Earlier this year, we reported that Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton were in talks to bring Michael Myers back to the big screen in a new Halloween film. While news at the time was scared, it now seems the duo has been working on the film, and are moving forward with their sequel, Halloween Returns, at Dimension Films.
Variety reports that the eleventh film in the franchise will be directed by Dunstan, with the film aiming to film in the next few weeks. Casting is now underway.
Moviehole also dropped the alleged first synopsis for the film:
The now 18-year-old child of one of Myers’ victims plays a central role along with the child of a cop whose long been obsessed with Myers’ case, even putting it before his own daughter. Myers is now on death row and the two kids with their own personal vendettas against the killer sneak in to watch his execution. But when things go awry and Myers escapes, the pair, along with their friends, find themselves in the firing line.
The synopsis sounds very intriguing, and it’s good to see the series seems to be dialing back in to its more classic roots. As the series progressed, it got more ridiculous, with multiple continuities going on. The thing that always worked about the first two was the consistent tones of dread and paranoia, mixed with limited location, making it feel like it could happen anywhere at anytime. Myers had no psychic link yet, and was still just The Shape.
Shock Till You Drop added fuel to the fire, saying that this film will actually be a sequel to 1981’s Halloween II, ignoring the events of all the sequels, and creating now a third continuity off the events of John Carpenter’s original film. According to the site:
Shock has learned Halloween II’s Deputy Gary Hunt—who you may remember from the 1981 sequel as the blonde officer who accompanies Dr. Loomis to the school on the night he came home—appears in Halloween Returns, now as sheriff. This leaves Halloween Returns connected to the original series, unrelated to Rob Zombie’s films and—in contemporary fashion—not concerned with later sequels.
This actually sounds like a reasonably sound plan, and it sounds like the film is coming together rather quickly, so expect casting announcements soon. Though I wish that the film was following Halloween: Twenty Years Later, giving us a chance to see Laurie again, this may be the best route to go. It’ll feel disconnected enough that it can be a fresh start, while still having lingering ties to what Carpenter did in the first two films.
I’m excited to see what both Dunstan and Melton will bring to the series, and by tying the film back to the original night he came home, I have a lot of faith in what they’re going to do with it. The idea of the prison setting is smart, and could create some real tension that the series hasn’t seen in a long time. Here’s hoping that they make this the best return of the Shape since Carpenter handled him in 1981, and I can’t wait to see it.
Halloween Returns currently doesn’t have a release date yet, but will probably be a 2016 release.