Blumhouse has been teasing fans about the first official trailer for David Gordon Green's Halloween for quite some time, and it did not disappoint. The Stronger director seems to have a very clear understanding of the franchise's tone and themes, and the preview has all of us on edge for the latest terrifying rampage of Michael Myers.
Of course, while the Halloween trailer has our blood pumping, and has officially made the wait for October 19 even more excruciating, it's also a clear love letter to John Carpenter's original Halloween as well. With that in mind, we have put together a list of deep cut references to the original that show up in this trailer -- which we can only assume means there will be plenty more in the actual film. On that note, let's get started with a clear nod to the late Annie Brackett.
Annie's Autopsy
The folks over at Blumhouse clearly did their homework when it came time to call back to the original Halloween and pick out details to include in this new film. One of the first elements that makes its way into the Halloween reboot trailer is the autopsy for Annie Bracket (portrayed by Nancy Loomis in the first film). Though it's not obviously Annie at first glance, the sketch of the dead girl notes marks on her neck where she was choked, as well as a slash wound where Michael finished her off when he ambushed her from the back of her car on the way to pick up her boyfriend, Paul.
Dr. Sam Loomis
In another clear bit of homage to the original Halloween, this trailer offers up a courtroom sketch showing us Dr. Sam Loomis (the late, great Donald Pleasance) testifying in court about how he shot Michael Myers six times ("I SHOT HIM IN THE HEART!") while saving Laurie Strode in the Doyle house. However, the trailer also goes one step further than that. Not only does this preview for David Gordon Green's Halloween include a shot of Sam Loomis as a means of honoring the hero of the first movie, but it also includes the same gunshot sound effects that ring out when Loomis fires at Michael in the first film.
Barking Dogs
What do Michael Myers and The Terminator have in common? Well, aside from the fact that they are both largely silent killing machines, it seems that dogs really do not like either of them. In one awesome shot in the Halloween trailer, we see the documentary crew approach Michael in the sanitarium yard, and one of the guard dogs becomes wary of the captive killer as soon as the aging and cracked mask is unveiled to him. Not only does this create a seriously tense moment, but it also suggests the idea that the evil inside of Michael returns the moment that he sets his eyes on the mask.
Laurie And Michael Aren't Siblings
One of the most polarizing narrative elements to ever appear in the Halloween franchise was the idea that Michael Myers and Laurie were siblings, and that his need to murder her stemmed from an ancient Celtic ritual. That idea wasn't present in the original Halloween (it developed in Halloween II), but it defined many of the lesser sequels over the years. Now, with a blank slate ignoring all of the Halloween films except for the original, the folks at Blumhouse have opted to do away with the sibling storyline and use a specific moment in the trailer to tell the audience that Michael is just a murderer, and Laurie is just a random victim.
Laurie's Scar
From the moment Jamie Lee Curtis appears onscreen as Laurie Strode in the Halloween trailer, it's clear that the former babysitter still has many scars from her night against The Shape back in 1978. These scars are mental and psychological, but they are also physical, as well. In fact, the clearest example of this comes when we get a look at Laurie's bare arm, and see a long scar running down her triceps. As fans of the first Halloween will note, this is from the moment after she found her dead friends in the Wallace house, and Michael stabbed her -- which, in turn, sent her flying over the railing to hit the stairs one floor down.
Escaped Inmates On The Road
Remember the scene from the original Halloween in which Michael Myers escapes from Smith's Grove Sanitarium and steals Dr. Sam Loomis' car? There's a very similar sequence in this movie in which the psychopathic killer escapes from a transport bus, which leads to a scene in which some innocent bystander stumbles upon a group of mental patients wandering aimlessly on the road. The way the scenes are shot are nearly identical, with the headlights illuminating the inmates as the car pulls up to witness the scene. Now we're just left to wonder how close Michael is to that scene, or if he has already started to head towards Haddonfield at that point.
The Rest Stop Bathroom
This one is more of a reference to Halloween H20 (arguably an underrated entry in the Halloween canon) than the original film, but it's still worth noting. There's a scene in the Halloween reboot trailer in which The Shape gets his hands on his new mechanic jumpsuit, and then attacks a woman in a rest stop bathroom. We have seen various versions of this scene take place in the franchise over the years, but it most clearly resembles a very similar sequence in H20 in which Michael steals the car from a mother and her daughter in a nearly identical bathroom. That said, this version of the scene is way scarier, and things end much worse for the victim.
Michael Bumping Into Trick Or Treaters
The beauty of setting a movie like this on Halloween is that it allows Michael Myers to walk through the streets of Haddonfield, Illinois in a costume and nobody really notices. Just like in the original film, Michael wanders through the streets and bumps into kids, and the moment is punctuated by the terrifying, screeching sound effect that accompanied most of the deaths in the first film. We don't specifically know who these two kids are that Michael runs into in the movie, but the moment appears to be directly lifted from the scene when Michael bumps into Tommy Doyle's bullies in John Carpenter's film.
The Ghost Costume
One thing that sets Michael apart from many other classic movie slashers is the fact that he's basically a kid in terms of his mental capacity. He has a knack for theatricality, which included donning a ghost costume to get close to Lynda (P.J. Soles) in the original movie. Now, it looks like the ghost outfit has returned in David Gordon Green's take on Halloween, and while we're not entirely sure how the outfit will factor into the story this time (either Michael is under there, or a victim is under there), it shows some great reverence to a legendary scene from the first movie.
The Needle Wound
Laurie Strode is not the only character in this movie who will show the scars of the first film. In fact, while Michael spends most of this trailer out of view or covered by the mask, a quick shot from the preview tells us that David Gordon Green intends to honor the wounds that he sustained while attacking Laurie in 1978's Halloween. More specifically, we get a good look at the hole in the side of the neck of the mask, which was put there when Laurie stabbed Michael in the living room of the Doyle house when he tried to get her from behind the couch
John Carpenter's Original Music
The last detail that we need to note is not one specific moment from the trailer, but an idea that permeates most of this preview. Every Halloween movie featuring Michael Myers (we don't talk about Halloween III: Season of the Witch anymore) includes a version of John Carpenter's original score, but pretty much all of them have found a way to remix it using different instruments or tones. That said, Blumhouse's Halloween appears to be going in the opposite direction by bringing Carpenter back to compose music that's nearly identical to the theme that played in the original when those now-iconic credits started to roll.
