Forty years have passed since John Carpenter’s Halloween was released, and for the upcoming Halloween film, the creative team wanted to reshoot the ending of the original film to give some context. Directed by David Gordon Green, Halloween is the eleventh installment in the franchise, and it completely ignores all sequels and remakes, making it a direct sequel to Carpenter’s film.

Halloween will reunite slasher Michael Myers (played by Nick Castle and Jude Courtney) and Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) in a final confrontation, decades after Michael’s killing spree. In order to bring some context to the viewers, Green and company originally planned to include the ending of the first film, and with this give it a slight twist.

Speaking to Bloody Disgusting at Halloween's Los Angeles press junket, Green revealed he originally planned for his film to begin with the ending of Carpenter’s original 1978 movie, which would have required reshooting the scene. This was intended as a way to bring viewers into context, supposing they are not familiar with the first Halloween. Green explained:

“We had this very complicated overhead view of Loomis shooting the gun, Michael going over and then the apprehension, assuming everybody was going to need a little bit to get back up to speed with where we are and we haven’t seen the movie in a long time or we’ve never seen the movie, had to invite everyone to the party and that kind of thing. We kept pushing it off."


Green went on to explain they had every detail planned; from how they were going to de-age Jamie Lee Curtis and bring Donald Pleasence into the scene with the help of a double (Pleasence, who played Dr. Loomis, passed away in 1995) to rebuilding the house from the original film. Ultimately, Carpenter convinced Green that adding the scene was not necessary, telling him to trust the viewers, “leave ‘em alone and let ‘em figure it out”. They did, however, keep the rebuilt house and used it in the film - a detail for all Halloween fans to watch out for.

The first Halloween trailer hinted at both this connection and the retconning of the original film’s ending, as we see Michael living in an asylum and some quick flashes of crime scene photos, meaning that he was captured at some point after being shot by Loomis and disappearing from the scene.

Whether you are a die-hard fan of the franchise or someone who hasn’t watched a Halloween film before, this new story aims to be one everyone can enjoy. Even if they ended up scrapping the reshoot of Carpenter’s ending, the rest of the story will most likely fill in the gaps for those who don’t remember or are not familiar with the events in the Halloween that started it all.

Release Date:

  • Halloween (2018) release date: Oct 19, 2018