Halloween

On October 29, 2018, Michael Myers has been locked up at Smith's Grove Psychiatric Hospital for 40 years and is about to be moved to a facility called Glass Hill. True crime podcasters Aaron Korey and Dana Haines visit him at the hospital. Aaron pulls out the old mask Michael wore in 1978 and holds it up to him. Michael does not react. Michael's psychiatrist is Dr. Ranbir Sartain, a former student of Dr. Samuel Loomis.

In Haddonfield, Laurie Strode lives alone in a fortified house in the woods. She drinks, trains with guns and has never stopped waiting for Michael to come back. The state took her daughter Karen away when Karen was 12, and the two barely speak. Karen's teenage daughter Allyson still tries to keep her grandmother in her life. Aaron and Dana also visit Laurie at her compound to ask about that night.

On the night of October 30, the bus carrying Michael and other patients crashes. Michael kills the guards at the wreck, then kills a father and his son nearby and takes their truck. On Halloween morning he finds Aaron and Dana at a gas station after they visited his sister Judith's grave. He kills Aaron, Dana and the station workers, takes a mechanic's coveralls and gets his old mask back from Aaron's car. Laurie hears about the escape and warns Karen, who brushes her off.

That night Michael moves through a Haddonfield neighborhood, killing a woman in her kitchen with a hammer and another with a knife. At a party, Allyson catches her boyfriend Cameron Elam cheating and leaves with his friend Oscar. Allyson's best friend Vicky is babysitting a boy named Julian when Michael kills her and her boyfriend Dave. Julian escapes. Deputy Frank Hawkins, who arrested Michael in 1978, drives to the house with Laurie. Laurie sees Michael for the first time in 40 years and shoots at him, but he gets away.

The police take Laurie, Karen and Karen's husband Ray to Laurie's compound. Sartain talks Sheriff Barker into letting him ride along in the hunt. Michael kills Oscar by impaling him on a wrought iron fence. Hawkins and Sartain rescue Allyson, and Hawkins takes Michael down. Before Hawkins can kill him, Sartain attacks Hawkins and leaves him for dead. Sartain admits he arranged the escape because he wanted to see Michael kill in the wild. He puts Michael and Allyson in the back of the police car and drives toward Laurie's house. Michael wakes up, stomps Sartain's head, and Allyson runs off into the woods.

Michael kills the two officers guarding the compound and strangles Ray. He attacks Laurie, stabs her and throws her off a balcony. When he looks down, her body is gone, the same way he vanished in 1978. Karen shoots him in the cheek. The three women trap him inside the basement safe room and set the house on fire. Laurie tells him goodbye before she faints, and her family takes her to the hospital. The last shot shows the burning basement with no sign of Michael. After the credits, his breathing can be heard.

Story notes

• Forty years after the 1978 murders, Michael Myers escapes during a prison transfer and returns to Haddonfield.
• Laurie Strode, who has spent decades preparing for his return, confronts him while trying to protect her family.

Release facts

• Runtime: 105 min (Universal home video and The Numbers; Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo list 106 min)
• Rated: R for horror violence and bloody images, language, brief drug use and nudity
• Domestic: $159,366,015 (The Numbers); $159,342,015 (Box Office Mojo)
• Worldwide: $255,416,089 (The Numbers); $259,939,835 (Box Office Mojo, all releases)

The world premiere was at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2018, in the Midnight Madness section. It finished runner-up for the Midnight Madness People's Choice Award. Universal released it in North America on October 19, 2018, a week before the original's 40th anniversary. CinemaCon saw footage on April 25, 2018, and Curtis, Green, Akkad and Blum presented in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con on July 20, 2018. Trailers came out June 8 and September 5, 2018. Universal estimated its advertising spend at $75.5 million.

It opened in 3,928 theaters against a projection of $57 to $65 million. Thursday previews brought in $7.7 million, the first day $33.3 million, and the weekend $76.2 million. That was the second-best October opening ever after Venom and Blumhouse's biggest opening until Five Nights at Freddy's in 2023. It was also the best opening for a film led by an actress over 55, and the opening weekend alone made it the top-grossing Halloween film. It held first place in its second weekend with $32 million, a 58% drop. It made $5.5 million on Halloween, a Wednesday, and $10.8 million in its third weekend.

The global opening was $90.5 million, with $14.3 million from overseas. The biggest early markets were Mexico ($5 million), Australia ($4.8 million), the UK ($3.6 million) and Russia ($1.8 million). The final worldwide total was about $255 to $260 million on a $10 million budget, and it passed Scream (1996) as the highest-grossing slasher film in unadjusted dollars. Deadline put its net profit at $128.5 million.

Rotten Tomatoes has 79% from 385 reviews, averaging 6.8/10. Metacritic has 67 from 51 reviews. CinemaScore audiences gave it a B+, and PostTrak showed 75% positive. Peter Debruge of Variety called it fan service disguised as a horror movie and said it works as both. Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com gave it two stars and said it lacks the original's atmosphere.

Awards: Jamie Lee Curtis won Best Actress at the Saturn Awards, where the film was also nominated for Best Horror Film. It got four Fangoria Chainsaw Award nominations: Best Wide Release, Best Actor (Courtney and Castle), Best Actress (Curtis) and Best Makeup FX (Nelson). Rhian Rees was nominated for Most Frightened Performance at the 2019 MTV Movie and TV Awards.

Press and marketing

• Theatrical key-art / poster campaign reference: IMP Awards — Halloween (2018) poster archive.

Cast

Crew

Production

After Rob Zombie's Halloween II in 2009, Dimension Films tried for years to make another sequel. Halloween 3D with Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer was planned for Shreveport, Louisiana, in 2009 and then shelved. Josh Stolberg revised a Halloween: Asylum script in 2013. Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan wrote Halloween Returns, set in 1988 in Russellville, Illinois, with Dunstan set to direct. Malek Akkad postponed it in October 2015, later saying the studio wanted to shoot in Serbia. In December 2015 Dimension lost the rights and they went back to Miramax.

On May 24, 2016, Blumhouse and Miramax announced they would co-finance a new film, with Universal distributing through its deal with Blumhouse. Mike Flanagan was courted to direct but passed. Adam Wingard also discussed the job. John Carpenter came on as executive producer in 2016 and said he wanted to help make the 10th sequel the scariest of them all.

On February 9, 2017, David Gordon Green and Danny McBride were announced as writers, with Green directing and Carpenter advising. They brought in Jeff Fradley, a friend from the North Carolina School of the Arts. The story became a direct sequel to the 1978 film that ignores every other entry. Early drafts gave Laurie her Halloween 4 daughter Jamie Lloyd, later rewritten as Karen. Another draft reworked the 1978 ending so Laurie shot Michael off the balcony after he killed Loomis. The team wrote 80 drafts over eight months and kept rewriting until the last week of filming.

Jamie Lee Curtis confirmed her return in September 2017. Judy Greer entered talks in October 2017, and Andi Matichak was cast as Allyson on December 7, 2017. On December 20, 2017, Nick Castle's return was announced alongside actor and stuntman James Jude Courtney. Stunt coordinator Rawn Hutchinson recommended Courtney. Christopher Nelson told Green not to cast a hulking stuntman. Green asked for Castle's original moves plus a cat-like efficiency, and Courtney studied his own cat, Parcival. Virginia Gardner, Miles Robbins, Dylan Arnold and Drew Scheid were confirmed on January 13, 2018, and Will Patton on January 16. Danielle Harris asked Blumhouse about bringing back Jamie Lloyd and was turned down.

Filming was first set for late October 2017 but started January 13, 2018, in Charleston, South Carolina. Michael Simmonds shot the film, with Paul Daley and Stewart Cantrell operating camera. Curtis finished her scenes on February 16, and principal photography wrapped February 19, 2018. After the first test screening, reshoots began June 11, 2018, again in Charleston. Courtney had one week of rehearsal before cameras rolled.

Colin Mahan, a stand-up comedian who does a Donald Pleasence impression, voiced Dr. Loomis on the podcasters' tape after an executive producer happened to hear him. At Carpenter's suggestion, some drafts put Loomis on screen, played by art director Sean White, who looks like Pleasence. That idea was dropped here and used in Halloween Kills with Tom Jones Jr.

Ryan Turek at Blumhouse set up Nelson's meetings with Green and Akkad after Nelson offered to cut his rate to get on the film. Nelson played Officer Francis, and he and Charlie Benton improvised their conversation in the police car.

Ryan Turek arranged Nelson’s conversations with Green and Akkad after Nelson volunteered to lower his rate to join Halloween.

Nelson and Charlie Benton improvised most of their police-car conversation on the shooting day.

Nelson doubled The Shape in two shots, including the door-window sequence where Laurie shoots his hand.

Filming locations

• Charleston, South Carolina: Stood in for Haddonfield, Illinois; principal photography January 13 to February 19, 2018, and June 2018 reshoots
• Principal photography ran January 13 to February 19, 2018 around Charleston, South Carolina, using locations such as Magnolia Cemetery, Military Magnet Academy for Smith's Grove, and residential/roadside sites in Charleston and Hanahan.

Effects and makeup

Christopher Nelson designed the makeup effects and ran the makeup department, working with Vincent Van Dyke. McBride said the goal was tension and dread more than gore.

Nelson built the mask and Michael's prosthetics from a life cast of Courtney's face. Instead of copying the 1978 mask, he tried to capture the feeling it gave. He studied how real 40-year-old masks decay and wrinkle so the new one would look like the same mask after four decades. Some of his early concepts were turned down for legal reasons that were later cleared up.

The approved mask was the second version. The first one had much less wear and discoloration. Justin Mabry spent about two days sculpting a 1978-style mask for a flashback that was cut from the script before filming.

Michael's scarred eye was a prosthetic that covered one of Courtney's eyes completely, so he could see out of only one.

Nelson doubled as The Shape for the shot where Laurie blows off Michael's fingers as he reaches through the door window. Nelson applied that hand makeup to himself, and his key artist Kevin Wasner ran the effect.

Green cast Nelson as Officer Francis after pitching him the idea of carving his head into a jack-o'-lantern.

Christopher Nelson described the 2018 kill makeups as stylized 'postcard' images, with highly realistic dummies built when human performers could not achieve the required body positions.

Christopher Nelson's department kept the Myers presentation and most kill work practical: the eye injury was a prosthetic that blocked James Jude Courtney's vision on one side, and lifelike victim dummies were built for body positions or injuries that performers could not safely achieve.

Nelson and Vincent Van Dyke developed the 40-years-aged mask through physical sculpting, casting, paint and latex weathering informed by naturally aged vintage masks rather than relying on a digitally aged face.

The approved mask was Nelson’s second version; the first had less wear and discoloration.

For the hand injury, Nelson applied the prosthetic to himself and Kevin Wasner operated the effect.

Props and costumes

Five production Myers masks were made: one for Nick Castle, two for James Jude Courtney, one stunt mask and one for prop scenes. Castle's mask was thinner with more room for a different head shape.

Nelson made the screen mask with Vincent Van Dyke. Trick or Treat Studios got the official costume license, and Nelson and Van Dyke joined its design team. The retail masks were made from tooling taken from the screen-used mold.

Emily Gunshor designed the costumes. Michael wears the coveralls he takes from the gas station mechanic.

Premiere Props auctioned Virginia Gardner's bloody Vicky T-shirt, marked Vicky #2 inside the collar.

Five production Myers masks were made for distinct shooting needs: one for Nick Castle, two for James Jude Courtney, one stunt mask and one prop-use mask, all matched to the same aged design.

The finished screen mask was sculpted by Christopher Nelson, Vincent Van Dyke and Justin Mabry; officially licensed replicas are produced from the movie master, giving the 2018 design a traceable production lineage.

Design

Production artifacts

Art and design

• The IMP Awards primary one-sheet credits LA for design and Dan Winters for photography.

Scripts and documents

The killers

Deaths

John Carpenter scored the film with his son Cody Carpenter and his godson Daniel Davies. He confirmed the deal in October 2017. Carpenter had scored Halloween, Halloween II and Halloween III. They recorded at Carpenter's house and rebuilt his 1978 themes, including the main title, with modern gear.

Halloween (Original 2018 Motion Picture Soundtrack), Sacred Bones Records (SBR-213). iTunes on October 18, 2018, then a wide digital, CD and vinyl release on October 19. Twenty-one tracks, including Halloween Theme, Laurie's Theme, The Shape Returns, Wrought Iron Fence, The Shape and Laurie Fight, Trap the Shape and Halloween Triumphant.

Vinyl came in more than 20 color variants over four pressings from Sacred Bones and Waxwork Records. Examples include Pumpkin Orange, Bloody Knife (UK stores), Dirty Bloody Mask (FYE), Michael Myers (Waxwork), Glow-in-the-Dark, Candy Corn (Vinyl Me, Please) and Pool of Blood (Bull Moose).

An expanded edition came out October 18, 2019, on Bandcamp and on 2xLP from Sacred Bones (SBR-231) and Waxwork. Waxwork's version adds more than 28 minutes of unreleased music on Jack 'o Lantern Orange with Black Splatter vinyl, with Marc Aspinall artwork and a lenticular gatefold where the flames move over Michael when you slide off the sleeve.

Chart peaks: 23 on Billboard US Soundtrack Albums, 31 on UK Soundtrack Albums and 148 in Belgium (Wallonia). Metacritic score of 72. The score won Best Score at the 2018 Fright Meter Awards.

Soundtrack releases

Home Media

• Digital: December 28, 2018.
• Universal 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand: January 15, 2019. The 4K disc is HDR10 at 2.39:1 with English DTS:X, Dolby Digital 2.0, and Spanish and French DTS 5.1. Subtitles are English SDH, Spanish and French. Runtime is 1 hour 45 minutes.
• Deleted and extended scenes: Extended Shooting Range, Shower Mask Visit, Jog to a Hanging Dog, Allyson and Friends at School, Cameron and Cops Don't Mix, Deluxe Banh Mi Cops, and Sartain and Hawkins Ride Along.
• Featurettes: Back in Haddonfield: Making Halloween; The Original Scream Queen; The Sound of Fear; Journey of the Mask; The Legacy of Halloween.
• Home video sales estimated by The Numbers: $10.6 million on DVD and $13.3 million on Blu-ray.

• Halloween: The Official Movie Novelization by John Passarella, Titan Books, 2018.
• Trick or Treat Studios: Halloween (2018) Michael Myers mask, a Bloody Edition mask, kitchen knife prop, 1:6 scale Michael Myers figure with figure stand, enamel pin, and adult coveralls. All officially licensed.
• NECA: Ultimate Michael Myers 7-inch scale action figure (2018).
• NECA: Michael Myers 1/4 scale action figure, over 18 inches tall with more than 25 points of articulation, knife, hammer and victim head.
• Waxwork Records and Sacred Bones Records: soundtrack LP variants (2018) and expanded 2xLP (2019).
• Trick or Treat Studios Halloween (2018) Michael Myers 1:6 scale figure.

Books and publishing

The catalog

Trailers & clips

Gallery

Posters & Key Art

Film Stills

Behind the Scenes

Press & Promo

Effects

Props

Alternate Art

Merchandise