I’m disgustingly late on this — I’m sorry, Michael! — but I finally watched the 76-second official trailer by Universal Pictures for the third installment in the renewed Halloween series, Halloween Ends.
Goosebumps!
For one, I love the opening tracking shot as a homage to the opening scene from Halloween (1978). In the latter, the viewer is given the point-of-view of six-year-old Michael Myers as he watches his sister make-out with her boyfriend, then as he grabs a knife and a mask, and then as he kills her in her bedroom. With this shot, we track Michael, this time an aged adult, obviously, and from his point-of-view, as he approaches a house. We hear his breathing backed by the foreboding thump-thump of the music. And I should note, it isn’t exactly a tracking shot, as we see him approaching the front door of the house, and then there is an edit to him peaking through the banister of the stairs to the second level of the house. I hope in the movie we get the full tracking shot, if there is one!
Anyhow, Michael then approaches a bedroom with the door ajar, as the tempo and intensity of the music picks up, he squeaks the door open further. We then see Laurie Strode (played by the formidable Jamie Lee Curtis, of course) standing there, ready, with a pistol aimed at his head. We get another cut to black with Laurie saying, “Come on, let’s go.”
That is the first 38 seconds of the trailer. For the next 32 seconds, they give us quite a bit! First, Michael throwing Laurie across the counter in the kitchen, and Laurie screaming, which is then lined up with other characters screaming, and other shots from the film in quick succession. We then get a great moment where the text reads, “THEIR SAGA,” followed by classic images of Michael and Laurie from the 1978 film and the prior two films in the modern trilogy, followed by, “ENDS.”
I’m going to stop you right there. I’m interpreting that specific language of, “Their saga ends,” (my emphasis) as meaning the story of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode across four films (in this canon). So, that doesn’t mean Michael Myers himself “ends.” Or that after this film, even though it is called, Halloween Ends, we are done with Michael Myers. Granted, in a film where you are pitting a woman trying to survive a brutal killer, it would be tough storytelling to have the the woman lose, so that he may continue on after their saga had concluded (and it concluded because he presumably killed her!). But if she does kill Michael, it wouldn’t be the first time, and then the fourth film can be Halloween Resurrection. Wait a second …
But seriously, why would Universal Pictures and Blumhouse stop making these films? The 2018 film, Halloween, made $255.6 million worldwide ($159.3 million of that was domestic) on a budget of $10 million. Like, what?! Three years later (due to the pandemic), Halloween Kills doubled its budget, as tends to happen with sequels, to $20 million, which is still a paltry sum in the movie-making business, and made $131 million worldwide ($92 million of that was domestic). I actually think the second film would have done even better numbers if people weren’t still a little cautious about returning to movie theaters due to the pandemic. Now, though? Movie theaters seem fine. Movies are doing big business again. We don’t yet have budget information for Halloween Ends, but even if it were to follow the pattern of doubling its budget for some reason to $40 million, it’s still going to be easy business for the studios!
Back to the trailer. After a few more quick shots of different characters and scenes in the film, at the 56-second mark, we get another homage to the 1978 film with Laurie standing in the hallway with the view of the bedroom open and Michael emerging. In the 1978 film, of course, Laurie was in the hallway recovering, thinking she had vanquished Michael, and from the distance in the bedroom, we see Michael sit up, still alive, and stalking toward her. Here, Laurie says, “Come get me, motherfucker.”
I love the use of shadows in that sequence, just like the original.
We then get a shot back in the kitchen of them tussling and Michael trying to put Laurie’s hand down the garbage disposal. She’s able to headbutt him and stab him in the hand, though. The last eight seconds goes to the title sequence and release date information, which is Oct. 14!
Let’s go! I know my fellow Halloween fanatics, you may even call them Halloweenies (heh-heh), are not fans of these films or any of the sequels and prefer only to think about 1978 in their head, or at best, they accept the second sequel in 1981, but I love Michael Myers, I love Laurie Strode, and I love watching their saga. I love watching Michael Myers even without the saga at the center of the story. I just want more Halloween films, and for the longest time, we weren’t getting them. Now, we’re already talking about the third film coming out in a little over two months!
It looks like it is going to be a lot of fun, and I think it will center Laurie more, clearly. She wasn’t as much of a player in 2021’s Halloween Kills. In fact, after the trailer, I headed over to Wikipedia for the official premise. The event takes place four years after the events of the last film, whereas Halloween Kills was the same night as Halloween. Laurie is living with her granddaughter Allyson (played by Andi Matichak), and apparently writing a memoir, as one does. She’s trying to embrace life instead of letting Michael drive her reality. Then, apparently, a young man is accused of killing a boy he was babysitting, which brings Laurie back into the thick of things.
I like that set-up! That’s different, and interesting. I’m curious how this boy being accused of the killing will segue into Michael Myers. I mean, obviously, I assume Michael Myers did it, and I assume the town is going through a mass psychosis hoping it is this kid instead of Michael Myers because who would want to deal with that all over again? That’s interesting!
What do you all think of the trailer?
Milam's Musings 