The Halloween reboot is going to make Michael Myers a mortal monster again

Freddy Krueger: Dream demon who kills kids within their nightmares. Jason Voorhees: Undead revenant who really really hates it when camp counsellors get horny. Just about every great slasher monster of the most iconic horror movies had a supernatural element to them, reasons for their very being which would explain why they could survive a pipe-bomb to the chest or an inconvenient decapitation by a protagonist.

Michael Myers on the other hand, always worked best as an example of pure evil in human form. There was some nonsense later on in the Halloween films regarding some “Curse of the Thorn” jibberish that lessened his character, but at least Rob Zombie’s reboot restored the character to what he was meant to be: An almost unstoppable monster in a William Shatner mask hellbent on death. Almost unstoppable.

Human monsters are always the most frightening, an aspect of Michael Myers that scriptwriters David Gordon Green and Danny McBride (Yes, that Danny McBride) want to restore to the slasher icon in his next revival. “Look at where the Halloween franchise has gone. There’s a lot of room for improvement,” McBride said to the Empire Film Podcast.

David and I are coming from it as, we are horror fans, and we are humongous fans of John Carpenter and of what he did with the original Halloween, so I think from watching this and being disappointed by other versions of this series, I think we’re just trying to strip it down and just take it back to what was so good about the original. It was just very simple and just achieved that level of horror that wasn’t corny and it wasn’t turning Michael Myers into some supernatural being that couldn’t be killed.

That stuff to me isn’t scary. I want to be scared by something that I really think could happen. I think it’s much more horrifying to be scared by someone standing in the shadows while you’re taking the trash out as opposed to someone who can’t be killed pursuing you.

Whatever McBride and Green have in store for Myers (Green will also direct), it already has the approval of series creator John Carpenter ahead of its current scheduled release date of October 19 in 2018. McBride has a point though: Simple horror is still utterly effective, especially when the monster is familiar. Want to see an example of this done right? Check out the Wolf Creek movies for a fantastic villain who symbolises humanity at its very worst. Mick Taylor mate. Pleased to meet ya.

Last Updated: May 15, 2017