John Carpenter's Halloween franchise has had more than a few directors over the years, but believe it or not, one of those filmmakers was almost Quentin Tarantino. To give us an idea what he had in mind, Tarantino has now opened up about his Halloween movie that never was.
In an interview with Consequence of Sound, Tarantino explained that he almost helmed a Halloween film in 1994, specifically Halloween 6. And while he ultimately turned down that offer and (wisely) went on to make Pulp Fiction instead, Tarantino has explained what he had in mind to follow up 1989's Halloween 5.
Tarantino said he would have directly addressed the mysterious "Man in Black," who popped up at the end of Halloween 5 to free villain Michael Myers.
"It would have been, if I had done it — I never got hired — but it would have been my job to figure out who the guy in the boots is," Tarantino said in the interview. "I was like, 'Leave that scene where [the Man in Black] shows up, all right, and freeze Michael Myers.' And so the only thing that I had in my mind — I still hadn't figured out who that dude was — was like the first 20 minutes would have been the Lee Van Cleef dude and Michael Myers on the highway, on the road, and they stop at coffee shops and shit and wherever Michael Myers stops, he kills everybody. So, they're like leaving a trail of bodies on Route 66."
And while Tarantino didn't give much more insight into what he would have done with his Halloween film, he did have some very opinionated views about other movies in the horror franchise.
"The sequels were horrible. They're like fruit from a poison tree because Laurie is not the brother of the Shape," Tarantino said of the controversial twist from Halloween II that — spoiler — revealed Michael Myers and protagonist Laurie Strode are siblings. "It's horrible that it does that. There's something far more scary that he's going through Haddonfield and it's just her…I think they just yanked some idea out of their ass, alright, and they just talked themselves into 'Hey, well, this is why…' and now part two has a reason."
However, Tarantino did have a lot of nice things to say about Rob Zombie's contributions to the franchise — even if John Carpenter isn't a fan.
"The thing is now, I am a big fan of the Rob Zombie Halloweens," Tarantino said. "When I saw the first one, I didn't like it at all. I didn't like the aesthetic. I didn't like everything that he added to it and then the last hour just becomes this fast forward remake of the first one. What the fuck is all this shit? Eight months later, I watched it on video … and I really liked them once I got all the preconceptions out of my head.
"That kid [Daeg Faerch] is really good. I mean, what did I think Rob Zombie was going to do with it? Do I want him to do something else? I like his Sam Peckinpah aesthetic. So, now that I didn't have a bug up my ass about it, I was actually able to appreciate it. And again, it's that kid who got me into it, and Danielle Harris is fantastic.... And then the second one is really great because it completely can now go on its own."
As previously reported, director David Gordon Green's Halloween Kills will arrive on October 16, 2020, followed by Halloween Ends on October 15, 2021.
In an interview with Consequence of Sound, Tarantino explained that he almost helmed a Halloween film in 1994, specifically Halloween 6. And while he ultimately turned down that offer and (wisely) went on to make Pulp Fiction instead, Tarantino has explained what he had in mind to follow up 1989's Halloween 5.
Tarantino said he would have directly addressed the mysterious "Man in Black," who popped up at the end of Halloween 5 to free villain Michael Myers.
"It would have been, if I had done it — I never got hired — but it would have been my job to figure out who the guy in the boots is," Tarantino said in the interview. "I was like, 'Leave that scene where [the Man in Black] shows up, all right, and freeze Michael Myers.' And so the only thing that I had in my mind — I still hadn't figured out who that dude was — was like the first 20 minutes would have been the Lee Van Cleef dude and Michael Myers on the highway, on the road, and they stop at coffee shops and shit and wherever Michael Myers stops, he kills everybody. So, they're like leaving a trail of bodies on Route 66."
And while Tarantino didn't give much more insight into what he would have done with his Halloween film, he did have some very opinionated views about other movies in the horror franchise.
"The sequels were horrible. They're like fruit from a poison tree because Laurie is not the brother of the Shape," Tarantino said of the controversial twist from Halloween II that — spoiler — revealed Michael Myers and protagonist Laurie Strode are siblings. "It's horrible that it does that. There's something far more scary that he's going through Haddonfield and it's just her…I think they just yanked some idea out of their ass, alright, and they just talked themselves into 'Hey, well, this is why…' and now part two has a reason."
However, Tarantino did have a lot of nice things to say about Rob Zombie's contributions to the franchise — even if John Carpenter isn't a fan.
"The thing is now, I am a big fan of the Rob Zombie Halloweens," Tarantino said. "When I saw the first one, I didn't like it at all. I didn't like the aesthetic. I didn't like everything that he added to it and then the last hour just becomes this fast forward remake of the first one. What the fuck is all this shit? Eight months later, I watched it on video … and I really liked them once I got all the preconceptions out of my head.
"That kid [Daeg Faerch] is really good. I mean, what did I think Rob Zombie was going to do with it? Do I want him to do something else? I like his Sam Peckinpah aesthetic. So, now that I didn't have a bug up my ass about it, I was actually able to appreciate it. And again, it's that kid who got me into it, and Danielle Harris is fantastic.... And then the second one is really great because it completely can now go on its own."
As previously reported, director David Gordon Green's Halloween Kills will arrive on October 16, 2020, followed by Halloween Ends on October 15, 2021.
