Much like U2’s smash 90s hit told you to, I want you to hold me, thrill me, kiss me, and Halloween Kills me! How was that? You kids get that? The song was featured in the Batman Forever soundtrack and I just wanted to go back in time a bit since it appears that the follow-up to last year’s continuity-breaking sequel is doubling-down on their Halloween II vibes by revisiting the main setting of that particular film: Haddonfield Memorial Hospital.
While speculated and/or teased a while ago, confirmation was snagged over the weekend via a post on Twitter from horror superfan Jordana, who also has some other behind-the-scenes videos posted, for those curious. While there isn’t any context for the location, it’s obviously going to be used for something other than a quick establishing shot. The building itself doesn’t look much different than what we saw in 1981, and it even appears worn enough to actually be that old.
Well look what it is. As if anybody needed any further confirmation. #HalloweenKills Thanks @loneamorphous pic.twitter.com/cxFFVRh2TJ
— Jord 🎃 (@iluvhorror) October 5, 2019
While Halloween’18 wasn’t overtly reliant on nostalgia, there were still pangs here and there, mostly in the score. With Halloween Kills, though, it looks like we’re diving head-first into full-blown Halloween II territory. We’ve already got Nurse Chambers coming back, the return of Tommy Doyle (who is extremely unfortunately NOT Paul Rudd), and now I’m just holding out for a Budd-like character, and that Laurie actually has something to do in this movie aside from sitting sedate in a hospital bed with a bad wig on.
I actually really like Halloween II. Rick Rosenthal, who would later come back and destroy the original run of the Hallo-films with Halloween: Resurrection (“Trick or treat, motherf**ker!”), did a great job aping Carpenter’s DIY-style filmmaking from the original. I love the mask, too, as it’s all beat up and worn, as it should be after a night of murdering people and being shot. I do also enjoy that it’s an immediate-sequel, starting as soon as the first film ended.
Will Halloween Kills fall into a similar vein? We won’t find out until next year.