2018’s Halloween exceeded all expectations for slasher sequels, so this year’s Halloween Kills has a lot to live up to. Michael Myers is back to menace Haddonfield and the action looks set to get more extreme than it ever has before. Those who survived the last film are returning, David Gordon Green is once again in the director’s chair, Jamie Lee Curtis is back as Laurie Strode, and horror master John Carpenter is onboard to provide another epic and chilling synth score.
Now this new image shows James Jude Courtney as Michael, and he’s looking every inch the slasher movie villain. This was posted by producer Ryan Freiman on Instagram, with his note saying that it’s from the location shoot in Wilmington, NC. Check it out:
Myers looks pretty good for a guy that was recently locked in a burning building, though if you look closely you can see the fire damage to his iconic mask, which may now be permanently melted onto his face. The bloody butcher’s knife is also ominous, suggesting this shot is taken mid-rampage.
Everything we’ve heard suggests that Halloween Kills is going beyond anything we’ve previously seen in the franchise. David Gordon Green specifically promised that the movie will have “twice the thrills” and “ten times the kills” of the 2018 movie. John Carpenter has also seen the final cut and agrees, saying:
“The movie is something else. It’s fun, intense and brutal, a slasher movie times one hundred, big time. It’s huge. I’ve never seen anything like this: the kill count!”
If I wasn’t sold already, I am now. But it’s worth remembering that Halloween Kills will be followed by next year’s Halloween Ends, so perhaps this installment might finally see the masked killer come out on top?
Halloween Kills will hit theaters on Oct. 15, 2021.
