John Carpenter Says New HALLOWEEN Will Be Set In “Alternative Reality”

Look, I'm not normally a guy to say "I told ya so", but seriously...I told ya so. 

When Danny McBride originally began discussing the new sequel (not a remake, mind you) that he and David Gordon Green were writing together (and Green is going to direct for producers Jason Blum and John Carpenter), he made a bold statement regarding re-writing the Halloween canon. Specifically, he noted that their movie was going to focus on providing a "grounded" story that "focuses on the first two films." This pretty much meant the new installment was going to ignore eight other sequels, further muddying the mythos of a franchise whose convoluted, conflicting narratives (a rejection of the central killer, the Devil (Maybe), Thorn Cults, redneck hobos) are already baffling when lined up against one another. 

Not satisfied to let everyone else have fun on his dime regarding these fractured franchise happenings, Carpenter himself has chimed in and tossed a wrench into the narrative proceedings. Speaking with Stereo Gum, the legendary genre director got real weird with his description:

"It’s kind of a… I don’t know how to describe it. It’s almost an 'alternative reality.' It picks up after the first one and it pretends that none of the others were made. It’s gonna be fun. There’s a really talented director and it was well-written. I’m impressed.”

"Alternative reality." Bro, what? Pair this with the production's earlier official statement regarding Jamie Lee Curtis reprising her role as iconic Final Girl, Laurie Strode (who may also have a daugher played by Judy Greer, who's in talks to play Karen Strode): 

"Laurie Strode comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago."

So, it is at least kind of going to be McBride and Green's Halloween: H20 (call it H40, I suppose). But this really makes us curious as to whether ot not Michael Myers is still Laurie's brother in this "reality", as that storyline wasn't introduced until Halloween II (though, again, there is footage in the TV Version that alludes to their familial relationship -- though that wasn't shot until three years later, after that initial sequel was already written). To be honest, it could be cool if McBride and Green discarded that thread entirely, and returned the narrative to Myers being a sort of "unknowable evil" who returns decades later to claim "the one that got away."

Whatever becomes of this slasher tomfoolery, we'll find out on October 19, 2018.