Halloween Kills, the sequel to 2018's Halloween reboot, features an unexpected homage to 1982's Halloween III: Season of the Witch -- a film that director David Gordon Green admits to being a fan of.
"I think it's aged well. I mean, I think that’s the beauty of this franchise in its whole," Green told Uproxx. "People will come to me and say, “Well, why did you not include the narrative of Halloween II? Or [that] amazing ending in Halloween IV?” And so, there’s just also so much dialogue in the pros and cons of the franchise as a whole. I love the conversation about it. And Season of the Witch is one that I feel personally is an underappreciated installment, but it’s a little bit of a detour. But I like what they were doing with it. And maybe someone will dust that off and remake that someday."
Written/directed by Halloween (1978) helmer John Carpenter's frequent collaborator Tommy Lee Wallace, Season of the Witch is notable for being the only Halloween film that doesn't feature Michael Myers. Instead, its plot revolves around a conspiracy involving the Halloween masks (a pumpkin, a skull and a witch) produced by Silver Shamrock Novelties. Season of the Witch was designed to evolve the Halloween franchise into an anthology series and even takes place in a universe where Carpenter's Halloween is a movie that the character Dr. Dan Challis watches in a bar at one point.
The trailers for Halloween Kills have already partly unveiled the film's nod to Season of the Witch, revealing footage of a scene where Michael -- having escaped the fiery trap Laurie Strode laid for him at the end of Halloween (2018) -- attacks an unsuspecting family. The family is later found dead in a playground wearing the skull and pumpkin masks featured in Halloween III.
Despite Green telling Uproxx those masks were produced by Shamrock, this doesn't, per se, mean Season of the Witch's plot is canon to Green and Blumhouse's Halloween trilogy. The filmmaker's decision to ignore all of the earlier Halloween sequels with his 2018 reboot wasn't just a creative choice, either. "[A] lot of these films have different rights holders. So there are different things you can and can't do legally," he explained.
Halloween Kills begins playing in theaters and streaming on Peacock Oct. 15.
Source: Uproxx