Horror fans were given a bit of pause last week, when it was announced that Danny McBride would be co-writing the new Halloween movie. After all, McBride is far better known for his comedy vehicles like Vice Principals and Eastbound & Down, and frankly, so is his writing partner David Gordon Green, who’s been tapped to direct the film. But when John Carpenter himself makes it clear that he trusts his legacy in their hands, you have to keep an open mind.
McBride is also doing his best to sell Halloween fans on his upcoming contribution to the film series. In a new interview with CinemaBlend, the erstwhile Kenny Powers says he and Green are going for “straight-up horror” with their movie by going back to the roots of the franchise.
Halloween has always been one of my favorite movies of all time. There’s a simplicity and an efficiency to that first one that I think allows the movies just to be scary as hell. And so Green and I, our approach is to get back to that.
Another notable tidbit is that McBride and Green’s Halloween movie isn’t a remake, though it’s not quite being referred to as a sequel either. McBride tells CinemaBlend the plan is to flesh out the story from the first two chapters.
You know, it’s not a remake. It’s actually, it’s gonna continue the story of Michael Myers in a really grounded way. And for our mythology, we’re focusing mainly in the first two movies and what that sets up and then where the story can go from there.
It’s pretty clear we won’t be getting any dumb flashbacks to Michael Myers’ first day in pre-K, but we also don’t know if the new Halloween movie will pick up right after Michael’s body was burnt in Halloween II, or if it’ll be set years down the road. In fact, we don’t know much beyond the minimal humor and “back to basics” approach that Carpenter heralded when he made the announcement, so at least we’ll be properly caught unawares when Halloween slashes its way into theaters on October 18, 2018,