“How do you continue what makes Halloween interesting, and not be repetitive?”
That's the question David Gordon Green, director of 2018's Halloween, had to contend with while making his sequel, Halloween Kills. There have been over ten Halloween movies, and while the recent version retconned everything that came before except the original, finding fresh ground to take the series was a challenge.
Luckily, though, the eclectic filmmaker came up with an answer: get a whole lot angrier. “If the first film was somewhat retelling the origin of Myers and getting us up to speed with where Laurie had been all those years, then part two is about the outrage of Haddonfield,” Green tells our sister publication Total Film over the phone from South Carolina. “Mob Rules was our working title for the film. It’s about a community that is united by outrage, and divided in how to deal with evil.”
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As a result, Halloween Kills will dial down the humour of the 2018 movie and bring back some characters from the 1978 original. Yet, it's not only this sequel that will be different to what came before: Halloween Ends – the final part in Green's Halloween trilogy – takes a step in another direction.
“It’s a very different movie than Kills, and both Halloweens," he says. "The script feels very fun. For me, it was essential to say, ‘Here’s a conclusive episode to my trilogy.’ I’m trying to bring closure to my ‘Laurie Strode versus Michael Myers’ storytelling.”
Read the full story in the new issue of Total Film – is available on shelves both real and digital now. Bill & Ted Face the Music adorns the cover, and the TF team spoke to Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Samara Weaving, Brigette Lundy-Paine, and more about the film. Halloween Kills reaches cinemas October 2021.
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