Halloween (2018) co-writer Danny McBride says the horror reboot, to be directed by David Gordon Green, will eschew extreme gore and instead try to recapture the tension and dread of the John Carpenter original. Carpenter has given his official stamp of approval to Green and McBride's Halloween, and will even compose the movie's original score.
Planned as a direct continuation of the first Halloween film, all subsequent sequels/reboots being thrown out the window in this particular continuity, Halloween (2018) sees the return of Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, the babysitter menaced by masked killer Michael Myers in the original. It was revealed in Halloween 2 that Laurie was actually the sister of Michael Myers, which perhaps explained his eagerness to destroy her. However, because that movie is being ignored by the new continuity, it's possible that the new film will also jettison the Laurie-Michael family connection.
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In an interview with the Charleston City Paper (via Bloody Disgusting), Halloween (2018) co-writer Danny McBride further discussed his and David Gordon Green's plans for bringing the hallowed horror franchise back to life. As McBride explains, the idea is to stay away from the extreme gore that often pervades modern-day horror movies and get back to the menacing tone that John Carpenter established for the original film:
“The original is all about tension. Laurie Strode doesn’t even know that Michael Myers exists until the last minutes of the movie. So much of it you’re in anticipation of what’s going to happen and the dread that Carpenter spins so effortlessly in that film… I think we were really trying to get it back to that. We’re trying to mine that dread. Mine that tension and not just go for gore and ultra-violence that you see some horror movies lean on. To us, it was all about bringing back the creep factor and trying to find the horror in your own backyard, in our own homes.”
McBride previously discussed the nature of Michael Myers as conceived by him and David Gordon Green, explaining that their version of the killer will not be an unstoppable supernatural killing machine as in certain other Halloween entries. McBride now mentions that their version will be eschewing gore, which sounds like something of a shot at Rob Zombie, whose two Halloween movies were seen as being far too gory by many fans of the original films. John Carpenter also objected to Zombie's version of Michael Myers, saying he thought Zombie gave Myers too much backstory, and ruined the character's mystique.
By all indications, McBride and Green's Halloween will be a movie for old-school horror fans, the type who like slow-building suspense and tension over spilled blood and splattered viscera. Overall, McBride and Green seem intent on undoing all the mistakes of all the filmmakers not named John Carpenter who ever tackled Halloween, which is the greatest tribute they could ever pay the legendary director.
MORE: Halloween (2018) Start of Filming Pushed Back
Source: Charleston City Paper (via Bloody Disgusting)
