Series: Halloween

The Halloween series, launched by John Carpenter with the legendary 1978 film that codified what we know today as slasher tropes, has a sprawling and bizarre chronology, featuring multiple reboots and timelines across thirteen films.

I’m not sure that there’s a specific name for the recurring cultural phenomenon that I have in mind.

Despite its cliffhanger ending, Halloween doesn’t really suggest an obvious sequel story.

I’ll start with the obvious.

The subtitle “The Return of Michael Myers” works on three levels.

If Halloween 4 squeezed the last viable juice from the Michael Myers lemon, Halloween 5 rubs the pulpy rind in the viewers’ eyeballs.

And so the first Halloween timeline ends with a whimper. This is a bad, bad, bad movie.

After the Halloween franchise had diminished beyond recognition by the sixth outing in the franchise, it needed a new spark.

We must start with the opening.

The Halloween franchise was due for another reboot.