Can Halloween Kills Avoid Rob Zombie’s Unmasked Michael Controversy?
Halloween Kills promises to unmask Michael Myers for the world to see, but can it avoid the backlash the 2007 remake faced for doing exactly that?
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Halloween Kills will unmask Michael Myers, but can it avoid the controversy Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake caused by doing so? A sequel to 2018’s Halloween (the second reboot of the series after Zombie’s high-octane and intense attempt back in 2007), the trailer for Halloween Kills promises to be even more brutal and terrifying than the last movie, which is in and of itself no easy feat. The new trailer features striking imagery of Michael emerging unscathed from the burning house he was trapped in at the end of the last movie, his burnt mask representing his growing fury at being eluded.
Even though this will be the 12th film in the Halloween series, this new reboot series is a direct sequel to the original 1978 masterpiece, forging its own lore and ignoring the messier sequels that came afterwards. One big aspect to making the films feel continuous with each other is Michael’s iconic white mask, which in 2018’s Halloween is a direct replica of the mask from the first. This gives audiences a sense of familiarity with the Michael in the newer films, as we know it’s the exact same monster who went on a slaughtering spree in Haddonfield over 40 years ago.
One major decision hinted at in the most recent trailer is the implication that Michael will be unmasked for the audience to see, something that has rarely happened before, the biggest exception being Rob Zombie’s Halloween series. When it was done back in 2007 the decision was met with much spite, but is there a way that David Gordon Green can pull it off to the satisfaction of fans? Rob Zombie’s Halloween was already fighting an uphill battle due to it being a movie made entirely up of his sensibilities as a filmmaker; notably, it was loud, vulgar, and hyper-violent to near-Grindhouse levels. Zombie’s Halloween feels like a cinematic shock rock concert, and while it received the blessing of Halloween creator, many fans were not impressed with the over-the-top nature of the movies as well as some of the creative decisions involved. One of the biggest changes made by Zombie was his decision to unmask Michael and show the circumstances of his family life, a decision that effectively shatters the illusion of Michael Myers as a being of pure evil.
Part of the draw of the original film, and a quality that many slasher films afterwards tried to avoid or couldn’t get quite right, is audiences never understand why Michael does the things that he does. While the movies explain Freddy Krueger’s vengeful pathos, as well as Jason Voorhees’ origin and his tragic cursed existence, John Carpenter never makes an attempt at giving a rational explanation of Michael’s violent behavior. He just is violence incarnate, and the cold emotionless stare of the mask helps to sell that. There’s a distinct reason why the original film doesn’t show Michael’s face for almost the entire movie, even during his murder of his sister at the very beginning.
If Halloween Kills does decide to unmask Michael and show what he looks like underneath, there are ways it could work however. Since the movie seems to be about the citizens of Haddonfield banding together in a makeshift militia, there could be a scene where Michael is unmasked before the crowd only for them to realize that there’s no rhyme or reason to Michael’s actions: he’s a total stranger to all of them, lacking any sense of empathy. There’s also the fact that the last movie ended with Michael being trapped in a burning house, meaning his face could be horribly burned, a decision made to reflect who Michael is on the inside. Either way, Halloween Kills has big shoes to fill and high expectations to meet, and fans of the series will get to see just how it all turns out when it releases on October 15th, 2021.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/halloween-kills-michael-myers-unmasked-rob-zombie-controversy-avoid/