Just ahead of the premiere ofHalloween Ends, directorDavid Gordon Greenis looking back at the negative reception of the previous installment of hisHalloweenmovie trilogy. Teaming up with Blumhouse, Green first brought the slasher movie series back to life with the 2018 reboot. He followed this up with last year’s sequel,Halloween Kills, with plans to cap off the story he wanted to tell with the release ofHalloween Endsthis month.
The release ofHalloween Killswas not ideal for Green and Blumhouse. Though a success at the box office, the movie was met with widespread criticism from fans and critics alike. It’s not without its fans, but it was clear that the film was not quite as well-received as the 2018 movie. That presents the interesting scenario of seeing what ultimately happens withHalloween Endsand there what will fall with the franchise fans.
In a new interview with SFX magazine (viaGamesRadar), Green commented on theHalloween Killsbacklash. Despite the criticism, he notes that the sequel is “100% the movie [he] wanted to make,” adding that he’s “extremely proud of its kind of insanity.” Green also theorizes that the complaints stem mostly from the film’s open-ended conclusion which was designed more to help set up the final chapter than to offer a complete, standalone viewing experience. As Green puts it:
“There’s a lot of people that when they see an ending like that, or that kind of unresolved chaos, they get frustrated as a moviegoer. For me, that’s just part of the fun, and then we get to come in and tidy it up with the last one. So any frustration that was expressed about the last one, I kind of just smile and say, ‘Hold tight, here we come.'”
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David Gordon Green Wanted to Do Something New With Halloween
Another reason why David Gordon Green isn’t too bothered byHalloween Killsgetting criticized is that he understands that these opinions are subjective. WithHalloweenin particular, Green notes how there are some diehard fans of the original film who will never be happy with anything else that comes from the franchise. For his part, Green would rather take the series into a new direction as he knows it would be a fool’s errand to try and recreate the firstHalloween.
“It’s funny, because it’s so subjective what people want to see with these movies. Some people just want to literally watch the original film. You’re not going to remake that; you have to do something different. Some people say they want X, and then when you literally sit down with your co-writers and are thinking about what that would be like, well, that’s not really a movie, or that’s not enough to sustain my interest, or that’s not enough to go back and actually go to the emotional and logistical effort of making a movie. So what is the story we want to tell? What is the atmosphere and the vibe that we want to experience that makes each of our three contributions to the franchise very different?”
We’ll see how Green’sHalloweenstory ends with the release ofHalloween Ends, in theaters and on Peacock, on Jul 15, 2025.
