‘Halloween’ Sequel Director Reveals Original Potential Titles

This year’s Halloween is the 11th film in the franchise that began in 1978 and is the third film to have the simplistic title. Director and co-writer David Gordon Green revealed that, while other titles were considered, the most straightforward title won out over other potential names as to not turn off or confuse viewers.

“That was a weird discussion,” Green shared with Entertainment Weekly. “You know, do we call it ‘The Shape’? Do we call it ‘Halloween Returns’? What do you call it? Technically, it’s the third Halloween II. It kind of got to the point where we were like, ‘Well, we don’t want to not invite anybody. We don’t want someone who is unfamiliar with the previous films to think, well, I need to catch up.’ So then we just thought, for simplicity, let’s just call it Halloween.”

The narratives of each entry in the Halloween franchise is more straightforward than other familiar horror series, though it features one of the more confusing overall timelines when all sequels are considered.

After the first Halloween II, the series deviated from the mythology of the masked Michael Myers completely, kicking off a potential new timeline. Fans were perplexed by the absence of the killer in Halloween III: Season of the Witch, resulting in the fourth film in the series acting as a continuation of Halloween II. This timeline continued up through 1998’s Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, which negated the events of the three prior films. The new, third timeline concluded with Halloween: Resurrection.

In 2007, Rob Zombie directed a reboot of the original concept, which was popular enough to earn a sequel. Despite earning an initial positive response, this fourth timeline never continued past the second film.

This year’s sequel ignores the events of all the films in the series, with the exception of the original, creating a fifth timeline.

Jamie Lee Curtis returns to the franchise for her fifth portrayal of Laurie Strode in the series, with the actress previously sharing that, while the film is officially a sequel, it feels like a reboot of sorts.

“There was the idea of, ‘What do you call it?’ If I had had my druthers, I probably would’ve called it Halloween Retold. Because it’s being retold. It’s the original story in many, many, many ways. Just retold 40 years later with my granddaughter,” Curtis shared with Yahoo! earlier this year. “And as soon as I read what [writers] David Green and Danny McBride had come up with … and the way that they connected the dots of the story, it made so much sense to me that it felt totally appropriate for me to return to Haddonfield, Illinois, for another 40th-anniversary retelling.”

Fans can check out the new Halloween when it lands in theaters on October 19th.

Do you wish this new film had a different title? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!

[H/T Entertainment Weekly]