Why Did Halloween Kills Vanish From Screens? The Chilling Truth No One Saw Coming!
Added on October 17, 2025 inEntertainment News Cards, Movie News Cards
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Ever wonder what happens when you ghost nearly the entire Halloween franchise except the original and then dare to slap on a sequel label? Spoiler alert: it pulls in close to $260 million, fuels a frenzy among fans, and sets up David Gordon Green and crew for what seemed like a moonshot straight into the horror hall of fame. But then, like a scary whisper riding the retrograde winds, that eerie chant “Evil Dies Tonight!” slithers through the dark. Laurie Strode’s back, bedbound in that familiar hospital bed (déjà vu much?), while Michael Myers emerges, somehow unburnt and unfazed from his fiery tomb in 2018. What’s the cosmic coincidence here? Maybe Scorpio’s fixation with the nocturnal and the mysterious was lurking behind this wild ride of a movie sequel. Buckle up, because we’re diving deep into the making, madness, and mayhem of Halloween Kills — where the past claws back and the night promises carnage galore. LEARN MORE
Imagine ignoring most of the Halloween franchise and making a direct sequel to the original and it bringing in nearly $260 Million at the box office. It was a pretty ballsy decision that could have pissed off fans, but ultimately it paid off. And it seemed like the sky was the limit for David Gordon Green and company. But then one phrase echoed out from the cold dark night: “Evil Dies Tonight!” With a swath of returning characters, a hospital bedridden Laurie Strode—wait, haven’t we done this before? Oh well—and Michael somehow making it out of that fiery trap at the end of 2018, THIS is what happened to Halloween Kills.
Originally, Halloween Kills was intended to be shot back-to-back with Halloween 2018. They had developed an idea with writer Jeff Fradley that was first envisioned to be two films, but then they realized they actually had enough material for a trilogy. But writer Danny McBride thought it better that they not get too ahead of themselves. They wanted to see what worked and what didn’t about their 2018 film and, more importantly, make sure that people liked it. Once that film was a massive success, it was a go for the second film in their proposed trilogy. Joining McBride and director David Gordon Green on writing duties was Scott Teems, who was already developing multiple scripts with Blumhouse Productions. He got to work on a script from an idea from McBride and Green, and they’d eventually do rewrites as well. Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, and Andi Matichak were announced as returning to their roles, with an announcement video releasing in July of 2019, which revealed both the titles and release dates for the sequels. Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends.
It was originally announced that Kills and Ends would be filmed back-to-back, stop me if you’ve heard that one before, but instead, it was cut back to just the first sequel, as the shoot was said to be very intense. They originally planned on filming Kills in Charleston, South Carolina, just like 2018, but instead production shifted to North Carolina due to the tax incentives no longer being available in South Carolina. It also helped that Screen Gems Studios was located there and had massive stages ready to use. Ultimately, they remade the Myers house on the soundstage and were able to use the hospital set originally built for the Swamp Thing TV series.
They decided to follow in the tradition of the original Halloween 2 and follow up on the same night as Halloween 2018, therefore there would be plenty of returning characters. One person who was a bit surprising to return was Will Patton’s Hawkins, who seemingly was killed by Dr Sartain in a pretty definitive way. But Green liked working with Patton so much, and the audience enjoyed him too, so he decided to bring him back. Though much like Laurie, he’d be spending much of the film bedridden. But it wasn’t just characters from 2018 that would be brought back, as the creatives looked towards who to bring back from the original film.
Paul Rudd was approached to reprise his Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers role as Tommy Doyle, but was said to have to decline due to commitments with Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Though, can you imagine if he had returned, especially since they had already wiped all the films except the original film from the canon? Rudd’s return would have just opened up a whole new can of worms. Instead, they cast Anthony Michael Hall in the role after he had a very productive meeting with Green. And if you’re going to bring back Tommy Doyle, you may as well bring back Lindsay Wallace. But unlike Doyle, the filmmakers were able to bring back the original actress, Kyle Richards. Richards had long since left the world of acting, but was still a prominent figure on TV due to being in The Real Housewives of LA. Nancy Stephens, who plays Nurse Marion alongside Dr Loomis in the original film’s opening, would also return. And while getting considerably less screentime than some of the other legacy characters, Charles Cyphers’ Leigh Brackett would also make a brief but memorable appearance.
One surprising return would be that of Dr. Samuel Loomis. While Donald Pleasance had long since passed, Tom Jones Jr would step into the role since he shared a resemblance. Funnily enough, Jones Jr was actually head of carpentry on the films. His voice would be dubbed over by Colin Mahan. James Jude Courtney would return to the role of The Shape, while stuntman Airon Armstrong would take over for flashbacks. Nick Castle would also return for a select scene where Myers shows up in a bathroom, as he was considered a “good luck charm” by producer Ryan Turek.
We even get a scene that involves the police hunt for Michael after the original film. The original script had even more scenes set in 1978, and a young Laurie Strode would have been prominent. Fortunately for us, it was decided that Curtis was too important as the character that they couldn’t cast someone else for her younger version, and they didn’t have the budget to de-age her. We also would have found out that Young Hawkins, who accidentally shoots his partner in the neck instead of Michael, actually did so because he was drunk, having found out that his girlfriend was cheating on him. Ultimately, those scenes were cut from the final script. But we would still receive several scenes set in 1978, which required the building of the original Myers house. This was all done in a warehouse, with six houses being built in total. Since they also had scenes taking place in 2018 at the house, that required it to be dressed completely different, depending on the decade.
And with ‘78 getting showcased, it also meant they needed to recreate the classic Myers mask. FX guru Christopher Nelson constantly used the original Don Post mask as a source and was able to make a damn near exact replica. As for the present-day mask, Nelson added some fire damage but kept much of the same look from 2018. In fact, they only used two masks during filming: the hero mask and the one used for the fire scenes. Despite his fiery finale at the end of 2018, it would be revealed that Michael Myers had escaped relatively unscathed and taken out a slew of firefighters in the process. Since they were no longer filming in the same location, they had to burn down a different house for the shoot. And the firefighters were actually made up of mostly real-life firefighters from the area, who could not be more excited to get killed by The Shape.
“Evil Dies Tonight” ended up being the mantra of the angry mob in the film, deadset on finding Michael Myers and putting an end to his rampage. It’s one of the more divisive elements of the film, and it can feel like a bit of a detour from everything else going on in the film. But Green really wanted to focus on the effect that Michael would have on the community and the mob mentality of it all.
A broadcast shown at the local bar in the film goes through Michael’s victims from ’78, including Annie, Lynda, and Bob. Hilariously, the production wasn’t able to get ahold of a high school photo of actor John Michael Graham, who originally portrayed Bob. And during their search, they found one of actor Bob Odenkirk, which bore a striking resemblance. Green asked Bob’s manager, and he approved the photo, making it one of the stranger cameos in the film.
We would also see the return of the Silver Shamrock masks, being worn by a group of kids and later used in one of Michael’s art projects. During the sequence where Michael attacks the car, the production took an unorthodox approach to filming. They would use two separate units, one filming the actors in the front, and one filming the actors in the back. This allowed them to shoot at a much faster pace, though it certainly wasn’t easy to pull off. Kyle Richards actually broke her nose in the scene, which was something she kept secret from the crew as she didn’t want to be replaced with a stunt double for the action moments.
For the moment that Laurie is brought in to the hospital for surgery, they hired an actual surgery team, who performed a fake surgery on the prosthetic on Curtis’ stomach. Since they were real doctors and nurses, the filmmakers asked them to provide insight and shape the scene, versus trying to get them to perform a scene from the script. Green would take a documentary approach to filming it.
The final major sequence, where Michael is attacked on the street by the angry mob and then turns the tables on them, was shot half on the streets of Wilmington, and half on a sound stage. They would place performers on a turntable, which gave the sequence a dreamlike effect.
The night shoots made for a very tough filming schedule. In fact, it even resulted in Director of Photography Michael Simmonds getting vertigo and having to be in a wheelchair for a week of the production. Thankfully, camera operator Paul Daley was able to step in as DP and maintain a similar look until Simmonds was able to fully return.
Universal’s home video department asked for an Extended Cut of the film, which would feature some more violent kills. But one of the major changes was with the ending. Originally, the film was to end with Laurie taking the knife and heading out through the hospital on a mission. But Green decided against it, and instead ended the theatrical version of the film with Laurie in her hospital room and Michael staring at the camera after killing Karen. But Green was able to utilize his originally conceived ending for the Extended version.
John Carpenter would return to score the film alongside his son Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies. It featured familiar beats to 2018 but with just enough change to make it its own.
Halloween Kills was originally going to release on October 16th, 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was delayed a whole year. But that’s not all that was changed with the release, as it would come to theaters as well as Peacock on the exact same day. It eventually released on October 15th, 2021, and would bring in nearly $50 million (49.4) on its opening weekend. The film would end its run at $133 Million worldwide, considerably less than its predecessor. Whether that was due to the Peacock release or bad word of mouth is anyone’s guess. Critically, Kills fared much worse than 2018, garnering a 38% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Considerably worse than 79% Fresh that Halloween 2018 managed.
But the wheels were already in motion for another entry, and fans hoped that they would avoid some of the same issues that plagued Kills like the whole “Evil Dies Tonight” plot. And as we all know: Halloween Ends had no controversy to it all. Nope. None. And despite the general annoyance with Kills, I’ll always get a kick out of it for its high body count and focus on having a bloody good time. Plus, it doesn’t get better than when that Carpenter score kicks in. And that my friends, is what happened to Halloween Kills.
A couple of the previous episodes of this show can be seen below. To see more, head over to our JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
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