Halloween Kills producer Ryan Freimann says he fought against Halloween 2018's Dr. Sartain twist but was outvoted. David Gordon Green and Danny McBride rebooted the Halloween franchise in 2018 and audiences certainly embraced their take on the classic horror property as the film grossed $255 million at the box office. Two sequels are now coming out, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends, with Halloween Kills set to release on Peacock at the same time it comes out in theaters.
In addition to bringing back classic horror movie villain Michael Myers, the 2018 Halloween and its sequels also see the return of Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode. There is even a role on the productions for original Halloween director John Carpenter, who composed the reboot’s score. Not returning though was Donald Pleasance’s long-time Halloween series character Dr. Loomis, as Pleasance passed away in 1995. But the production navigated around its Loomis problem by introducing a new doctor character in Haluk Bilginer’s Sartain, Michael Myers’ second psychiatrist. Not content to merely use Sartain the way Loomis was used however, Halloween 2018 introduced a bizarre twist where Sartain was actually responsible for Myers' escape and began working alongside the rampaging killer in order to study his motivations. Myers unfortunately didn't appreciate Sartain's efforts and stomped him to death.
Halloween 2018’s unexpected Sartain villain turn felt to many like a gratuitous and unnecessary plot twist that added nothing to the finished film. It turns out Halloween reboot series producer Freimann was on the side of those who didn’t like the twist, but as he revealed in a new interview with CBR, his fight to remove the twist from the movie ultimately came up empty. When asked about possible adjustments made to the new Halloween trilogy storyline due to changes in the films’ production schedule, Freimann said:
At first, it was a thought of an economy of filmmaking where we could shoot both at the same time but, remember, that decision was made pre-COVID. We had monkey wrenches thrown at us left and right. Our goal is to still continue with the storyline but, as we've seen -- I'm going to go on record and say I was never a fan of the Sartain twist from 2018, fought that one tooth and nail but sometimes you get outvoted -- but fans react to certain things then it causes us to pivot certain storylines certain ways.
Indeed it seemed the Sartain twist in Halloween 2018 was included simply to throw the audience off track. In the prior films Loomis was always trying to stop Myers, so fans might have expected Sartain to serve the same purpose in the reboot. By having him not serve that purpose, Green, McBride, Jason Blum and company were seemingly trying to subvert expectations, as filmmakers often do when rebooting properties. Of course such subversions are often more infuriating than fun. In the case of Sartain’s heel turn, the subversion arguably was just pointless.
It remains to be seen what other twists and surprises are coming up in the Halloween sequels Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends. Thus far it’s been revealed that Michael Myers survived the end of Halloween, which is no surprise of course, and that in Kills he will continue to terrorize the citizens of Haddonfield. Presumably Sartain won’t be back in the new movie as he had his head stomped to mash by Myers in the 2018 film. Then again, no one saw the twist of Sartain secretly being on Myers’ side coming, so anything seems possible. Though it seems if Freimann got his way there will be fewer such crazy and inexplicable plot twists in Halloween Kills.
Source: CBR
