Are We Entering The Era of the Horror Movie Retread?
So this happened the other day....
Yes folks, a new Halloween film is going to hit the big screen in October 2018. The inclusion of Jamie Lee Curtis and John Carpenter to the list of credits has the internet abuzz. Based on what is known, this movie will be ignoring every movie since Halloween II. It's also being billed as the "final" Halloween movie. Yeah, we've heard that one before with other horror franchises. It will also feature the final battle between Lori Strode and Michael Myers.
Hey, you know what.... This all sounds familiar... Oh yeah, it's the basically the same plot as Halloween: H20 . Needless to say, I am cautiously optimistic about this movie, but as a perpetual cynic I can't help but think that this is going to be yet another unnecessary installment trying to capture the magic of the franchise and likely going to fail. I'll get to that in a moment because there is something with this announcement that also bothers me.
They are calling this movie the reboot . I disagree, this movie is actually a retread, a phrase I just made up right now.
Retread (ree-tread) When a movie franchise gets so convoluted with sequels and remakes that they make a film that ignores the troublesome installments in an attempt to "get back to basics".
Now, this move was previously attempted by the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, and it was awful. Here's a flowchart.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise is a great example as much of a god-awful mess rebooting and then retreading a film franchise. Texas Chainsaw 3-D was a "direct" sequel to the original movie and it was awful, awful, awful. Now they're working on a prequel to the original TCM . What the hell for? It wasn't that long ago that the reboot of TCM had a prequel with Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.
I mean, take a look at the Halloween franchise, because I like making flowcharts:
After parts 4 through 6 went down the rabbit hole of shit they decided to do H20 , which was supposed to be the final battle between Strode and Michael Myers. Then they did that awful reality TV show sequel where Myers is still alive and kills Strode. Then there are those awful Rob Zombie remakes, which only served only to pad out Sheri Moon Zombie's film resume. Now, after failed attempts to do the third film in the reboot series, they have decided to repeat the same plot to H20? Why? How is this covering new ground that we haven't seen before? Even though this movie is going to be released by Universal Pictures, it seems like they can't fuck this up as badly as the people who took over the TCM franchise after New Line dropped the rights.
However, I'm not overly optimistic. I'd be more excited about a remake of Season of the Witch than I am excited about this movie.
Look, here's the thing: You cannot recapture the nostalgia of the first two Halloween movies. They were made during a different time when the slasher movie was in their infancy. You can't just ignore all these movies, do a "direct" sequel to a pair of movies that were made over 30 years ago. What are we supposed to take from this? That Michael Myers was somehow ruminating on revenge for over 30 years? Michael Myers was 21 in the original Halloween . Am I supposed to be scared of a Michael Myers who is pushing 60 years old when this movie comes out in 2018? I'm not sure if I can suspend my disbelief with that. Especially when you see how pathetic a middle-aged Leatherface looked in Texas Chainsaw 3-D .
I really hope that this new movie can surprise me because it's been far far too long since they've made a good Halloween movie.
But this raises some questions: Are we in an age where horror franchises are going to retread themselves? When the studios finally get their shit together and get around to making the 13th Friday the 13th film, how many of the original films are they just going to ignore? If Robert Englund ever decided to come out of retirement for one more Nightmare on Elm Street film will they ignore any movie that didn't have Wes Craven attached to it? When Dimension Films gets tired of repurposing horror scripts to fit into the Hellraiser franchise, will they just ignore everything after the first two films?.... Actually, that last one wouldn't be so bad.
Instead of retreading these franchises, they should just make another sequel, no rehashes, no reboots, just a straight sequel. It doesn't need to tie into the others. Make it a stand alone. As long as it is entertaining we don't need any window dressing.
