‘Halloween’ To Celebrate 40th Anniversary With H40: 40 Years of Terror Event

Trancas International Films and HorrorHound Ltd. will team for H40: 40 Years of Terror, a special event celebrating the 40th anniversary of 1978 seminal horror classic Halloween, HalloweenMovies announced Monday.

Celebrated every five years since the 25th anniversary in 2003, the Halloween-based convention returns to Pasadena, California, with H40: 40 Years of Terror to mark the 40th anniversary of the franchise just ahead of the theatrical release of 40-years-later sequel Halloween.

The special anniversary convention event, hosted October 12—14 at the Pasadena Convention Center by Trancas International Films and HorrorHound Ltd. — the promoters behind mid-west event HorrorHound Weekend — promise to deliver the biggest Halloween convention to date.

Stars, directors, and crew from all 11 Halloween films — including the yet-to-be-released Blumhouse-produced Halloween sequel — are set to attend H40 as the convention expands into a larger convention space than ever before.

Events include a special Horror's Hallowed Grounds filming location tour, panels and Q&A sessions with cast across the 40-year-old franchise, special gallery offerings, exclusive H40 and Halloween merchandise offerings, and for the first time in the convention's history, fans will be able to engage in professional photo opportunities.

Attending guests, event and programming schedules and plans, and ticket launch date and pricing information will be announced soon via the official H40 website and its accompanying Facebook page.

The newest Halloween, releasing in October, marks the return of three Halloween veterans to the franchise as original final girl Jamie Lee Curtis reprises her role of Laurie Strode, original Michael Myers actor Nick Castle returns as the Shape (in a role shared with actor-slash-stuntman James Jude Courtney), and John Carpenter, who directed and scored the 1978 Halloween, returns to once again score the newest iteration of the franchise.

A direct sequel to Carpenter's original, Halloween ignores all nine franchise installments that followed between 1981 and 2009, erasing the brother-sister relationship between serial killer Michael Myers and terrorized babysitter Laurie Strode first established in Halloween II.

The reset, from writer-director David Gordon Green (Stronger) and writers Jeff Fradley (Vice Principals) and Danny McBride (Eastbound & Down), reimagines Laurie Strode as a battle-ready social recluse waiting for the inevitable return of the Shape, who breaks free of his four-decade sanitarium stint to once again bring terror to the town of Haddonfield.

H40: 40 Years of Terror runs October 12—14 in Pasadena, California. Halloween opens October 19.