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Now Available, New Book ‘Taking Shape II: The Lost Halloween Sequels’ Spotlights 24 Unmade ‘Halloween’ Films!

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Prequels… sequels… reboots… crossovers… they’re all in here.

Every fan of the Halloween franchise absolutely needs to own Dustin McNeill and Travis Mullins‘ incredible book Taking Shape, which was released last year and covers the entire franchise “from script to scream.” The 400+ page book digs deep into the behind the scenes stories of every single Halloween movie, from the original classic through Halloween 2018.

And guess what? Sequel Taking Shape II: The Lost Halloween Sequels is available now!

Authors Dustin McNeill and Travis Mullins are back to bring you an inside look at Twenty-Four lost Halloween sequels you never saw on the big screen! Learn about these fascinating unmade visions direct from their creators, many of whom have never spoken publicly on the subject before. At 600 pages, Taking Shape II is brimming with untold franchise history. The journey begins with an insightful foreword by Halloween: 25 Years of Terror producer Anthony Masi. So, what are you waiting for? Grab the candy corn and settle in…

Taking Shape II covers:

  • An alternate Halloween III pitched decades after the first one!
  • Three unused versions of Halloween 4 – one with Laurie Strode!
  • Exclusive details on an early Halloween 5 – with evil Jamie Lloyd!
  • The Halloween 6 nearly produced by Quentin Tarantino!
  • An early version of Halloween 7 before it became H20!
  • Three different sequels to Halloween: Resurrection!
  • Insight into how a crossover with Hellraiser almost came to be!
  • Two different stabs at a 3D sequel in the Rob Zombie era!
  • A reboot with TWO Shapes! (And another with one hundred!)
  • A reboot that introduced the Halloween Multi-verse!

Travis Mullins teases, “Because Dustin and I are hardcore fans, we know it’s sometimes difficult to uncover anything new about the franchise. I mean, so much has been said already! But over the last two years, we’ve really dug deep, going where few have gone before, and are super excited to share what we’ve uncovered. It still amazes me that we were ever able to locate an original draft of Halloween 5 – the one with an evil Jamie Lloyd. I was almost certain the exact details of that would be forever lost to time.”

Dustin McNeill adds, “We also managed to dig up quite a bit about the lost sequels you’ve already heard of. Most fans know that Quentin Tarantino very nearly produced a version of Halloween 6. We scored the first-ever interview with the screenwriter behind that version of the film. We also interviewed Quentin’s hand-picked choice for director. So, we’ve definitely got new light to shed on that one.”

Watch the book’s trailer below and grab your copy through Amazon today!

Writer in the horror community since 2008. Editor in Chief of Bloody Disgusting. Owns Eli Roth's prop corpse from Piranha 3D. Has four awesome cats. Still plays with toys.

Books

‘The Angel of Indian Lake’ Book Review – Stephen Graham Jones Wraps Horror Lit’s Greatest Slasher Trilogy

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Angel of Indian Lake Slasher novel

With The Angel of Indian Lake, author Stephen Graham Jones tackles one of the most daunting tasks in horror: bringing a trilogy to a satisfying close. Making it even more challenging is that the final entry in Jones’ slasher trilogy endcaps two perfect entries in horror lit, with 2021’s My Heart is a Chainsaw recontextualizing the slasher formula and last year’s Don’t Fear the Reaper appropriately escalating the lore and carnage in a way that only an uber-slasher fan like Jones could.

It’s been four years since Jade Daniels stepped foot in Proofrock, Idaho. After saving the town once again and thwarting another deranged killer, Jade took the fall for her best friend and final girl, Letha. She already has a track record, after all, and Letha’s a family woman. Through Letha, Jade winds up in a place she least expected: teaching high school under the judging eyes of Proofrockers, who still blame Jade for not one but two waves of catastrophic slaughter. It doesn’t help that Jade’s return to town heralds a new reign of terror that threatens to destroy Proofrock for good. Between long-running grudges, serial killer cultists, mysterious disappearances, another wave of bizarre deaths, and that pesky Lake Witch, Jade’s return to Proofrock becomes a final stand for the town’s soul.

When the trilogy began, Jade was a troubled, lonely teen who clung to slashers like a life raft. She wore her encyclopedic knowledge of them like armor. But surviving two slashers herself, followed by two separate stints in prison and the stigma that followed, Jade returns to town a woman still navigating past traumas while trying to outgrow her adolescent defense mechanisms. But this is Proofrock, and that horror knowledge quickly proves to be necessary when one of her students goes missing, and the bodies start piling up from there. It helps that Jade’s best friend Letha won’t let her forget her horror roots or that she’s given Jade something to live for, especially where Letha’s daughter and final-girl-in-the-making Adie is concerned. While Jones’ extensive love of horror infuses every page, his heroine takes a bit to reacclimate, especially thanks to the horror she’s missed while serving time. 

The previous two novels have packed in quite a bit of supernatural and reality-based slasher terror and presented a robust suspect list from the outset. Moreover, two novels deep into Proofrock’s history and present means a lot of loose ends to tie up when it comes to its characters. Jones finds ways to deepen character arcs and flesh out Proofrock’s denizens further through nonstop horror action. Here, the red herrings can be as deadly and unhinged as the actual killer. Rampaging bears, forest fires, and supernatural happenings intercut the slasher carnage, and Jones finds creative ways to carve up an even bigger body count than before, complete with narrative twists and breezy, dialectical prose. It’s nonstop horror. Fans of the previous entries will know that’s saying a lot. Taboos get broken straightaway, and Jones continues his streak of killing his darlings; many of the deaths in this novel are devastating.

It’s impressive how Jones wields the horror as connective tissue, juggling so much Proofrock history and horror at once. But it pales in comparison to his final girl, Jade. Letha remains a force of nature, even more so considering her personal stakes here, but it’s Jade’s story. Now three novels deep, Jade has always struggled to see herself as a final girl. It’s a title she’s eager to bestow on women she deems worthy or more fitting of the archetypical role. As savvy and resilient as she is, Proofrock always had a way of blinding Jade to her own potential. The selfless way she’s saved the town over and over while taking all of the bodily damage and blowback with none of the credit is of course inherent to the final girls Jade loves so much. 

The Angel of Indian Lake’s greatest triumph isn’t its satisfying slasher mayhem but the way it proves that Jade was right all along. She’s a scrappy survivor, which by definition puts her in that coveted category of final girls. But she’s so much more than that. Jones closes the loop on so many facets of Proofrock and its characters, evolving Jade’s penchant to crown those she deems worthy of final girl status, reshaping the concept of a final girl in the process. Jade is more than just a final girl. She’s a symbolic mother of final girls, putting her life and body on the line to support others, arming them with the strength and knowledge to unleash their inner final girls. Proofrock has seen a copious amount of bloodshed over three novels, but thanks to Jade, an unprecedented number of final girls have risen to fight back in various ways. The way that The Angel of Indian Lake closes that loop is masterful, solidifying Jade Daniels’ poignant, profound legacy in the slasher realm.

Through Jade, Stephen Graham Jones delivers horror lit’s greatest slasher trilogy of all time.

The Angel of Indian Lake publishes on March 26, 2024.

4.5 out of 5 skulls

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