed like new territory to bite off. Maybe we’ll look back and say, ‘Oh, it was such a mistake not to make them siblings,’ but I don’t know, it seemed as opposed to just duplicating it, would be cool to see if it gives us something else.”

Michael’s sister or not, within the new narrative Laurie’s been training for a showdown with Myers for some time, and Green was asked, ‘How are you going to refrain from turning her into Sarah Connor?’

Michael Myers and Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) in Halloween: Image Courtesy of Universal Pictures

“Did we?” laughed Green. “Jamie just started (shooting) this week, and we’ve been sculpting the character for months and months with her, and coming up with something that we thought would be fun. We’ll find that physicality as we go. We haven’t filmed the climax yet so we’ll see how badass she gets.”

As for the level of scrutiny by the fan community the project has been under since its initial announcement, Green stated, “You know, I think the most pressure I have is wanting John (Carpenter) to be involved and enthusiastic and (to) see what we’re doing and appreciate what we’re doing, and to support in those collaborative elements. At this point, creatively, for my own protection, I have to acknowledge my collaborators. Everyone on this set is working out of passion for this movie, and that’s interesting, because you don’t often see a passion project as a low-budget horror film. But this particular one is, and we’re really lucky to have the people that we have: intelligent, technical and creative minds all around us. So I’m looking at that as my shell, my place to hide and to create, and the support of these dozens of voices is incredibly gratifying, but also a bit overwhelming. If I was to, at this point in the creative process, to assume the worldwide enthusiasm for this franchise, I’d probably be very uncomfortable with that.”

Universal Pictures will release Halloween worldwide on October 19, 2018.