The return of John Carpenter’s iconic Halloween series to the multiplex is one we’ve been following for a good while. We wrote about returning star Jamie Lee Curtis wrapping her shooting time in February after a surprisingly quick two weeks, wondering aloud what this might mean for her character. However, it turns out that the entire film was a pretty quick shoot, so perhaps that was just par for the course. Post-production also seems to be booked to move swiftly, as we just got confirmation on the release date from none other than Michael Myers himself. The still unnamed (probably just called Halloween) film will officially arrive in theaters on Oct. 19.
That information comes from actor Nick Castle, who played “The Shape,” Michael Myers in the 1978 original from John Carpenter that established the modern slasher film in American cinema. For the sake of posterity, Castle has returned to the franchise to play Myers once again in this installment, and he posted the following yesterday:
This new film has been described as not a reboot but a direct sequel to the original Halloween, which will ignore the continuity of every single film since 1978—even the first sequel, Halloween 2, which took place on the same evening and also starred Jamie Lee Curtis. One wonders if this has erased certain important plot elements revealed in Halloween 2, most notably the fact that Myers and Curtis’ Laurie Strode character are in fact brother and sister.
Halloween is directed by David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express, Stronger), from a script written by Green and Danny McBride. We can’t help but wonder what kind of influence a pair of comedic minds might have on the DNA of Halloween, but Carpenter has apparently read the script and signed off on it, for whatever that’s worth—not much, considering that he also likely approved of 2002’s Halloween: Resurrection.
Let’s all hope that one of the most iconic franchises in all of horror cinema can effectively get back to its roots this October. At the very least, it will be a fun novelty to see a legitimate Halloween sequel in the theater, an incredible 40 years after the original terrified audiences.