David Gordon Green's upcoming Halloween film will aim to rewrite the mythology of the franchise by ignoring all the sequels and remakes, and according to Jamie Lee Curtis, that was the only way to go, as the sequels didn’t make much sense. It’s been forty years since Laurie Strode’s (Curtis) first encounter with slasher Michael Myers - and twenty since their first reunion in Halloween H20 - but a lot happened in the franchise between those two stories.
Without counting Rob Zombie’s remakes of Halloween and Halloween II, the original franchise is comprised of eight films, of which only one is not directly linked to the rest and doesn’t include Michael Myers as the antagonist (Halloween III: Season of the Witch). Each film added to and/or changed the events of the previous ones for its convenience, and as Curtis points out, the continuity ended up being quite confusing.
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Speaking to Cinema Blend, Curtis explained why ignoring the sequels was a necessary move for the new Halloween to make, and why the continuity of the previous films doesn't make sense. It’s all about knowing the characters, their backstories, and communication between filmmakers.
We wouldn’t have been able to make a 40 year sequel when you’ve given the sequel-ing to random people for the last 40 years – because there is no bible. There is no Halloween bible that those however many sequel filmmakers followed. Each one came up with their own wacky idea for the next movie. And so there was no continuity. It was scattershot, if anything, and didn’t make any sense!
Halloween II gave closure to the three main characters of the story: Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis died in an explosion, with Laurie escaping and being transferred to another hospital. As mentioned above, Halloween III holds no connection with the rest of the films, focusing instead on witchcraft and other themes, as it was supposed to make way for a Halloween anthology series. After disappointing financial returns, Myers was brought back for Halloween 4, as well as Loomis. Laurie Strode was killed off-screen, and her daughter became the new lead victim.
Curtis reprised her role as Laurie for Halloween H20, where it was explained that she faked her death in order to avoid Myers and live a normal life. Laurie's daughter Jamie and the rest of Halloweens 4-6 were retconned. Both Laurie and Michael were given closure (again), only to be brought back once more in Halloween: Resurrection, which saw Laurie die for the second time. The whole Halloween timeline can be hard to follow, so going back to the original to reset the continuity was probably for the best. Although this new Halloween hasn't been released yet, a sequel is reportedly in the works already, and it might not include director Green or screenwriter Danny McBride. Hopefully, Blumhouse will learn from past mistakes, and make sure that a new creative team will logically continue the continuity of John Carpenter's classic original and Green's upcoming sequel.
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Source: Cinema Blend
