Halloween director considered alternative titles for horror sequel

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Director David Gordon Green’s horror sequel Halloween (out Oct. 19) is the third film in the franchise to have that title, after John Carpenter’s series-inaugurating 1978 classic and Rob Zombie’s 2007 remake of Carpenter’s film. Indeed, in an attempt to avoid potential confusion, Green and the new film’s other behind-the-scenes principals considered a number of other possible monikers, including The Shape, a reference to the the name given to the character of masked killer Michael Myers in the final credits of Carpenter’s movie.

“That was a weird discussion,” says Green. “You know, do we call it The Shape? Do we call it Halloween Returns? What do you call it? Technically, it’s the third Halloween II. It kind of got to the point where we were like, ‘Well, we don’t want to not invite anybody. We don’t want someone who is unfamiliar with the previous films to think, well, I need to catch up.’ So then we just thought, for simplicity, let’s just call it Halloween.”

In the new Halloween, Jamie Lee Curtis reprises her signature role as the Myers-battling Laurie Strode.

“The first movie I was running more, and in this movie, I’m hunting more,” says Curtis. “[You] watch this woman take back the narrative of her life.”

Halloween costars Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, and Toby Huss, among others.