Michael Myers actor James Jude Courtney teases ”pumped up” action and horror in Halloween Kills. John Carpenter crafted his horror masterpiece, Halloween, back in 1978, starring Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode. The franchise quickly went off the rails after the first film, resulting in seven lackluster sequels as well as two films from director Rob Zombie. In 2018, David Gordon Green released his sequel, which took place 40 years after the original and retconned all of the past sequels.
Back in July, Blumhouse officially announced two sequels to the 2018 film: Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends. The plot for Halloween Kills is mostly unknown except for the fact that Michael survives, but there have been a handful of news stories about original Halloween characters returning for the film. So far, Lindsey Wallace and Tommy Doyle, the two children Laurie was babysitting in the original, will return for Halloween Kills, as well as Nurse Marion Chambers (Nancy Stephens) and Sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers). Original Michael Myers actor Nick Castle is also returning for Halloween Kills. However, James Jude Courtney will mainly be the one behind the mask, who is now getting people excited about the film.
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When speaking on the podcast Pop Culture With Pat (via: CinemaBlend), Courtney talked about his work on Halloween Kills. The actor spoke about having to bridge the Carpenter’s original to the 2018 film, while also mentioning how intense the next film will be compared to its predecessor. Courtney’s full comment from the podcast can be read below:
“We have to make the natural progression from 1978 to 2018 to Halloween Kills – the ante has been upped. The ticking bomb has to be more intense. Otherwise we’re just doing what we’ve done before. We pumped up the volume on this one. We’ve progressed late into the night, and now that everybody realizes what the stakes are…it’s reaching a head. It’s [the 2018 film] on speed.”
Courtney’s comments echo what other people involved with Halloween Kills have said about the film. Anthony Michael Hall, who is playing Tommy Doyle, talked about how intense the sequel is going to be. Even Robert Longstreet, who is playing Lonnie Elam (Tommy’s childhood bully), said that Halloween Kills “might be the nastiest of all of them.” Reactions to the first test screenings of Halloween Kills seem to also go along with what the cast members are claiming.
2018’s Halloween was significantly gorier than the original film, and the filmmakers seem to be setting the bar even higher for themselves with the sequel. After a while, the old Halloween sequels seemed to just rely on action, gore, and cheap jump scares to make a quick buck, but the new films don’t seem to be following that same principle. While 2018’s Halloween made Universal a lot of money at the box office and had a lot of gore, it was also well-received by longtime fans of the franchise. Needless to say, based on everything we’ve heard about Halloween Kills, it sounds like it will not only satisfy fans but also be even crazier than it’s predecessor.
Source: Pop Culture With Pat (via: CinemaBlend)
- Halloween Kills (2020) release date: Oct 16, 2020
- Halloween Ends (2021) release date: Oct 15, 2021
