In a move that comes as no surprise to anyone who’s been following the production of Blumhouse/Universal’sHalloweenreboot, today brings word that the MPAA has given director David Gordon Green’s film an R rating for “horror violence and bloody images, language, brief drug use and nudity.” While even successful fear practitioners sometimes employ a PG-13 rating in order to court a wider audience, the recent mainstream successes of films likeGet OutandIT: Chapter Onehave opened the floodgates for a new wave of creepers that refuse to pull their punches.
The trailer forHalloweenexudes ultraviolence, and reports ofadditional footage out of San Diego Comic-Conand other significant festivals is already legendary. One scene in particular has been described in detail and features an unbroken sequence of “The Shape” dispatching multiple victims; one woman gets her skull pulverized with a hammer before another gets a kitchen knife pushed all the way through her throat. Then, there’s the kill revealed by NECA’s most recent Michael Myers action figure (also unveiled at Comic-Con) which includes a decapitated head carved up like a jack o lantern. Of course, there are also the details leaked from the test screening a couple month back, but we won’t be touching those with a 10-foot pole!
Blumhouse’sHalloweenis slated to hit theaters on October 19th andreunites Jamie Lee Curtis with original Michael Myers actor Nick Castle(although the majority of The Shape’s role was shot with stuntman James Jude Courtney). With the film being billed as an epic battle royale 40 years in the making, fans would probably have rioted hadHalloweennabbed anything less that a juicy R rating. Laurie Strode has transformed from a shrinking violet to a no-nonsense survivalist with an arsenal at her disposal. In case you hadn’t heard, the newHalloweenis a direct sequel to the original; this means (in the retconned universe) it’s the first time horror’s premiere “Final Girl” and the archetypal slasher have crossed paths since 1978 (and we can all just forget about 1998’s atrociousHalloween H20: 20 Years Later).
As we continue our march towardsHalloween’s October 19th release date, we can expect excitement to increase exponentially. The film’s release coincides with the originalHalloween’s 40th Anniversary, and Master of Horror John Carpenter has returned to the franchise as executive producer andto score the soundtrack. There’s also a convention in the works: H40: Forty Years of Terror Convention is taking place in Southern California October 12th thru 14th. This news first came our way viaCollider.
