Friday, October 25, 2013

In Memoriam: The Original Series' Canon


There's not a single person or word left I'd like to write about regarding Halloween: Resurrection.  However, it did make one big notable kill; the original franchise's storyline.  Yes, there were (to keep things simple) 2 different stories, but they all stemmed from the first 2 films.  Resurrection did open solid and made its money back, but things were much notably down from H20's take.  Plus there was plenty of fan backlash.  Moustapha Akkad pledged to truck on with a further sequel to the franchise.  Akkad vowed never to have remake of the original film.  There were many ideas floating about on how and where to take this film after Resurrection.  There was a popular script that featured Michael Myers in prison awaiting his trial or death row or something.  Another idea was to explore Michael's past as a child through a prequel.  I think another idea kind of combined both of those.  I don't think bringing Busta Rhymes back was ever in the cards.

Personally, i thought there was room enough if they wanted to tell a prequel to do it.  But, not going back to his childhood.  I figured you could spend some time in Smith's Grove.  Have it be similar to the asylum in Silence of the Lambs for some creepiness.  But mainly, you can make your slasher film in there.  Tell of the night Michael broke out.  End with Dr. Loomis pulling up and Michael escaping.  Sure, you'll have to forgo the classic mask, but you could tell a pretty thrilling story with a body count there.  Plus, we never know what staff died and survived, so there's still some suspense as to who may/may not make it through the night.  That's just my thoughts.
Tragedy struck when Moustapha Akkad and his daughter were killed in the Jordan bombings in 2005.  It was an incredibly sad day for everyone, but for fans of the series, he was the name you see every time one of them starts.  I know I just kinda bashed him in my previous article, and I'll still keep to what I said, but this man was the biggest champion of the series.  He never turned his back on it and just kept going.  He loved Michael Myers and never wanted to stop making films about him.  And with Moustapha's death, so went the original franchise canon.
Moustapha's son Malek Akkad took the reigns following his father's death.  After the Platinum Dunes' The Texas Chainsaw Massacre took off, horror remakes were becoming all the craze.  It was a way of rejuvenating tired, stale horror franchises and making them accessible and fresh for younger generations.  Fans don't like it because their storylines they've been OCD about keeping up with are cut off and restarted, but they should be happy that there's being some money put into their favorite stories and monsters with the hopes to try and make them prestigious and scary again.  At least, that's the hope.  Not all of them work.  But this trend, while tired, keeps the monsters relevant, on big screens and in the public conscience.
Nobody wanted a follow up to Halloween: Resurrection.  You can't ret-con and then go back and start telling the story after Curse again, you'll just be confusing the hell out of people.  There was no where left to go.  If a new film about Michael Myers was to be made, this was about the only feasible route to take.  Malek made the right decision.  One his father couldn't make.  He also went above and beyond what others were doing with remakes.  He hired a big name director/auteur to take the charge of reimagining Michael Myers.

And soon, very soon, we're going to talk about it.




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