One of the most anticipated films of 2018’s Halloween season has to be the new entry in John Carpenter’s Halloween franchise. The film, which shares the same name as the original 1978 film and no sequel designation, ignores all of the various sequels (yes, even Halloween II) and remakes that followed. Instead, it will pick up decades after the original with Jamie Lee Curtis returning to the role of Laurie Strode who is hell-bent on killing her little brother, Michael Meyers.
This isn’t the first time the Halloween franchise has ignored it’s own history. Notoriously, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, was a standalone storyline featuring only the moniker. It was likely a failed effort by Universal to leverage the Halloween branding for a series of feature films unrelated to trials and tribulations of Michael and Laurie.
One cool bit of trivia is that the original Halloween exists as a film in the world that Halloween III takes place. In one scene the trailer Carpenter’s Halloween can be seen on television.
Enter 2018’s Halloween trailer and we now have a completed infinite feedback loop between the 1978 Halloween and Halloween III. In the trailer for the new film we see Curtis running out into the street and telling a group of costumed kids to “get inside.”
These kids are wearing the three iconic Silver Shamrock Novelties masks from the third film: a witch, a skeleton, and a pumpkin.
What does it all mean?
On the surface, it means someone decided to make a clever nod to the ugly stepchild of the Halloween franchise. However, we aren’t here for simple explanations. No, we’re here to overanalyze! What it really means is the 1978 and 2018 Halloweens are fake movies in the Halloween III universe but in the 1978 and 2018 Halloween universe there was a Halloween III film that inspired the kid costumes! It’s an infinite loop of each film informing the other film eternally.
Happy, happy Halloween, Halloween, Halloween.
Happy, happy Halloween, Silver Shamrock!
