David Gordon Green’s Halloween ignores all movies that came after John Carpenter’s 1978 film, but it added an Easter egg referencing the one Halloween movie that doesn’t star Michael Myers: Halloween III: Season of The Witch. The slasher genre wouldn’t be what it is today without Carpenter’s Halloween, released in 1978 and starring Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode and Nick Castle as serial killer Michael Myers. Although it wasn’t well-received upon its release, Halloween is now regarded as one of the best horror movies ever, and one that was key in developing and popularizing the slasher genre in the 1980s.
Halloween spawned a franchise of 10 movies and counting, including the remakes by Rob Zombie, and the timeline has been retconned a couple of times. The franchise also has the particularity of having one standalone movie – Halloween III: Season of the Witch – which has been referenced in other movies. The Halloween timeline went through another retcon in 2018 with David Gordon Green’s movie simply titled Halloween, which is a direct sequel to the original movie, yet it didn’t forget about Halloween III and a certain company that makes spooky masks.
Halloween III introduced Silver Shamrock Novelties. a company that produced very popular latex jack-o-lantern, witch, and skeleton masks for Halloween. The twist here was that all masks had a microchip on the back that when activated through a flashing signal during a TV commercial, would kill the wearer as part of a Celtic ritual. Halloween III has built a cult following years after its release, and while it holds no connection to the rest of the franchise, some of its elements and characters have been referenced in other Halloween movies. The sixth entry in the franchise, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, introduced a character named Minnie Blankenship, a name mentioned in Halloween III, but a more direct reference to the movie and Silver Shamrock was made in Halloween 2018, and it’s one very easy to spot, even though it happens fast.
During the trick-or-treat scenes, where Laurie is going after Michael, various kids can be seen in different costumes, but there are three in particular wearing masks that will ring a bell for Halloween fans. The kids are wearing skeleton, witch, and jack-o-lantern masks, exactly like the ones Silver Shamrock made in Halloween III. The kids appear briefly (though can still be easily spotted) during the scene where Laurie finds Michael looking through the window on the second floor of a house. This scene was also included in the Halloween trailer, and as the movie is a direct sequel to the original and thus has no connection to Halloween III, those kids were never in danger for wearing the masks, and it was just a fun Easter egg for fans.
Although viewers were initially frustrated that Halloween III had no connection to Michael Myers and Laurie Strode, the movie has now found its own audience, and Silver Shamrock and more have been referenced both in the Halloween franchise and other movies and TV shows. The masks making a quick appearance in Halloween 2018 was a fun way to pay homage to the movie without being linked to it, and it remains to be seen if the sequels will have more references to Halloween III and Silver Shamrock.