The horror community received exciting news yesterday from master of horror, John Carpenter. Taking to social media, the man who first brought us the 1978 classic Halloween has announced not one, but two Halloween sequels to last year’s Blumhouse-produced franchise installment.
Scheduled to film back to back, Halloween Kills will release in October of 2020 while Halloween Ends, judging by the title’s implication, will conclude the saga in October of 2021.
With last year’s expectations of Halloween 2018 set so high, the film was met with some mixed critic and audience responses. Taking place 40 years after the original 1978 Halloween and ignoring all other sequels and remakes, the highly anticipated horror release had the blessing of Carpenter as the original creator consulted on the project. With Jamie Lee Curtis and Nick Castle reprising their respective roles of Laurie Strode and Michael Myers four decades later, nostalgia was strong as the boogieman was once again unleashed on Haddonfield.
Considering how the latest Halloween film to grace the big screen ended, fans were left debating whether or not we would be treated to a second Blumhouse installment. Of course, anyone the least bit familiar with the horror genre knows nothing stays dead for long. Little is known about the two upcoming franchise additions.
In addition to Carpenter’s announcement, founder and creator of Blumhouse, Jason Blum, also confirmed plans of Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends tweeting “the gang is ALL back” meaning Danny McBride, David Gordon Green, John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis. The latter mentioned scream queen reconfirmed reprising the role of Laurie Strode tweeting “’It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.’ Well, my friends and fans …. I’m just WARMING UP.”
With the former scriptwriter and director returning joined by Carpenter and Curtis, it may be a safe assumption that Judy Greer will reprise her role as Karen and Andi Matichak will return as Allyson. That being said, it will be interesting to see if we get more of the same or if this cast and crew have some unexpected surprises up their sleeve. One thing is certain: if the Halloween creators plan to build the level of hype accomplished for last year’s release, this latest news update will be but one of many to come.
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