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‘Halloween Returns’ Director Reveals the Meaning Behind the Title!

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Back in June Bloody Disgusting exclusively broke the news that Marcus Dunstan will be directing the “recalibration” of the Halloween franchise that he penned with regular collaborator Patrick Melton (various Saw sequels, as well as Pacific Rim, Feast, The Collector and The Collection).

This holiday afternoon we were pointed to a two-part YouTube video that offers 20 minutes of a 2-hour long interview with Dunstan, who reveals not only the meaning behind Halloween Returns, but also teases that The Box‘s Gillian Jacobs could be joining the cast.

While much of the interview was “lost” because of “technical difficulties”, the interviewees reveal plans for a violent opening, and confirm it will follow the events of the first three Halloween films (it’ll be interesting to see how this is even possible).

Inspired by the real-life murder of one of Dunstan’s family members, the most intriguing portion of the interview recounts the meaning behind the title Halloween Returns.

Halloween, if you have a semicolon, Returns, I think I put it in an email as a subtitle, but I think it was registered as Halloween Returns, which is fine. I like that, and it works, it does function as what it means to say. But if you commit a violent act, sometimes you get returns. What are the repercussions of being a violent entity? In that case, Halloween Returns could mean a number of things.”

And while we’re all waiting patiently for a shooting date, Dunstan does confirm that they’ve begun some tests: “The coolest thing we’ve done so far is a couple motion tests of potential Michaels.”

The duos vision for the film is built on the original film by John Carpenter and the build of suspense.

“Michael Myers is subtlety and suspense,” he explained. “Suspense isn’t expensive. A karate fight in a burning room is expensive.

He continued: “We went back to the original [Halloween] screenplay too and just read it, John Carpenter’s draft, and timed it with watching the movie, and line for line it keeps the same clock as watching the movie, so if you’re reading the pages, it’s almost like a shot list.

“I want to see a film shot on film,” he added later. “I want it to be one that stands on its own.”

Thanks to Halloween Daily News for transcribing, who also pulled out the info that, when asked about how the Michael Myers mask will look, Dunstan says it has to resemble the classic profile from the John Carpenter’s 1978 original Halloween. Of the mask’s reveal, likely in an early teaser trailer, the director sites the recent Star Wars: The Force Awakens teaser featuring a familiar yet aged Harrison Ford at the end, stating, “Our goal is to have that Han and Chewie moment.” Later, when asked if he wants to make more sequels after Halloween Returns, Dunstan, says, “I want to make The Dark Knight.”

Here are early plot details for Halloween Returns:

Halloween Returns will be a standalone film set to reintroduce audiences to Michael Myers years after his initial rampage. It will pit a new group of Haddonfield youngsters against Myers.

The now 18-year-old child of one of Myers’ victims plays a central role along with the child of a cop whose long been obsessed with Myers’ case, even putting it before his own daughter.

Myers is now on death row and the two kids with their own personal vendettas against the killer sneak in to watch his execution. But when things go awry and Myers escapes, the pair, along with their friends, find themselves in the firing line.

Updated Sep. 8 @8:36PM

Horror movie fanatic who co-founded Bloody Disgusting in 2001. Producer on Southbound, V/H/S/2/3/94, SiREN, Under the Bed, and A Horrible Way to Die. Chicago-based. Horror, pizza and basketball connoisseur. Taco Bell daily. Franchise favs: Hellraiser, Child's Play, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Scream and Friday the 13th. Horror 365 days a year.

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Dev Patel’s ‘Monkey Man’ Is Now Available to Watch at Home!

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monkey man

After pulling in $28 million at the worldwide box office this month, director (and star) Dev Patel’s critically acclaimed action-thriller Monkey Man is now available to watch at home.

You can rent Monkey Man for $19.99 or digitally purchase the film for $24.99!

Monkey Man is currently 88% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with Bloody Disgusting’s head critic Meagan Navarro awarding the film 4.5/5 stars in her review out of SXSW back in March.

Meagan raves, “While the violence onscreen is palpable and painful, it’s not just the exquisite fight choreography and thrilling action set pieces that set Monkey Man apart but also its political consciousness, unique narrative structure, and myth-making scale.”

“While Monkey Man pays tribute to all of the action genre’s greats, from the Indonesian action classics to Korean revenge cinema and even a John Wick joke or two, Dev Patel’s cultural spin and unique narrative structure leave behind all influences in the dust for new terrain,” Meagan’s review continues.

She adds, “Monkey Man presents Dev Patel as a new action hero, a tenacious underdog with a penetrating stare who bites, bludgeons, and stabs his way through bodies to gloriously bloody excess. More excitingly, the film introduces Patel as a strong visionary right out of the gate.”

Inspired by the legend of Hanuman, Monkey Man stars Patel as Kid, an anonymous young man who ekes out a meager living in an underground fight club where, night after night, wearing a gorilla mask, he is beaten bloody by more popular fighters for cash. After years of suppressed rage, Kid discovers a way to infiltrate the enclave of the city’s sinister elite. As his childhood trauma boils over, his mysteriously scarred hands unleash an explosive campaign of retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him.

Monkey Man is produced by Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions.

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