Geeking Out About Cinema #0: One Crazy Way To End The Halloween Franchise

Halloween: Genocide

2014 Original Idea Context

John Carpenter's Halloween is without a doubt my all time favorite slasher film and has remained so ever since I first saw it at the age of 6. I will always praise this movie till the very end, but will equally show distaste to its last original continuity installment, "Halloween Resurrection". Halloween Resurrection left a horrible taste in my mouth in the way that it ended things off, so I felt the series overall deserved something better (or at least remotely interesting) to conclude with. Throughout the movies, there had been various directions taken such as the Halloween 4-6 story and the 1, 2, 7 & 8 story. Not every sequel is accepted as canon to the fan base (or even the filmmakers for that matter) as many people feel that the Thorn story line introduced in the middle installments was absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary. 

I always felt the canon story lied within the original then continuing with 2, 7, & the beginning of 8 ("Resurrection") as Laurie, Michael, and Dr. Loomis are the key figures of the story. As for my film (codename "Genocide" as sort of a placeholder), I feel the beginning should revolve around Michael Myers escaping the hospital that he was taken to at the end of Resurrection (unfortunately I will have to canonize that film in its entirety to avoid confusion to the viewers).

So yes, all of the nonsense that happened in that film with Busta Rhymes doing kung fu on Michael and the whole MTV-like reality series stuff in his home will have to stay canonized (just not referenced) as I'm not entirely sure if I could just erase it all as much as I hated that film. The reason why I'm even considering that movie as part of the story is because Resurrection's opening plays a key moment in the franchise as a whole by finally killing off Laurie Strode. So our story starts off right where that film left off essentially with him escaping the hospital that he was sent to at the very end and slaughtering a bunch of staff members on the way out.

May 2018 Insert

Michael burning during hospital explosion (Halloween II [1981])

As of May 2018, upon reading this just for the fun of it seeing that there's a new Halloween movie surprisingly coming out this year, I've decided to make one major change here. During the creation of this concept years ago, I never considered the possibility that I can actually in fact actually retcon the sequels from ever happening while still keeping certain elements that I want for my film (which is what the 2018 movie did). So, with that in mind, instead of having to be forced to make Halloween Resurrection canon just so that I can keep Laurie's death and the hospital setting at the end, I can easily just have my movie start after Halloween 2's ending (the one sequel that I actually do like). The retcon here would be that Michael's burnt body is taken in as evidence labeled corpse (as opposed to being a medically treated patient like Halloween 4 did or H20's questionable handling of his survival). 

So with this retcon, I get to have my terrifying hospital set opening scene without having to canonize the awfulness of Halloween Resurrection. Now where does Laurie's death come in if I wanna still include it? Well, either she goes onto living her fractured life elsewhere having nothing to do with Haddonfield or Michael finds and kills her months after the hospital escape somehow. I think it would be impactful to create what appears to be a "close call" situation where he catches her off guard but it looks like she might escape as audiences would be expecting after all of these years. However, her rush to survival ultimately leads to him over powering or outsmarting her. How she dies is something that I simply wouldn't be able to come up with as it would have to be something iconic given the character's history.

...Now back to reading whatever outrageous idea I created in 2014.

[Original 2014 Idea Continued]

Michael kills hospital staff (Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers [1995])

For the hospital opening scene, I'm aiming here for a brutal and absolutely spine tingling beginning that will set the tone for the heightened scope of the film. The Halloween 6 hospital massacre scene is a nice point of reference without going too extreme on the editing as shown there. After Michael's escape, there should be a focus on one of Myers' surviving relatives as he (or she) learns about said escape on the news and decides to end his reign of murders once and for all.

May 2018 Insert

Alright, I do have to admit that seeing where that last sentence ends off with some random relative feeling they need to "end" Michael's reign just doesn't sit too well with me as it seems kinda ridiculous. There's a lot of changes that I could make here such as the relative being paranoid already for their well being after the jaw dropping hospital massacre aftermath news footage (the opening kill scene) while also hearing about the death of Laurie. I'd love the news to actually play a bit of a standout role in the film with Michael's identity and hunt for his sister being a topic that becomes popularized making him something of a legend without ever demystifying him. Going with the current climate, this would be a prime opportunity to have the news be this paranoia spreading outlet while also dishing out secrets that were supposed to be kept sealed for the sake of viewership.

Laurie's death becomes the final nail on the coffin that perhaps sends the relative in a bit of anxiety seeking help from the people that worked on the Myers case. With the intention to develop a new character that fans can latch onto such as Laurie or even Jamie from the sequels, maybe this relative's paranoia begins an obsession that weighs down on their own life and relationships. Again, utilizing the concept of the news making things worst than it already is. Now, the issue here is introducing a new relative that fans will just have to accept into the canon even though this character has never been alluded to in past movies. The general concept is for this to be another Myers relative around the age of Laurie (a cousin perhaps) who starts to slowly uncover the terrifying pattern of Michael going out of his way to kill his family.

There's something interesting dramatically speaking that can be done with the idea of us, the audience, seeing a person start to slowly loose themselves and their lives to fear of an impending doom-like force in the form of a now popularized serial killer. I think of films like Taking Shelter starring Michael Shannon who goes down a self destructive path with the idea that a massive life changing storm is on the horizon. Imagine said storm being the now iconic Myers that survived a building explosion, supposedly survived being shot multiple times, killed off several people in a hospital amongst others, proceeded to kill a relative of yours not too long after, and is now nowhere to be found. 

That's the type of psychological thriller element that I'd like to deeply highlight with the main character here. Someone who's looking at things from an outsider's view but sees the possibility that they're deeply connected. I know it may not seem like the golden statement here, but I want "paranoia" to be one of the main villains of this film as opposed to just Michael himself.

[Original 2014 Idea Continued]

I would like for there to be a heavy focus on Michael's "inhuman abilities" to some extent and what makes him the unstoppable force that he is. The Thorn cult story in 5 & 6 (which introduced a more supernatural component to the lore) was never mentioned or even hinted at after those movies to which the filmmakers afterwards even sidelined it altogether in the canon. There is however the overall idea explored in all of the films with Michael being an almost paranormal force of nature which I'd be eager to emphasize on heavily with the conclusion. There is a moment in Halloween 2 where Dr. Loomis sees the words "Samhain" written on a chalkboard in a school where Michael was recently located. I think the fact that he took the time to write that phrase in blood on the board should be looked into here as his reasoning is never really explained in depth (though the lore of Samhain itself is talked about during that scene).

With the finale, I'd like to have a Loomis-like character (maybe a colleague of sorts who helped on the Myers case or worked with him at the psychiatric ward) searching for the answers of Michael's evil force throughout the film (let's just call him "Steven" for name sake). As for Michael dying or not in the end (not to jump too far ahead here), I think there should at least be a moment to where he actually shows fear towards a certain object or something. Perhaps "Steven" finds something within the Samhain halloween lore spoken about by Loomis in the past (show a bit of flashback history with the characters sharing knowledge and thoughts maybe?) that can somewhat weaken Michael causing him to feel physical pain.

Young Michael blankly staring out of window [Halloween [1978] Extended Edition)

This can temporarily humanize him in an interesting way as we've never really seen him show true fear or restraint in the past in such a profound manner. Last but not least, there should be flashbacks to Michael's years in the psychiatric ward before he escaped via Loomis's notes being narrated by Donald Pleasance himself or perhaps Steven reading them as the flashbacks are shown. Anything to significantly tie into the original would be great here in a way to bring everything full circle giving the character more development while still keeping him a thought provoking mystery.

An idea that I had in mind for a while was to have Myers sort of snap out of whatever trance-like state that has been powering him all this time just for a short moment. This is where we can get something absolutely jaw dropping and intense as we see Michael actually confused for the first time towards the blood and knife on his hands. This is a very powerful idea and I think fans deep down would be positively shocked by this. Another thing that I've been dying to see is Michael Myers completely flip out highlighting the supernatural component to the character in a massive way through several scenes in the film. Because "Steven" finds a weakness in Michael Myers through research of the Samhain lore, we get a sense of desperation within the evil force that drives Michael through psychological and physical means.

What does this mean exactly? Perhaps there is a scene to where Michael gets wounded by a gunshot, etc. after said Samhain related object humanizes him and one of the neighbor dogs, during that moment, completely loses it and starts viciously attacking people in the area. There's a sense of blind unexplainable chaos that I'd like to have play a factor in Michael's "evil personified" situation. Anything from having victims around him start to suffer critical headaches randomly whenever Michael gets wounded or the sounds of people in the far off background screaming hysterically at some unknown and unseen force.

Aftermath shot of Michael escaping restraints in an ambulance van (Halloween 4 [1988])

Again, this is after the "Steven" character finds a weakness in the "evil force" itself causing it to become desperate in a sense. Through these moments, Michael is seen squeezing his head in pain and bleeding through his eyes (a throwback to the iconic scene in Halloween 2 in the hospital). After said moment happens, he goes on a blood lust rage bashing through objects around him with super human-like strength (nothing too over the top but just enough to let you know that he's obviously more than just some crazy guy) as slightly hinted at in previous films. 

It should be an equally intense and frightening experience to see this "man" being able to perform these feats, but in keeping with the tone of the originals to a degree, I'd have these "superhuman" moments shot in a way that implies some of what's happening. Darkly lit interiors with audio being key here is what will sell all of these scenes of him physically doing more than we've ever seen in prior films. However, where audiences truly get to see what Michael was doing during this chaotic segment is in the final "aftermath" shots during the ending of the film.

Now, back to the whole idea of him dying in the end, I've had many thoughts about that while writing this, so it's hard to choose at this point. One of them is the "happy, but not really" ending where the Steven character finally removes the evil force out of Michael causing him to revert back to a now fully human state. There is an interesting concept in there leaving the question "well, now that it's out of him...now what?". That's an intriguing approach in my opinion as it leaves the door open with thought provoking questions which the original did without having the need to make another sequel. There is also the easy route of just finally killing him through whatever extreme means such as completely burning him this time or something to that effect. You either kill the villain or remove "it" in a way that'll leave viewers satisfied while still feeling unease. That's the main dilemma that I've written myself into here.

This horrific real-life incident was a close vision of what I had in mind for the ending scene showing the result of the evil within Michael's supernatural outburst.

Aside from making what I can sort of categorized as a supernatural horror in some aspects here, I also wanted to make this a very brutal horror film specifically in the death rate. The film should almost feel like a plague of sorts has shrouded over Haddonfield with the ending scenes of the film. Either way, I think the finale to the Halloween series should end with a terrifying horror experience just as the series started with that people will hopefully rave about decades afterwards. And as a bonus thought, the mask should be just as iconic and close to the original as possible. Either way, this is my very rough idea for how I'd end the Halloween series that kick started with the now legendary 1978 John Carpenter original.

A scene from Halloween Resurrection that I wanted to visual reference with Michael killing someone in an intensely directed manner. These are types of scenes that I wanted to include with the finale. Moments that would make audiences gasp foe air while watching. I've hardly talked about the "kills" in the movie as I simply do not have the creativity for murder (which I suppose is a good thing). My only specifics was to have the opening hospital murder be this relentless non stop shot of Michael completely obliterating a small hospital staff before walking out and the ending aftermath shots of Haddonfield's now hellish landscape.

A scene from Halloween 6 that I would like to visually reference in my film but on a much larger scale with a few kids walking in a park that is now covered in blood and bodies scattered around, but we never see what actually leads to it. It's a scene shown through news footage on a TV, so the audience is completely glued to the screen with their imagination running wild. It's all part of the aftermath of the evil within Michael completely unleashing on the town.

I would like my Myers mask for the film to be very close to the original, but with some form of scaring and worn down tears by the end.

This artwork created for one of the Halloween comics really stuck out to me as visual reference for my Samhain lore-heavy film idea.

This scene from Halloween 3 (even though it's unrelated to the Michael Myers story) was perfect to reference as one of the chaotic and brutal plague-like imagery for my film.