The anticipated October sequel to 2018’s surprise hit ‘HALLOWEEN’–the newer version of the 1978 HALLOWEEN that pretended Halloween 3, 4, 5, 6, the 6 Director’s Cut, H20, 8, and the ROB ZOMBIE versions 1 and 2, or 9, and 10 depending on your point of view, never happened–has been delayed until October 2021. Read that again if you need to.

This is only one of several movies that have been delayed in 2020. It will be interesting to see what Hollywood and the modern box office look after 2020..

The sequel to 2018’s John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN was set to be called HALLOWEEN KILLS.. It was going to be released Halloween 2020. But with theater shutdowns, the Covid-19 pandemic, and movie theaters teetering on the brink of sudden 21st century extinction, the film will now is planning to be released some time in October ’21.. COVID-willing.

As a tribute to the fans who have were looking forward to this year’s sequel, a brief teaser was released showing a distraught Jamie Lee Curtis reviving her role again as Laurie Strode. The film portends to pick up mere seconds after the final scene of the 2018 movie:

The official statement…

Director David Gordon Green (who co-wrote the script with Danny McBride and Scott Teems) and producer John Carpenter addressed the project’s pandemic-era postponement in a joint statement on Twitter.

“If we release it in October of this year as planned, we have to face the reality that the film would be consumed in a compromised theatrical experience,” it reads. “After weighing our options, we have chosen to push the film’s theatrical release by one year … It is an honor to be working with these characters and spending time in Haddonfield. We look forward to sharing our next chapters with you.”

The full press release here:

THE PANDEMIC HORROR

John Carpenter added something more to the mix when commenting about HALLOWEEN KILLS.

Green and Carpenter went on to say:

“It takes place the same night, picking up where the last movie ended,” McBride explained. “Events in the film bring together a lot of characters who were in the 1978 film who we didn’t see last time. They gather to try, once and for all, to take down Michael, to stop this madman.”
“The [2018 movie] was more about Laurie’s life of isolation after Michael and her attempts at revenge,” Green continued. “It was personal. This is more about the unraveling of a community into chaos. It’s about how fear spreads virally.”

The unraveling of a community as fear spreads virally..

Just like the unravelling of a society as a virus spreads virally?

Horror.. once again.. is speaking to our times.

HORROR AND PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING

We have a little theory here that we have perpetuated since the year 1999 when we first starting blogging on the Angelfires and Geocities… and the eventually the Bloggers and the Tumblrs and the Twitters and the GoDaddys and the Bluehosts:

NO matter the era you live in, look to horror movies and professional wrestling to gauge the pop culture and history and feeling, mood and signs of the times.

Hulk Hogan ate vitamins and pride in the 80s while Jason Vorhees and Freddy Krueger killed the sinners as though they were God.

The 90s was sarcastic and crude. Stone Cold Steve drank his beer and horror turned to SCREAM to make a mockery of the 80s patriotism and shoulder pads.

In the 2000s? A complete mess! Just like society. Bloodlust and darkness. Wrestling went haywire.. Kurt Angle’s patriotism in WWE and horror went bloodsoaked with torture porn in SAW as we watched real horror, and beheadings take place after 9/11..

And finally the PURGE began to give us lessons about life in the mid 2000 somethings and beyond.

But these modern times are not the only time that horror has influenced our way of life (minus out Vince McMahon at this point since he didn’t take over the industry and solidify power until the 80s)

HORROR MOVIES WITH SOME OF THE BEST POLITICAL COMMENTARY

GET OUT by Jordan Peele! Hands across America! Racism! So many lessons learned about white privilege in the film.

THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS by Wes Craven.. racial and class divisions of the Reagan era, Craven trades his traditional Boogeymen for good ol’ nonsupernatural mankind.

Where Night of the Living Dead was rife with racial commentary during the height of the civil rights movement, Dawn of the Dead reflects Romero’s concern for cultural apathy consumerism.

Rosemary’s Baby is wrought with rape culture and concerns of consent.

And so many more..

X X X

THE LAST PANDEMIC

If Michael Myers is a lesson about how spreads like a viral infection, let’s travel back to 1918 and 1919 .. the Spanish Flu pandemic was actively killing people in real life at the time. And what, you ask, was the hit of the day?

THE PLAGUE OF FLORENCE in 1919.

MOVIES SILENTLY reviewed this film:

The Plague of Florence deals with disease of a more historical kind and was released in Germany in October of 1919, smack dab in the center of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, popularly called the Spanish Influenza at the time. (The actual birthplace of the virus is still being studied but experts agree that it was not actually Spain.)

MORE..

The Plague of Florence is an epic, twisted and strange picture that has been oddly obscure until now and likely would not have been released on home media at all if Lang’s name hadn’t appeared in the credits. That’s a pity because it’s a film that really could have only been made in 1919. It’s a nihilistic visual revel in a decidedly Germanic Florence and the insanity of the plot only matched the madness of the real world. Highly recommended but only if you think you are in an emotional place to handle it.

Just more of a lesson to be told..

Horror movies… they symbolize the moment of time we are in.