Folks, I don’t know how else to say this other than, HOW AM I GOING TO MAKE IT ANOTHER YEAR BEFORE HALLOWEEN KILLS COMES OUT?! In a normal year, which would mean nearly 230,000 fellow Americans and nearly a million globally would still be alive, I would have already seen the film by now, and would be gushing about it here probably. Alas. ONE MORE YEAR!
Gah, I can’t wait. I can’t wait! Halloween (2018) was my most anticipated film since at least 2013’s Man of Steel. The follow-up, Halloween Kills, scheduled for Oct. 15, 2021, is going to be a long wait, but whew, what a fun 36-second teaser trailer this was. I’m going to briefly break it down. I also recommend watching it at 0.5 speed to see everything that’s going on.
Where we left off with the last film was Lauri Strode, Allyson, and Karen shoot Michael Myers in the jaw, and trap him inside the basement safe room, and then set the room on fire. But he escaped, of course, because he’s the freaking Boogeyman!
In this one, at least from what I can glean in these 36 seconds, he’s on a dang rampage. Check out the still I took of the start of the teaser from the top of the post: Michael Myers picking up his mask. I’m already intrigued: How did his mask get there? How did he find it? In a later still I’ll point out, we see that his mask is burnt up, as it would be since he was wearing it when the basement was set on fire, but obviously, at some point, his mask is off and chilling in the street.
At the opening of the teaser, leading up to Michael Myers getting his mask, we get Laurie narrating, “Next Halloween, when the sun sets, and someone is alone, he kills.” That’s a great line about Michael Myers, although I’d be curious the context of that line in the movie because in a meta sense it works. Literally, next Halloween, when this film comes out, Michael Myers is going to kill. But what would the context be in the film to say “next Halloween”?
Like I mentioned, throughout the teaser from what I can see at slow speed, Michael Myers seems to be in pure rampage Rambo mode, killing and slicing and attacking everyone in the neighborhood to what looks like a hospital to even a lovely callback to the first film when he puts his hand through the car window:
Then the 1978 version:
There also appears to be a staging area, of sorts, where everyone is huddled together to protect themselves against Michael Myers, but they can still see him doing something? But then there’s a huge mob seemingly outside the hospital looking like they’re going after him?
Something I talked about when reviewing the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street franchises is that you don’t see the slasher killer, like Jason, Freddy and Michael, deal with groups often. As Laurie said in her narration, when “someone is alone.” It’s rare for these killers to attack groups of people at a time. Sort of similar to Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, I wonder if we’re going to get a, “Haddonfield rises up as a town to take on Michael Myers,” sort of thing. Because at this point, people are going to know Michael Myers is back and rampaging.
And you know I love this shot of Michael Myers’ burned up face/mask:
Overall, this one looks more action-packed and crazier than the first film. We’re beyond the backstory and getting Michael Myers back to Haddonfield: Now we’re in pure, as I said, Rambo mode. He’s on the loose. And given that we’re calling it Halloween Kills, it sure seems like a safe bet that Michael Myers is going to rack up the kill count here.
Also, how great is that theme? It’s classic and iconic for a reason.
Are you excited for a sequel? If you didn’t like Halloween (2018), you’re censored from commenting (I kid, but seriously).
Milam's Musings 