John Carpenter Teases Halloween Kills’ Body Count

Michael Myers in Halloween

The horror genre was built on long-standing franchises, including John Carpetner's Halloween. The original 1978 movie made Jamie Lee Curtis a star, and influenced countless slashers that followed. Michael Myers returned to theaters with David Gordon Green's 2018 sequel, which was a record-breaking success. Two new sequels will form a bonafide trilogy, starting with Halloween Kills this coming October. And Carpenter recently teased the massive bodycount that The Shape will amass throughout its runtime.

2018's Halloween was a direct sequel to John Carpenter's original movie, ignoring the myriad sequels that were released over the past 40 years. Carpenter himself returned to compose the score, which he also did for Halloween Kills. Carpenter has already seen the movie's cut, and spoke to its grisly amount of dead bodies, saying:

The cut is done. They’ll mix it in New York in the next week or so. Then it will be in the can. My work is all done. The movie is something else. It’s fun, intense and brutal, a slasher movie times one hundred, big time. It’s huge. I’ve never seen anything like this: the kill count.

Well, that's certainly exciting. Laurie Strode and her family failed to actually kill Michael Myers when they trapped him in her basement, and he'll be out for another rampage though Haddonfield when Halloween Kills. And this time it looks like he'll take even more victims than his 2018 appearance. That's saying something, because the most recent installment to the franchise was violent and deadly.

John Carpenter's comments to IndieWire is sure to excite the generations of horror fans out there who can't wait for Halloween Kills to hit theaters in just a few months. The 2018 movie brought Michael Myer back with a vengeance as he tore through Haddonfield, killing and sparing residents at random. The Shape killed a whopping 17 people throughout the course of the movie. But it looks like he'll be even more murderous in Halloween Kills.

Jamie Lee Curtis has teased that the upcoming sequel will "unpack" the events of John Carpenter's original Halloween. This is obvious in the movie's cast, which will see the return of both actors and characters from the 1978 classic. Kyle Richards, Charles Cyphers, Nancy Stephens will all reprise their role from the original movie, while we'll also meet adult (recast) versions of characters Tommy Doyle and Lonnie Elam. Although if Carpenter's comments are any indication, a lot of them aren't going to survive their second encounter with The Boogeyman.

Halloween Kills will also see the return of Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode, as well as her daughter and granddaughter played by Judy Greer and Andi Matichak respectively. The women are no doubt bonded by their united front against Michael Myers, and it should be interesting to see how his appearance changes the family dynamic. Laurie was about Michael right all along, despite her trauma and flaws.

All will be revealed when Halloween Kills hits theaters on October 16th. In the meantime, check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Corey Chichizola
Movies Editor

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.