Not all horror films need some supernatural or paranormal element to them. In fact, some of the genre’s best efforts have been the most simple ones, with a grounded threat that feels real and believable. For many, that’s the scariest thing and it’s what made some of the classics from the 70s and 80s into the iconic films that they are today. Sometimes, all you really need is a psycho with a blade just killing people for no apparent reason.
No one knows that better than John Carpenter, who struck gold with Halloween, one of the greatest horror movies of all-time. It needs no introduction at this point, and as fans will know, Danny McBride and David Gordon Green are getting ready to put their own spin on the classic. But just how involved will Carpenter be? Will the legendary filmmaker have much input on the project, or are McBride and Green free to do pretty much whatever they want with the iconic horror property?
Thankfully, it seems like it’s the former. Yes, you can rest easy folks, as John Carpenter apparently has quite a bit of creative input on Halloween, as producer Jason Blum recently told Coming Soon the following:
“We don’t take any big steps without his approval, so, for instance, hiring David and Danny he approved. He approved their pitch, he approved their first script. He approved bringing back Jamie Lee Curtis. So anytime we make a big creative turn he’s involved with that and we don’t do it without his blessing.”
Blum’s comments here should come as a relief to many fans. After all, while the original Halloween and its sequel are great flicks, the various entries into the franchise since then have been of varying quality, with more than a few being utter garbage. As such, it’s nice to learn that Carpenter will be heavily involved in this new effort.
Not only that, but McBride has already spoken in the past about how their plan is to go back to basics here, which is certainly the right move. In a recent interview, he revealed the following:
“Look at where the Halloween franchise has gone. There’s a lot of room for improvement. David and I are coming from it as, we are horror fans, and we are humongous fans of John Carpenter and of what he did with the original Halloween, so I think from watching this and being disappointed by other versions of this series, I think we’re just trying to strip it down and just take it back to what was so good about the original. It was just very simple and just achieved that level of horror that wasn’t corny and it wasn’t turning Michael Myers into some supernatural being that couldn’t be killed. That stuff to me isn’t scary. I want to be scared by something that I really think could happen.”
All things considered, we’d say that there’s definitely reason to be optimistic for the next Halloween, which slices its way into theatres on October 19th, 2018.