Halloween Ends Director Teases Different Tone for Sequel and Its Love for John Carpenter

Fans might know filmmaker David Gordon Green for his comedic sensibilities, but his work on both 2018’s Halloween and this year’s Halloween Kills proves that he can restrain his humor to deliver brutal and unsettling stories, with Green recently noting that the tone of the upcoming Halloween Ends will once again provide audiences with something they aren’t expecting. The filmmaker also pointed out that, while his previous two films tried to honor the work of original Halloween director John Carpenter, that the upcoming film will manage to pay its respects to many corners of Carpenter’s legacy. Halloween Ends is currently slated to hit theaters on October 14, 2022.

“There’s not a lot of games in it, there’s not a lot of wittiness and retro joy,” Green detailed to the Empire Spoiler Special podcast, per IndieWire. “It’s kind of a coming-of-age film, and it’s a very different tone. And that’s what excited me about it, is to have the three chapters that I’ve been involved in be very different from each other. They are all there to honor Carpenter, but aren’t necessary just emulating him.”

Green’s 2018 film served as a direct continuation of the 1978 Halloween, and while there was assuredly connective tissue between the two stories, he had to catch audiences up on everything that had unfolded in the 40 years since Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode survived the terror of the murderous Michael Myers. Halloween Kills, however, picked up almost immediately after where the previous film left off, allowing the unsettling action to ignite almost immediately. 

“I sent Carpenter the new draft of Halloween Ends the other night, and I said, ‘If it feels too Christine, let me know,’” the filmmaker added. “For Halloween Ends, it’s just a love of Carpenter, you know. It’s more than just, ‘Hey, here’s a character and a community that you’ve created.’ It’s, ‘Here’s an appreciation of your legendary body of work.’”

Carpenter’s Christine is an adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name, focusing on a teen who restores a classic car, only to realize the car has a mind of its own, as it comes to life to kill the teen’s bullies. While it’s unclear what the two narratives might have in common, it likely relates to the impact of the first two films on teen-aged Allyson (Andi Matichak), as the next film will reportedly jump forward multiple years in the narrative, with that time surely seeing some changes to the character after suffering various traumas.

Halloween Kills is in theaters and streaming on Peacock now. Halloween Ends is expected to hit theaters on October 14, 2022.

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