“Halloween” has long been my favorite horror film, and it's become clear over numerous awful sequels and Rob Zombie's abysmal 2007 remake that it's probably best to leave well enough alone. Not that they're going to! But it would be nice.
Now Marcus Dunstan (“Saw 3D,” “The Collector”) is on board to helm a reboot entitled “Halloween Returns,” and in a new interview with “Halloween” superfan Darnell Weeks, he spilled a few details on the forthcoming project (full interview embedded at the bottom of the page):
On getting inspiration from John Carpenter's original movie: “[Co-writer Patrick Melton and I] went back to the original screenplay too and just read it, John Carpenter's draft, and timed it with watching the movie, and line for line it keeps the same clock as watching the movie, so if you're reading the pages, it's almost like a shot list.”
On the project's progress: “The coolest thing we've done so far is a couple motion tests of potential Michaels.”
On the mask: “Embracing social media, I think one of the first key images has got to be that carefully set up Instagram photo of the mask in profile with that border edge lighting, so you know right away what the intent is. If it looks anything at all disparaging to anybody, than we've failed. Our goal is really to have that Han and Chewie moment.”
On his vision for the film: “Michael Myers is subtlety and suspense.”
On the title: “I think I put it in an email as a subtitle, but I think it was registered as 'Halloween Returns,' which is fine. I like that, and it works, it does function as what it means to say. But if you commit a violent act, sometimes you get returns. What are the repercussions of being a violent entity? In that case, Halloween Returns could mean a number of things.”
On casting: “I really like this actress Gillian Jacobs. She's known for all this comedy on Community, and yet I didn't know her from Community first, I knew her from a movie called Gardens of the Night, which is one of the most wrenching dramas, and she's excellent. I thought, 'I wonder if this great performer would do that again, would like to go there, and I think so.”