For Halloween Ends star Andi Matichak, filming the latest installment of the classic slasher franchise was terrifying. Matichek plays Allyson, the granddaughter of Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode, who fans know is the only Michael Myers victim to survive the killing spree he began in the original Halloween. Released in 1978, Halloween left a distinctive mark on the horror genre and jump-started the popularization of slasher films in the 1980s. It spawned seven sequels before the franchise was rebooted by Rob Zombie in 2007 and again in 2018 by David Gordon Green. Green’s reboot was praised by fans and critics alike, and Halloween Ends marks the third and final film in his planned trilogy.
When Matichak’s Allyson is introduced in Halloween, Laurie is a paranoid, alcoholic shut-in who has a strained relationship with her daughter and granddaughter due to the trauma of running from Michael Myers for most of her life. Her paranoia is quickly justified after Michael escapes from prison to continue his bloody rampage, looking to finish what he started by coming for Laurie and her family. Between Halloween and Halloween Kills, Allyson witnesses the murders of nearly all of her friends, is kidnapped by Michael’s psychiatrist, and narrowly escapes with her life as her mother and boyfriend are murdered at the end of Kills. As of now, Michael is still at large, and Halloween Ends is expected to pick up where Kills left off.
In a recent conversation with KTLA, Matichak says filming Halloween Ends was “incredibly traumatizing.” Green opted to create the violence in his Halloween films using primarily practical effects instead of digital or CGI, which heightened the sense of realism on set. Few details surrounding the film’s plot have been revealed, as there are still three months before it hits theaters on October 14. Read Matichak’s full comment below:
“Personally, I absolutely love [the movie]. It’s really David Gordon Green’s stamp on the franchise, and I’m very grateful to be included in it. I think that we have such incredible filmmakers involved in it that everything is done really well. The practical effects are pretty incredible that Chris Nelson does and seeing that is always incredibly traumatizing.”
Halloween Ends has some ground to make up following the lackluster reception of its predecessor. What made Halloween a successful reboot was its believable continuation of Laurie Strode’s story and the way it made another showdown between her and Michael feel necessary. By contrast, its sequel felt almost entirely the opposite. Kills instead resorted to turning up the blood and guts to cover up the fact that it didn’t have much of a story to tell. The latest installment would benefit significantly from sharpening its storyline along the lines of the first movie.
That said, it isn’t entirely fair to hold this reboot franchise to the standard of the Halloween of 1978. The slasher genre was still being explored and developed then, which meant there was far more room to innovate and surprise. Since then, other wildly successful series like Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream have thrown their hats into the mix and stretched the genre in unique directions. Halloween effectively laid the groundwork and remained a reference point for these films and many others with its relatively simple formula. Green managed to honor that with his initial reboot; hopefully, it’s within his grasp to do the same with Halloween Ends.
Source: KTLA