Celebrated horror filmmaker John Carpenter is known for many cult classic movies. But the Halloween franchise is arguably the most successful of the lot. The 2018 reboot of Halloween saw Carpenter return to the world of the notorious serial killer Michael Myers as an executive producer and music composer. The upcoming sequel, Halloween Kills, will also feature Carpenter’s music. In an interview with EW, the veteran filmmaker opined that Halloween Kills represents the zenith of the horror slasher genre.
“It’s brilliant. It’s the ultimate slasher. I mean, there’s nothing more than this one. Wow! Man.”
While many were skeptical when it was announced that director David Gordon Green will be making a new Halloween movie in 2018, fans were heartened when it was revealed that the film would be a straight sequel to the original Halloween, and will once again feature Jamie Lee Curtis in the lead as Laurie Strode.
The movie turned out to be a critical and commercial hit, showing Laurie in a much more heroic light rather than as a victim. While talking about the follow-up, Halloween Kills, Curtis has stated in a past interview that the upcoming film, which will see Laurie and her entire town make a final stand against the malevolent Michael Myers, is a “masterpiece”.
“What we were seeing around the country of the power, of the rage of voices, big groups of people coming together enraged at the set of circumstances, that’s what the movie is. The movie is about a mob. And so it’s very interesting because it takes on what happens when trauma infects an entire community. And we’re seeing it everywhere with the Black Lives Matter movement. We’re seeing it in action and Halloween Kills weirdly enough, dovetailed onto that, proceeded it, it was written before that occurred, but then of course, so when you see it, it’s a seething group of people moving through the story as a big angry group, it’s really, really, really intense. It’s a masterpiece.“
While Carpenter appears happy with the new take on Halloween, fans have long been begging the filmmaker to start making movies again. In a previous interview, Carpenter had explained that the process of helming a film is difficult for him, but there are a couple of projects in the works.
“[Directing is] stressful, it’s physically difficult, it’s tough, and you have to be a certain kind of human being to love it. And I’m not certain I am. I love it but not in an ego way. Music is a lot more gratifying, in a way, because there it is. It’s right in front of you, and you don’t have to wait until it’s cut together and deal with an armory of people making movies… I’m working on a couple of things. But I’m not doing anything for a while, until the world comes back and rights itself. It’s insane now. It’s nuts! I’m not going to go out there and get sick.”
Directed by David Gordon Green and written by Green, Danny McBride, Paul Brad Logan, and Chris Bernier, Halloween Kills stars Curtis, Andi Matichak, and Judy Greer. The film arrives in theaters on October 15, 2021. Check out Carpenter’s whole interview at EW.