Halloween (2018 film)

Halloween
File:Halloween (2018) poster.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	David Gordon Green
Produced by	Malek Akkad Jason Blum Bill Block
Written by	Jeff Fradley Danny McBride David Gordon Green
Based on	Characters by John Carpenter Debra Hill
Starring	Jamie Lee Curtis Judy Greer Andi Matichak Will Patton Virginia Gardner
Music by	John Carpenter Cody Carpenter Daniel Davies
Cinematography	Michael Simmonds
Edited by	Tim Alverson
Production companies	Trancas International Films Miramax Blumhouse Productions Rough House Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	September 8, 2018 (2018-09-08) (TIFF) October 19, 2018 (2018-10-19) (United States)
Running time	109 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$10 million

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 franchise, and is a direct sequel to the 1978 film of the same name, while retconning the continuity of the previous sequels. Set forty years after the original film, Laurie Strode comes face-to-face with Michael Myers for one final showdown on Halloween night. Jamie Lee Curtis and Nick Castle reprise their roles as Strode and Myers, respectively, with stuntman James Jude Courtney also portraying Myers. The film also stars Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, and Virginia Gardner.

After failing to develop a new Halloween film in time, Dimension Films lost the production rights, which were later obtained by Blumhouse Productions, with John Carpenter's involvement. Carpenter, co-creator of the original Halloween, serves as a composer, executive producer and creative consultant for the film.

Principal photography commenced on January 13, 2018, in South Carolina and concluded on February 19, 2018. The film will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, and is set for release on October 19, 2018, a week before the 40th anniversary of John Carpenter's original Halloween.

Plot

The film picks up 40 years after the events of the 1978 original, where Laurie Strode comes face-to-face with Michael Myers for one final confrontation.

Cast

• Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, Karen's mother, Allyson's grandmother and the film's main protagonist.
• Judy Greer as Karen Strode, Laurie's daughter and Allyson's mother.
• Andi Matichak as Allyson Strode, Karen's daughter and Laurie's granddaughter.
• Will Patton as Hawkins, a police officer who teams up with Laurie.
• Virginia Gardner as Vicky, Allyson's best friend.
• Nick Castle and James Jude Courtney as Michael Myers / The Shape, the film's main antagonist.
• Toby Huss as Ray, Karen's husband and Allyson's father.
• Miles Robbins as Dave, Allyson's boyfriend.
• Dylan Arnold as Cameron, Allyson's friend.
• Drew Scheid as Oscar, Allyson's friend.
• Jefferson Hall as Martin, a documentary filmmaker and Dana’s partner.
• Rhian Rees as Dana Haines, a documentary filmmaker and Martin’s partner.
• Omar J. Dorsey as Sheriff Barker
• Rob Niter as Deputy Sheriff Walker
• Jibrail Nantambu as Julian, a little boy Vicky babysits on Halloween night.
• Haluk Bilginer as Sartain

Production

Development

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Producer Jason Blum

In 2011, it was announced that a sequel to 2009's Halloween II, titled Halloween 3D, would be released on October 26, 2012. At the time of the announcement, there was no director or writer attached to the project. Originally, Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer were labeled as writers but dropped out due to their occupancy on the Hellraiser reboot. The film would pick up where the final frame of its predecessor left off, and would pay homage to the original version of Michael Myers from the 1978 film. It was dropped from its release schedule of October 26, 2012, as no progress had been made.

In February 2015, it was reported that Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan would be writing a new Halloween film, described as a "recalibration" rather than a reboot, along with Malek Akkad and Matt Stein producing. On June 15, 2015, it was further reported that The Weinstein Company was 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, "Although, I have to say, and this is somewhat new news, but unfortunately things happen in Hollywood where you have issues with studios and different variables. We've had to take a step back and now we're trying to re-figure this beast that is the new Halloween. So there is a bit of a delay, but this new Halloween isn't going to be quite what has been announced and what people are expecting, so we're making some changes there as well." 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.

On May 24, 2016, it was announced that Blumhouse Productions and Miramax were co-financing a new film. 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

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Director and co-writer David Gordon Green

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 Halloween III: Season of the Witch 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.'" David Gordon Green and Danny McBride were publicised on February 9, 2017 to handle 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 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 to begin with. The story was eventually fleshed out so that all of the sequels were ignored from 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 films, 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 large 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."

Casting

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Jamie Lee Curtis reprises her role as Laurie Strode.

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 ever returned. Although Halloween II and its latter 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 trailer for the film, Strode's granddaughter, played by Andi Matichak, 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, Matichak's character 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 [their] 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 (1981), Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, and Halloween: Resurrection.

The following October, Judy Greer entered negotiations to play Laurie's daughter Karen Strode. Danielle Harris, who played Laurie's daughter 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 planned to go with a different daughter character, to Harris' 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 7, 2017, Andi Matichak was cast to play Laurie's granddaughter Allyson.

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Nick Castle reprises his role as Michael Myers for the first time in forty years.

On December 20, 2017, it was announced that Nick Castle, who portrayed Michael Myers in the original film, would be reprising 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' mannerisms, an amalgamation of Castle's original performance and the addition of an efficient cat-eque 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", with Castle describing it as a "passing of the torch". He used John Carpenter and Castle's work on the original film to determine how the forty years that transpired between the events of the films would inform the character over time.

On January 13, 2018, Virginia Gardner, Miles Robbins, Dylan Arnold and Drew Scheid were confirmed to play Allyson's friends, respectively. 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 (new film) 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.

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 2018. 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, where they will adjust the end scene. Filming will take place again in Charleston.

Courtney did 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 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 (in the new film) 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 [Carpenter] 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 simply 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' 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 will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2018, as part of the festival's Midnight Madness section. The film is scheduled to be released theatrically on October 19, 2018. An independent documentary titled The Shape Lives: 40 Years of Halloween was announced April 4, 2018, which will cover the making of Halloween, its impact, and the many sequels. It will be released on YouTube on October 10, 2018, nine days before the release of Halloween (2018).

Marketing

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, which featured 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, "[Laurie's] 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 [for the chance]."

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' mask to adapt it for mass market sale.

Future films

In October 2017, Carpenter said that the film would be the final installment of the series. However, in June 2018, McBride confirmed that he and Green originally had intended to pitch two films that would be shot back-to-back, after deciding against it and 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 [with] this branch of the story and hopefully we get a chance to do it."

See also

• List of retroactive continuities
• List of horror films of 2018

External links

• Official website
• Halloween at IMDb