With anticipation high for the film, Halloween Ends director David Gordon Green has shared three surprising movies that influenced his work on the upcoming Blumhouse slasher sequel. Coming to theaters on October 14, Halloween Ends is the final entry in Blumhouse's trilogy of films in the classic slasher franchise, which originally introduced its silent masked killer Michael Myers in 1978. Although the first of the trilogy, 2018's Halloween was technically the 11th entry in the overall franchise, having ignored the previous sequels and remakes to focus solely on being a sequel to the original Halloween, picking up the storyline 40 years later and following original Final Girl Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) as she, her daughter Karen (Judy Greer), and her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) are menaced by a newly escaped Myers (James Jude Courtney and original Myers actor Nick Castle).
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Halloween Ends will pick up after a five-year time jump following the events of the previous film, 2021's Halloween Kills. The story will see Laurie now living with Allyson and working on her memoir. When local teen Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) is accused of killing a kid that he was babysitting, this sends Laurie into a spiral that will no doubt end in the triumphant return of Michael and one final spectacular showdown. What results will drag in more survivors of the original attacks, including Lindsey Wallace (Kyle Richards), as well as the more recent ones, namely Will Patton's Deputy Frank Hawkins.
As reported by CBR, the most recent issue of Empire Magazine includes an interview with Green as part of their Halloween Ends cover story. During their conversation about the film, he revealed three surprising older movies that he made sure to revisit before making his final Michael Myers entry. All three of them came from a single four-year period, namely My Bodyguard (1980), Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1981), and Christine (1983).
My Bodyguard is perhaps the most surprising entry on this list, as it is a family dramedy rather than a horror film, following a young man asking a tough-seeming older boy to act as his bodyguard to protect him from bullies. Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker makes more sense, as the film is at least in the slasher genre, though it is a bizarre piece that follows the exploits of Cheryl (Susan Tyrrell) as she begins to feel murderous rage as a result of her Oedipal relationship with her orphaned nephew. The final movie, Christine, is perhaps the most obvious fit. Adapted from the Stephen King novel of the same name about a killer car, it is the sixth film directed by John Carpenter after he directed the original 1978 Halloween and shares a lot of its atmosphere.
This list of Halloween Ends' surprising influences provides an incredibly intriguing insight for the upcoming horror slasher sequel. While it seems unlikely that the tone will be particularly comedic, like My Bodyguard, something can be extrapolated from each of these entries, including a potential exploration of Laurie's violent side, just like Susan Tyrrell's character, perhaps following her as she teams up with someone who presents the guise of being a more credible threat, just like My Bodyguard. Only time will tell how these films factor in when Halloween Ends hits theaters and Peacock on October 14.