Halloween Kills has the opportunity to smash a record previously held by 1981’s Halloween II in the original franchise canon. The sequel to 2018’s Halloween will pick up directly after the events of the predecessor, which is a similar tactic to Halloween II‘s spot on the timeline. Unlike the previous franchise installments, Halloween Kills has the chance to enter new territory. Initially scheduled to release in October 2020, the upcoming sequel was pushed back a year due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic; the final film in the new trilogy, Halloween Ends, is now set for October 2022.
David Gordon Green’s Halloween retconned previous installments by serving as a direct sequel to John Carpenter’s 1978 original movie. 40 years after Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) faced masked madman Michael Myers, she was forced to fight for her life again when he returned to Haddonfield. This time around, Laurie needed to protect her adult daughter, Karen (Judy Greer), and teenage granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak). The trio of women defeated their tormentor, leaving him engulfed in flames within Laurie’s fortified house. Unfortunately, Michael survives the fire, allowing him to continue his rampage with a target still on the Strode family.
The majority of previous Halloween movies follow Michael’s reign of terror on October 31st, the anniversary of his first murder as a young boy. Often, the films will begin in the days leading up to the big day, and in Halloween II‘s case, the setting spills over to the late hours or very early morning of the following day. Halloween Kills now has the opportunity to expand the timeline by following the core characters well beyond the night of October 31st, breaking a canonical franchise record in terms of the timeline of events.
What The Timeline Means For The Halloween Trilogy
Ignoring the events of Rob Zombie’s Halloween movies, the original franchise had a history of focusing on events in the late hours of Halloween night. Halloween II, specifically, held the record in terms of the timeline, seeing as it followed Laurie at the hospital directly after the events of the original movie. After another frightful series of encounters with Michael, Laurie was shown being transferred to another hospital in the very early morning hours of November 1st. Seeing as the recent trilogy is retconning those events, the new sequel will most likely shift the plot deeper into Halloween night and possibly well into the following day.
Based on the Halloween Kills trailer footage, Laurie and her family are taken to a nearby hospital. Michael survives the fire as members of the Haddonfield community, including Tommy Doyle (Anthony Michael Hall), form a mob to fight for their town. Halloween was already set in the late hours based on the desolate streets when Michael hunted down the Strode family. The new events will be set even later, and the new face-off will probably continue well into the next day as both sides regroup before another bloody battle.
The timeline of Halloween Kills‘ also brings into question the setting of Halloween Ends. Will the conclusion of the recent trilogy directly follow the events of Halloween Kills or will it be set during the events of the next Halloween season? If the sequel doesn’t time jump, Halloween Ends could potentially break a timeline record briefly held by the previous installment.
Key Release Dates
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Release Date:1982-10-22
