For the past few years, things have been uncharacteristically quiet on the Halloween front. The Michael Myers-led horror franchise may have been in hibernation between the years of 2009 and 2018, following the less-than-stellar reception of Rob Zombie’s Halloween II remake sequel. But then, from 2018 to 2022, you practically couldn’t throw a rock without hitting a new Halloween project. Blumhouse and director David Gordon Green made not one, not two, but three new Halloween films, creating their own Halloween reboot trilogy. The last of those was called Halloween Ends and fittingly concluded with Michael Myers getting quite literally tossed into a meat grinder.
So where does the franchise go after that? It would appear that the folks running the ship have made the smart choice to let the franchise rest for a bit, at least cinematically, so as to avoid oversaturation. But Halloween fans will be getting their Myers-related fix in the very near future in the video game world, as the long-awaited Halloween: The Game is finally releasing next month. And in a coordinated marketing effort to drum up further excitement for the release, the makers of the game are partnering with theaters across the country to re-release the original trilogy of Halloween films.
Halloween: The Game is set to be an immersive horror gaming experience that puts players directly into the town of Haddonfield on Halloween night in 1978, living out the events of the first and second movies, both of which take place on that same night. Thus, re-releasing these films in theaters, to give fans a chance to get so thoroughly reacquainted with the details in which the game is going to be reveling, is a great choice. It’s also just wonderful to give a whole new generation of fans the chance to experience these films on the big screen for the first time.
The films will be showing on consecutive nights, with each film getting a single-night release. John Carpenter’s original 1978 Halloween will be showing on September 4, Rick Rosenthal’s Halloween II will be showing on September 5, and Tommy Lee Wallace’s Halloween III: The Season of the Witch will be showing on September 6. All of this leads up nicely to the release of Halloween: The Game on September 8, meaning fans can see all three films in theaters and then rush home to buy the game hours later.
The thing that really sells this as a great marketing tactic for me is the inclusion of Season of the Witch here. The team could’ve easily stopped short and opted to simply release the first two films alone, given their narrative correlation to the game itself. However, the choice to go that extra mile and ensure that the absolutely gonzo now-cult classic, Michael Myers-less third installment was included is just great. I’ll be there all three nights, soaking up the Halloween vibes on the big screen for as long as I can.
Add us as a preferred source on Google