This week brought disappointing news for horror fans. The long-planned and heavily rumored Halloween television series centered around Michael Myers is apparently dead before it ever even began.
Word coming from insiders suggests that the Moustapha Akkad family believes another Halloween movie makes more sense than a television series, and honestly, that is probably the right call. There also appears to be lingering friction involving David Gordon Green and the family, largely because they were not particularly thrilled with the recent Blumhouse Productions trilogy. While the films gave us a fantastic soundtrack and certainly had their fans, that final movie was, quite frankly, abysmal. Wrecked. Terrible.
The truth is, Michael Myers feels like a character built for the big screen. He belongs in dark theaters, not on a smaller screen or viewed on a phone. But there is a problem. If we look back over the last twenty years, most of the Halloween films simply have not been very good.
That said, I think there is one silver lining buried inside Halloween Kills that filmmakers should seriously consider exploring.
If you remember the opening sequence of Halloween Kills, we were suddenly back in the 1970s. Michael Myers had survived his confrontation with Dr. Loomis and was still on the loose that same terrifying night. Those first several minutes were incredible. The aesthetics were perfect. The gritty atmosphere captured the spirit of the original film almost flawlessly, and for a brief moment it felt like we were watching a continuation of John Carpenter’s original vision.
That is exactly where this franchise should go next.
I think fans are hungry for something new, and ironically the freshest idea might actually be continuing the original Halloween night itself. Pick up directly after the events of the 1978 film and follow the chaos unfolding across Haddonfield as the town realizes a serial killer is still roaming the streets.
The beauty of this idea is that it does not even need to center around Laurie Strode. Remember, originally Michael Myers was not hunting Laurie because she was family. That idea came later. In the original film, she was simply random. Wrong place, wrong time.
So why not embrace that again?
Keep Michael random. Keep the other characters from the original movie in the background while the Haddonfield massacre continues through the night. Show the town descending into chaos as police scramble, citizens panic, and Michael continues his rampage.
What makes this even more interesting is that this version of Michael Myers existed before he fully evolved into the supernatural force the sequels turned him into. There was still mystery there. He had survived six gunshot wounds from Loomis, hinting at something unnatural, but he still largely felt human.
That tension worked.
Honestly, if they made a movie like this, I would not even care if Michael dies again by the end. Bring him back later if you want. It does not matter.
The original Halloween remains the best film in the franchise, even if time has softened some of its horror impact for modern audiences. But a new movie that fully embraces that 1970s gritty Haddonfield atmosphere, exactly what we briefly saw in Halloween Kills, could absolutely work.
And here is the interesting part. If you ask true Halloween fans, those opening minutes of Halloween Kills are still often ranked among the best moments in the entire modern franchise.
One final thought, and this might be unpopular.
If someone wanted to revisit Halloween III: Season of the Witch and give us a modern remake?
I would be all for that too.
Because despite not featuring Michael Myers, Halloween III had something the franchise desperately needs right now.
An original idea.
And maybe that is exactly what horror fans have been waiting for all along.
