David Gordon Green's requel Halloween trilogy garnered mixed opinions and critical responses, particularly concerning its less well-received final two installments. However, it's hard to overlook the remarkable flashbacks in Halloween Kills. These moments, though used sparingly, skillfully resurrected John Carpenter's 1978 masterpiece horror movie by featuring a young Michael and a brilliantly portrayed Loomis, brought to life by Tom Jones, Jr., the film’s art director, with the assistance of convincing makeup appliances (and no CGI whatsoever). Surprisingly, fans were apparently almost were given a flashback scene with Laurie as well, and I can't help but feel a severe case of FOMO creeping in.
According to a report released by Slash Film, the original draft of Kills, which was co-written by David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, and Scott Teems, would've featured a scene set on the night in 1978 when Michael came home. These flashback sequences were set to include moments with a young Laurie Strode, essentially re-enacting the iconic events of Carpenter's OG slasher. The tantalizing details of these unshot scenes were revealed in Abbie Bernstein's new book, Halloween: The Official Making of Halloween, Halloween Kills, and Halloween Ends.
Jamie Lee Curtis achieved her breakthrough role in the original 1978 film. Early in her career, she immersed herself in the horror genre, starring in high-profile genre flicks such as The Fog, Prom Night, Terror Train and Halloween II in the subsequent years.
Interestingly, Scott Teems initially contemplated setting substantial portions of Halloween Kills in 1978. Nevertheless, this notion presented a formidable challenge due to the actress' iconic stature within the horror genre. It would have required casting a younger actress to portray the young Laurie Strode. As a result, Teems' fellow screenwriters eventually determined that this approach was impractical.
The team briefly considered taking a page from Indiana Jones' de-aging playbook, casting a younger actress, and digitally inserting a de-aged Jamie Lee Curtis's face onto her. Fortunately, given the hit-or-miss nature of the digital de-aging process, they eventually discarded this notion and opted for a more restrained use of flashbacks. Their concern was that if they dwelled too long in the events of the past, it might dilute the audience's engagement with the unfolding storyline they aimed to establish.
Scott Teems recollected David Gordon Green's response to his de-aging concepts, and he less than enthused. He quoted the director as saying:
I love a lot of this, but I'm realizing that there is unresolved stuff from the first movie [Halloween 2018], and the second movie needs to be a continuation of the night.
Though valid points are certainly made here, I can't help but get excited about the notion of having seen a flashback with young Laurie. It admittedly would've been hard to pull off, but it would've been a nice piece of connective tissue for this horror franchise's lore. So yeah, that FOMO is definitely setting in for me.
Scott Teems also acknowledged that perhaps his approach to crafting a slasher sequel had been overly lighthearted, stating, "Also, I think my script was too funny — it got gnarly, but it wasn't quite tonally right."
Danny McBride allegedly echoed the director's sentiments, more or less concurring with his perspective. He expressed his appreciation for the concept of extended flashbacks but rightfully pointed out:
People should be more concerned with what's happening in the storyline we set up.
The Blumhouse-produced trilogy has reached its conclusion. In this iteration of the convoluted “choose-your-own-adventure” timeline, the tales of Michael and Laurie culminated with the Halloween Ends finale and the gruesome fate of the white-masked killer. However, the franchise is already set to return, as a Halloween TV show is in the works. In the world of movies, no one is ever truly gone, so who knows, perhaps we'll witness a digitally rejuvenated Laurie in the not-so-distant future. Until then, I'll just be dwelling on what could've happened in Kills.
For those interested, David Gordon Green's Halloween trilogy, sans Laurie Strode flashbacks, is available for rental through various platforms. You can revisit the series conclusion, Halloween Ends, with an Amazon Prime Subscription. Horror fans might also be interested in checking out our schedule of 2023 new movie releases to see what upcoming horror movies are headed to a theater near you.
