Death has come back to your little town, sheriff.
“All of us felt the next Halloween movie shouldn’t exist without John Carpenter. We were saying, when we were first talking about it, we’ve gotta do this with the guy who started it all.” – Jason Blum (Blumhouse)
At the end of 2015, horror fans learned that Dimension Films, a division of The Weinstein Company had lost the rights to Halloween, and the future of the franchise seemed unclear. We haven’t seen a Halloween film since 2009’s Halloween II, Rob Zombie’s controversial reinterpretation of the classic slasher. There’s been a lot of talk and empty promises about possible reboot attempts, but nothing has ever materialized.
Finally, however, recent news has given horror fans hope for the future of the franchise.
Master of Horror John Carpenter is making his return to the franchise as Executive Producer of the newest Halloween. The anticipated 2017 release will be the 11th film in the franchise. According to Bloody-Disgusting, it will be a production between Blumhouse, Miramax and Trancas International Films. Blumhouse founder and CEO Jason Blum (the mastermind behind Paranormal Activity, Insidious, Sinister, and The Purge, just to name a few) and Trancas’ Malek Akkad (Producer of Halloween 6, 7, 8 and the Rob Zombie remakes) will co-produce the film.
Additionally, news has just surfaced that Mike Flanagan (known for Absentia, Oculus, and most recently the brilliant Hush) is in talks to write and direct the newest installment in the iconic franchise.
“38 years after the original Halloween, I’m going to help to try to make the 10th sequel the scariest of them all.” – John Carpenter
According to Dread Central, Carpenter seemed to disparage the Zombie films when announcing his return to the franchise, stating:
“So… I decided, after bitching for years and years about Halloween sequels, I would come aboard and shepherd this thing. I’ll help, support the director, and since I’m here with Malek Akkad, and the horror superstar Jason Blum, what could go wrong? So, we’re going to give it a try.”
When asked if this film will be a sequel, remake or prequel John’s answer was:
“We can’t tell you yet… because we don’t know. You know what? We’re probably going to go back to the original tradition that we started. It’s kind of gone astray. I feel like the remakes maybe went off somewhere that I didn’t want them to go.”
It sounds like that’s a pretty clear indication that the new Halloween will most likely return to the original timeline and bypass the timeline started by Rob Zombie. It’s a definite return to Michael Myers’ roots, something that will have many horror fans rejoicing.
What Carpenter said next really made the creepy horror geek in me smirk:
“Michael Myers is not a character. He is a force of nature. He is not a person. He’s part supernatural, part human. He’s like the wind, an evil wind. If you start straying away from that, and you get into explaining, then you’ve lost. So hopefully we can guide it back in the original direction.”
It’s nearly confirmed the newest installment will be a sequel to Carpenter’s original film. As Jason Blum teased, “I think we want to take it back to basics and not get into too much backstory.” Akkad then went very far to confirm the new film’s return to the original 1978 timeline. “The biggest challenge is to be true to the original spirit of the movie,” said Akkad. “Don’t get carried away. Tell a simple story. Tell it right. The original Halloween was made for very little money and it was a little, scary tale. That’s what we should be doing.”
Malek Akkad, who followed his father Moustapha Akkad’s legacy of working on Halloween films, went on to say:
“Trancas International is thrilled to be teaming up with Miramax on Halloween, one of the most enduring horror franchises in film. We are also very excited to be working with Jason Blum and the whole team at Blumhouse. Together, along with the return of legendary filmmaker John Carpenter, we are eager to make a film that will be a milestone in the franchise’s legacy and that will excite the fans, young and old.”
As of right now, a solid release date has not been confirmed. But, for many, this is the most exciting genre news in a very long time.
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