Halloween is at a crossroads. For 45 years, Michael Myers has been slashing up the big screen and racking up an impressive body count—but that’s potentially all about to change. With the news that Miramax won bidding rights for a TV series, as well as a proposed “cinematic universe” across both TV and film, it got me thinking about how Michael never really dies—he just changes shape. And what shape he’ll take next is anyone’s guess. No matter where you fall on David Gordon Green’s reboot trilogy, the prospect of a fresh new perspective on the Michael Myers lore is nothing short of thrilling.
What began as a meager indie film made on a $100,000 budget has since morphed into the most lucrative franchise in horror. John Carpenter’s Halloween not only fathered the slasher genre but accomplished the unlikely feat of taking it mainstream (every other holiday has since become a horror film, too, from April Fool’s Day to New Year’s Evil). Released on October 25, 1978, Halloween went on to gross $70 million worldwide. A sequel was inevitable, with Halloween II following three years later wherein Carpenter, ready to retire Michael Myers, wrote what should have been a conclusive, explosive ending. Michael Myers burned up in a fire in that film’s climax—but the studio wasn’t about to let its cash cow die that easily.
With the intention of turning Halloween into an anthology series, Carpenter and his co-conspirator Debra Hill set to work on the second sequel. Released in 1982, Halloween III: Season of the Witch swapped the typical slasher fare for a witchy sci-fi/horror picture: Conal Cochran (Dan O'Herlihy), the proprietor of a massive toy conglomerate, cooks up a plot to kill the country’s children through Halloween masks. A commercial for the company, featuring the iconic “Happy, happy Halloween” jingle, entices children to put on their masks promptly at 9 p.m. on Halloween night for a big giveaway. We never see the outcome, only Dr. Challis’ (Tom Atkins) screams ringing in your eardrums. An earlier scene tips off the viewer about what could happen: the masks will melt the kids’ heads with snakes and bugs emerging from the smoke. Gruesome!
Despite it taking bold artistic swings, Halloween III was panned by critics and fans alike. Roger Ebert gave it one and a half stars and dubbed it “a low-rent thriller from the first frame,” later adding that its many components were “assembled out of familiar parts from other, better movies.” Vincent Canby was just as scathing, saying it was “anti-children, anti-capitalism, anti-television and anti-Irish all at the same time” in his New York Times review. No one was quite ready for an anthology film series—despite the first Creepshow film having arrived the same year and grossing $21 million—but for decades Michael Myers was nowhere to be seen, and that bothered people.
As a franchise, Halloween has painted by the numbers, rarely going outside the lines. With the exception of Halloween III, the series is known for delivering grisly kills and little else.
Nearly half a century later, the landscape looks wildly different: American Horror Story, The Haunting, Black Mirror, Creepshow, V/H/S, and countless other tales of the dark and twisted have helped bring horror to the forefront of TV. Could it be time for Michael Myers to once again take the backseat and let someone else drive for a while? It’s been too long, and there have been far too many unnecessary sequels (including 10- and 20-year anniversary installments in 1988 and 1998, as well as Rob Zombie’s reboot in the late-’00s) that have made bank at the box office. The general public loves seeing Michael Myers kill people—he is halloween.
As a franchise, Halloween has painted by the numbers, rarely going outside the lines. With the exception of Halloween III, the series is known for delivering grisly kills and little else. You could argue that 2002’s Halloween: Resurrection attempted to try something new, tapping into the zeitgeist for a live-streamed event. In the wake of 1999’s The Blair Witch Project, the franchise needed to do something different if it wanted to stay relevant. And it failed miserably. To make matters worse, the film hasn’t aged all that well either. It’s not even worthy of becoming a cult classic. It’s just boring.
Halloween Ends fits into that same category. No one could have anticipated the swerve David Gordon Green made with what was touted as the final confrontation between Laurie and Michael. Originally, it was conceived to take place on the same night as the previous two entries, but due to the pandemic, Green rewrote the script with a drastically different ending. Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) takes centerstage as a down-on-his-luck ruffian accused of murdering a kid. It was an accident, but the town turns him into a pariah, and he’s pushed over the edge. After a brief encounter with Michael down in the sewers, he starts his own murderous rampage. Michael doesn’t show up in his true form until the very end. People hated it (it currently holds a 2.1 score on Letterboxd). They just wanted Michael.
With Miramax taking the reins (they also previously distributed Resurrection and 1998’s Halloween H20: 20 Years Later), Halloween is due for a good old-fashioned shakeup. The possibility of an anthology TV series is of great interest. Perhaps we have disturbing tales that all take place within the Myers universe, and we call them Tales of Halloween. Remember in the original Halloween when the cemetery caretaker regales a story about a man named Charlie Bowles who grabbed a hacksaw and kissed his wife and two kids goodbye? There’s a goldmine of potential!
Regarding theatrical releases, Michael Myers will show up again—the numbers talk. But a reboot starting from scratch, disconnected from the original Halloween, just might be the ticket. Squeeze some big names into the cast, tell a spooky campfire story, and let Michael stalk his victims. Make it small and intimate, and give it the look and feel of an indie feature. If Green got one thing right with Halloween Kills, it was the flashback scenes. Let this new iteration stand on its own without so much baggage. It could work.
A reboot starting from scratch, disconnected from the original Halloween, just might be the ticket. Squeeze some big names into the cast, tell a spooky campfire story, and let Michael stalk his victims.
A few years ago, screenwriters Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski (the writing team behind The Night House and the 2022 Hellraiser) recalled their 2012 pitch, and it’s a doozy. In an interview with Blood Disgusting, they revealed their intention of turning Michael Myers into a sort of mythical figure. “So the urban legend of The Shape is that every Halloween for the past several years, there’s been at least one horrific murder somewhere in the United States,” said Piotrowski. “People think there’s a connection, and it might all be the work of the same killer who they’ve taken to calling ‘The Boogeyman’ or ‘The Shape.’”
Collins added: “The whole pitch was … it takes place on Halloween, and it’s any small Midwestern town, but the thing in terms of the Michael Myers stuff that I was always really proud of is thinking of him as Chigurh from ‘No Country For Old Men’.”
It’s a genius concept that brings the franchise back to its roots, and it’s what made John Carpenter’s original Halloween so special in the first place. It’s a high-stakes gamble, but it’s these kinds of creative risks the franchise needs. Make something that resembles the 1970s in style and tone, and give the characters rich, complex inner lives with which we can identify. Let The Shape loose on another American suburb, and let’s see what happens.
There is still plenty of life in Halloween yet. FL
