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5 ‘Halloween’ Sequels That Almost Happened

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It took 8 months and about 80 drafts for David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, and Jeff Fradley to nail the script for 2018’s most anticipated horror movie, Halloween. A direct continuation of John Carpenter’s beloved 1978 classic, the screenwriters boldly opted to ignore all subsequent sequels to go back to the roots of what made The Shape so scary. Considering just how off the rails the continuity got between seven sequels and two Rob Zombie remakes, it’s a clever choice. And that doesn’t even count the many scripts that went unused, which would’ve taken the franchise into much stranger territory. While we wait for Laurie Strode’s final battle with Michael Myers, we look back at five Halloween sequels that almost came to pass.


Halloween 666: The Origin

The initial script for the sixth entry in the Halloween series was rumored to have angered Moustapha Akkad so badly that he threw it across the room. Perhaps a large part of that was due to this iteration of Michael Myers being a homeless hobo squatting at the local Haddonfield homeless shelter. Tommy Doyle is still present in this version, but news reporter Dana takes center stage as the protagonist and long-lost sibling to Michael Myers. As for the cult of Thorn? It didn’t exist in this draft.


Halloween 3D

This almost sequel would have picked up right at the end of Rob Zombie’s Halloween II, well, more like 5 minutes before it ended, layering in new events from that fateful night and then skipping ahead to one year later. Written by Todd Farmer (Jason X, Drive Angry), Halloween 3D was meant to bridge Zombie’s take on Michael Myers back to Carpenter’s original vision. As the title suggests, this sequel would have included 3D elements like Drive Angry and My Bloody Valentine 3D, both directed by Farmer collaborator Patrick Lussier. Farmer completed the script in 2009, and it came close to getting made but never quite found the financing and time needed.


Halloween IV

After being tapped by John Carpenter and Debra Hill to write the novelizations for Halloween II and Halloween III, writer Dennis Etchison was asked by the pair to pen the script for Halloween IV. Etchison’s script was set 10 years after the events of Halloween II and would follow teens Lindsay Wallace and Tommy Doyle, the two children in Laurie Strode’s care from the first film. Haddonfield had long since banned Halloween as a holiday, with repression a central theme in the story. This version of the sequel wasn’t made, though, as Carpenter and Hill sold their interests in the franchise with Etchison’s script not part of their final deal.


Halloween 5: The Revenge of…Jamie Lloyd?

Halloween 5 was rushed into production without a completed script, thanks to the surprise success of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. There were several rejected pitches, including one by director Dominique Othenin-Girard’s friend Robert Harders, who wanted to make Michael Myers a sympathetic Frankenstein’s creature-like character. The first actual draft was written by Shem Bitterman, who wrote a continuation of the cliffhanger ending of part 4. In other words, the focus of this sequel was on Jamie Lloyd and her new lust for murder after stabbing her adoptive mother in the previous film. Even Donald Pleasance and Danielle Harris thought this was where the story would head, but producer Moustapha Akkad and Ohtenin-Girard scrapped the script and brought in Michael Jacobs to write a new script.


Halloween vs Hellraiser

Two years ago, an interview with Pinhead actor Doug Bradley revealed that we very nearly received a Michael Myers meets Cenobites crossover event. Right around the time Freddy vs Jason was in production, Dimension Films was presented with not one but two scripts for the proposed feature. They rejected both, predicting Freddy vs Jason would bomb. When it didn’t, they quickly changed their mind. The only problem? Akkad regained rights to the Halloween sequels and put an end to the crossover. It also likely didn’t help that fan reception for the concept was negative.

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

LEPRECHAUN

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

LEPRECHAUN RETURNS sequel

Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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