What To Expect From Halloween Kills And Halloween Ends

The story of the new Halloween trilogy is starting to come into sharper focus.

In a recent conversation with Collider at the Saturn Awards, franchise star Jamie Lee Curtis revealed that the flicks will be more than simply an exploration of the triumph of her character Laurie Strode over her nemesis, Michael Myers; rather, that the movies' larger theme will have to do with how survivors of traumatic events deal with and process that trauma.

Curtis was in a talkative mood after picking up an award for Best Actress in a Film for Halloween, not to mention bubbling over with excitement at the vision of writer/director David Gordon Green and co-writer Danny McBride for the final two films in the trilogy. The actress was asked a relatively straightforward question about what it was like to be able to come back to the franchise to "kick some ass" after all those years, prompting a response that was a great deal more thoughtful than one might have expected from a query about ass-kicking.

"The ass-kicking part is the fan-favorite part, but from my standpoint, I didn't go into it because I got to kick Michael's [ass]," Curtis said. "I was particularly drawn because it was a movie about trauma. We have horror movies that are horrific and we have these horrific events take place, but we leave the movie theater and then we complain that the dishwasher doesn't work. The trauma that occurs for these characters for forty years... I felt [it] was very important that David understood that, and was really giving Laurie [a] great honor to acknowledge that her experience of her life was very challenged."

"And then kick [Michael's] ass," the actress continued. "You know what I mean? [Because] then you realize that it, in fact, was all like a spider's web, but in order to go to the spider's web, you also had to see the fragile person. And I was grateful that that was the angle. I think that if from the opening section [Laurie was kicking] butt, it wouldn't have [produced] the emotional reaction that people actually had."

Curtis went on to indicate that, while this underlying theme of repressed trauma was certainly present in the first film of the new trilogy, it will be dealt with in a more explicit way in the second, Halloween Kills — and it's not just Laurie's trauma that will be explored. She alluded to the fact that the two young children from John Carpenter's 1978 original Halloween, Tommy Doyle and Lindsey Wallace, will be returning to the story as adults — and that with their first flick, Green and McBride had laid the foundation for their childhood experience to play into the new series' themes.

"What I love that David and Danny and company did, is they took the original... they connected the dots for forty years," she said, "[and] now they're going back to really unpack [Carpenter's] movie, bringing back all those characters whose lives were affected by what happened in 1978."

But while Halloween Kills will serve as an examination of the effects of violence on individuals, Curtis indicated that the third picture Halloween Ends will cast its net a little wider. It will, she says, be an indictment of how violence permeates entire cultures — a theme that could hardly be more timely.

"The last movie is [about the] sort of cultural phenomenon of violence, that's what the third movie ultimately is, a very powerful examination of violence. It comes at it from a slightly different way," she explained. "You'll like it... If you believe in me at all, I promise you [that] what David Gordon Green has come up with as a way to complete this trilogy is sensational."

Well, when it comes to all things Halloween, we tend to trust the opinion of Curtis, who landed her first starring role in Carpenter's film at the age of 19. It's also nice to know that Green and McBride will continue down the same path of thematic richness that they began with their canon-resetting first film, which received an endorsement and a brand spanking-new score from Carpenter himself. Positioned as a direct sequel to the 1978 film, the 2018 edition of Halloween was widely hailed as a far better sequel than any of the many, many films it unceremoniously dusted from the timeline.

Green has gone on record stating that Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends — which are being shot back-to-back — will conclude the saga of Laurie Strode and Michael Myers, and if Curtis' remarks are any indication, the filmmaker intends to go out with a bang. Unfortunately, we've got a bit of a wait before we find out how he and McBride will realize their vision. Halloween Kills will hit the big screen on October 16, 2020; Halloween Ends will follow on October 15, 2021.