HHN 28: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers

[OhHaiInternet95]

This is the question of the day.

They were able to fit Krampus and Saw in Shrek. Shouldn't be a problem.

Again, there's only two things I see valuable about this house: it's a "sincerely scary" property, and...Michael Myers in the Shrek theatre (when I first heard of Halloween, I thought the actor Mike Myers was playing the killer Michael Myers--this was when I was 10 by the way).

 

[horrornights789]

They were able to fit Krampus and Saw in Shrek. Shouldn't be a problem.

Again, there's only two things I see valuable about this: it's a "straight-up scary" property, and...Michael Myers. In the Shrek theatre.

For whatever reason Halloween seems to be an IP that both parks knock out of the park whenever they do it. This will probably be a really scary house since it seems they’re not using the H4 mask based on the trailer

 

[Insane24Se7en]

I am really hoping that we get something equivalent to the rooftop chase that happens during the course of Halloween 4. There was just a crazy intensity to that part, that I would love to walk in the footsteps of.

 

[rhino4evr]

wow, that's an odd one.

 

[HHNSK]

I'm excited for this house, I could care less if it isn't about the reboot. Love me some Michael Myers.

Amen. I enjoyed Halloween II in ‘16 (I think). Thought it was great. They packed some cool Easter eggs into the house.

Big fan of everything Myers. Lots of people are. It will have long lines regardless of its irrelevance to the reboot. Really, if your a Halloween fan you likely don’t care.

 

[happy bunny rabbit]

mmm, I love me some Michael.

Also, I'd personally like to point out that while I can see the fatigue of users from before my time on this property, but I've personally only been through one Halloween house (and I loved it) so I don't get the same boredom as many other attendees might. Just something to take into consideration.

Anyone else find it odd they changed the name of the last house based on Halloween II to Hell Comes To Haddonfield, yet this is the actual movie title, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers?

The reboot is also why they're advertising this so specifically as Halloween 4. If they just said "We're doing Halloween," the implication would be "We're doing the reboot." But they're not. Because the rights, they have to specify.

 

[Skipper Justin]

Michael Myers is the only horror movie thing to actually make me scared. Going through the past two houses was the only time in the event history that I’ve felt uneasy or frightened. Well other than Hive when the 5 of us were the last five guests in the maze.

 

[Kichkinet85]

Why are people saying Halloween is the new TWD or Purge? We had Halloween twice with a 2 year gap(Halloween in 24 and H2 in 26) and again this year with a one year gap. We had TWD and Purge for continuously years. Also the Halloween houses were good and meant to be unlike the Purge houses, with the exception of TFP this year in BH, and TWD houses were bad except for one or two of them.

 

[happy bunny rabbit]

Why are people saying Halloween is the new TWD or Purge? We had Halloween twice with a 2 year gap(Halloween in 24 and H2 in 26) and again this year with a one year gap. We had TWD and Purge for continuously years. Also the Halloween houses were good and meant to be unlike the Purge houses, with the exception of TFP this year in BH, and TWD houses were bad except for one or two of them.

I agree with your point, but there was only a one year gap between 24 and 26, so it’s been showing up every other year since 24.

 

[JawsVictim]

I agree with your point, but there was only a one year gap between 24 and 26, so it’s been showing up every other year since 24.

Agreed. Also, the last two Halloween houses have been my favorite houses I’ve experienced at HHN. With the exception of the final TWD house, TWD houses weren’t any good.

 

[SeventyOne]

It's either that, or 9 houses. I'll take the horse.

I think that's a false dichotomy. Assuming Legal truly is dead-set against a pop culture parody show of any sort, I'd have gotten more creative with the money.

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

I looooooooved the last house and went into that with no expectations. I will be doing the same here.

 

[Disneyson1]

I imagine that we aren’t getting the re-boot for several reasons:

- This is the last year that this film will be cannon, and they’re going to milk it before fans dismiss it.

- Blumhouse saw how it’s “preview houses” have gone before, like Insidious, and people just don’t know what’s going on.

- Blumhouse wants to avoid spoilers.

- This house fits more neatly into the 80’s theme, and creative always had this planned.

- This is way more cost effective, and Halloween still makes an appearance.

- They can sell merch from the old and new movies without too much confusion.

- By having people rent the film, then attending the event, then watching the new film in theatres, all three companies benefit more, rather than having a house that might be too vague or too spoiler-y and perhaps putting people off of the new film.

- Cost. The Blumhouse films usually featured don’t have really big name actors or nearly as big a fan base as Halloween. Perhaps the bigness of this film is driving the cost up, especially with Stranger Things taking a big chunk of budget.

 

[Legacy]

I imagine that we aren’t getting the re-boot for several reasons:

- This is the last year that this film will be cannon, and they’re going to milk it before fans dismiss it.

- Blumhouse saw how it’s “preview houses” have gone before, like Insidious, and people just don’t know what’s going on.

- Blumhouse wants to avoid spoilers.

- This house fits more neatly into the 80’s theme, and creative always had this planned.

- This is way more cost effective, and Halloween still makes an appearance.

- They can sell merch from the old and new movies without too much confusion.

- By having people rent the film, then attending the event, then watching the new film in theatres, all three companies benefit more, rather than having a house that might be too vague or too spoiler-y and perhaps putting people off of the new film.

- Cost. The Blumhouse films usually featured don’t have really big name actors or nearly as big a fan base as Halloween. Perhaps the bigness of this film is driving the cost up, especially with Stranger Things taking a big chunk of budget.

I think it's simpler than that.

Miramax, a joint producer for the new film that's owned by Disney, likely didn't want to play in granting rights.

Universal Marketing (and A&D) would have clamored for the new film. It's more relevant and a bigger deal. However, this house was ALSO a late addition (that's why it's in Shrek, which was supposed be demoed this summer). So, any hold-up on rights would have an outsized impact because timing was critical. And Miramax is the most likely culprit.

It's not about the event's theme. They don't go in at the beginning of the year and say "This year's theme is ______." This year is a bit more organic, but there's some glaring exemptions from the "Horrors from the Past" theme they're going for. Blumhouse, for one, and the originals apart from Sinema only fit because we're being told they fit (think about it - all of the originals would be just as fitting without a "theme").

 

[happy bunny rabbit]

- This is the last year that this film will be cannon, and they’re going to milk it before fans dismiss it.

I don’t get this argument, why would a film’s canonical relevance affect a house based on said film, like at all? Just because Scary Tales isn’t 100% canonical representation of the original Grimm stories doesn’t mean people aren’t interested.

 

[Disneyson1]

I think it's simpler than that.

Miramax, a joint producer for the new film that's owned by Disney, likely didn't want to play in granting rights.

Universal Marketing (and A&D) would have clamored for the new film. It's more relevant and a bigger deal. However, this house was ALSO a late addition (that's why it's in Shrek, which was supposed be demoed this summer). So, any hold-up on rights would have an outsized impact because timing was critical. And Miramax is the most likely culprit.

It's not about the event's theme. They don't go in at the beginning of the year and say "This year's theme is ______." This year is a bit more organic, but there's some glaring exemptions from the "Horrors from the Past" theme they're going for. Blumhouse, for one, and the originals apart from Sinema only fit because we're being told they fit (think about it - all of the originals would be just as fitting without a "theme").

Oh! I hadn’t even considered that the film was part produced by Miramax. I also think it’s hilarious that they do Scream, which also has had a lot of trouble at the event.

And while obviously the year’s theme is broken by Blumhouse, I think they did a very good job adapting the other houses to the theme, and marketing for sure pushed it along. Of course the other houses could easily take place during other years, but I think there are some good cases to be made for at least 8 of the houses being of the 80s:

WARNING - HEADCANON
1980 - Slaughter Sinemas (Indicative of films in the early 80s)
1981 - Carnival Graveyard (Similar to films like “The Funhouse”, which came out on that year.)
1982 - Poltergeist
1983 - Stranger Things
1984 - Trick ‘r’ Treat could be slotted here - it could take place any time due to it’s comic book style, but it fills a gap. Apparently 1984 wasn’t such a scary year.
1985 - Scary Tales (While not officially part of the house, Return to Oz came out this year, which is a pretty horrifying re-imagining of The Wizard Of Oz in it’s own right...)
1986 - Seeds Of Extinction (Chernobyl)
1987 - Uhh. We can throw Blumhouse in here. In 30 years, the First Purge would take place.
1988 - Halloween 4, Killer Klowns, Child’s Play
1989 - Dead Exposure (The AIDS Epidemic; Haemophilus Influenzae Type B Vaccine widely recommended)

 

[Nick]

Miramax, a joint producer for the new film that's owned by Disney, likely didn't want to play in granting rights.

Miramax hasn't been owned by Disney since 2010.

 

[Clive]

Miramax hasn't been owned by Disney since 2010.

Let's just say things are complicated.

 

[Kichkinet85]

I noticed how some people are upset we are not getting the 2018 Halloween and H4 instead, but TBH what is different? It’s not like we will get Jamie Lee Curtis and Nick Castle as scare actors in the house. Nothing is that different other than the plot which the movie isn’t coming out till Oct., so if it’s a house it will spoiler the movie. Either way we are getting Micheal Myers!

 

[horrornights789]

Just finished rewatching H4. Pretty good, has a ton of environments and I still don’t know how this is fitting in Shrek. Really hope the school scene and the Rooftop chase make it in the house since both of those had a ton of atmosphere. Guessing the finale of the maze will be the final scene of the movie