Depending on who one asks, John Carpenter's classic 1978 chiller Halloween is the grandfather of the entire slasher sub-genre of horror films. While films like Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Black Christmas did indeed come first, Halloween solidified most of the popular tropes that would come to define the slasher formula that would carry Hollywood horror through most of the 80s and early '90s. Halloween also created one of the most enduring boogeymen of all-time in the form of Michael Myers, otherwise known simply as The Shape.
Of course, Halloween's journey as an overall franchise has been anything but smooth. 1981's Halloween II - while a step down from its legendary progenitor - is generally regarded as an entertaining sequel. Seeking to be done with Myers after that, creator/producer Carpenter tried his hand at turning Halloween into an anthology brand with the absolutely bonkers Halloween III: Season of the Witch. When audiences soundly rejected that film, Myers returned for Halloweens 4, 5, and 6, which jettisoned Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode from the narrative.
Seeking to rebuild things after the generally disliked part 6, 1998 saw Curtis return for Halloween H20, which ignored every sequel after Halloween II. Curtis' Laurie died for real in 2002's Halloween: Resurrection, before the entire franchise was rebooted by Rob Zombie's 2007 remake of Carpenter's original, which itself then received its own sequel. With the the duo of David Gordon Green and Danny McBride now handling scripting duties on a new Halloween installment, many fans are naturally wondering where their story will fit into the franchise's established timeline(s). During a recent interview with Cinema Blend, McBride offered an answer to that question.
"You know, it's not a remake. It's actually, it's gonna continue the story of Michael Myers in a really grounded way. And for our mythology, we're focusing mainly in the first two movies and what that sets up and then where the story can go from there."
Considering that Michael Myers' origin story has been told two times now, it's likely a good move for McBride and Green to opt out of once again performing a total reboot on Halloween, as fans don't really need to see kid Myers kill his sister for a third time. Similarly to a superhero like Spider-Man or Batman, audiences know who Michael Myers is, and anyone coming into a new Halloween film would likely much rather see him get right to work stalking and slashing instead of silently brooding in Smith's Grove with Dr. Loomis.
That said, it'll be interesting to see how Green and McBride - especially since they're being creatively overseen by Carpenter - decide to try and pick up the story presented in the first two Halloweens. After all, those films came out multiple decades ago, so any returning characters would almost certainly need to be recast, unless the idea is to have senior citizen Laurie Strode do battle with her murderous brother. Dr. Loomis would of course definitely have to be recast, as original portrayer Donald Pleasance passed away prior to the 1995 release of Halloween 6. Still, there are definitely worse ideas for Halloween than trying to get thing back to basics.
Source: Cinema Blend