Though the Halloween franchise has been scaring audiences for the last forty years, this latest entry echoes more recent franchise fare with its post-credits teaser. And since we’re about to explain it here, the spoiler-sensitive should probably turn back now.
Just as the new Venom movie used its bonus scene to announce the arrival of Carnage in the next film, David Gordon Green’s slasher flick also briefly alludes to the villain we’ll be getting in the sequel, and surprise-surprise, it’s Michael Myers again. Though the feature’s proper ending seems to suggest that the killer has been vanquished in a fire, wait around until after the credits and you’ll hear some laboured breathing that indicates Michael survived after all.
Given how many fake-out deaths the character has lived through, few will be surprised by this last-minute hint. In fact, it was reported a couple of weeks ago that work has already begun on the next Halloween movie, and if the film even comes close to living up to the box office figures projected for its opening weekend, then these plans are unlikely to change.
Ironically, while John Carpenter’s original 1978 picture ends with a similar suggestion that Michael will live to kill again, the director recently claimed that he didn’t want the movie to have any sequels, hoping to leave audiences on a note of haunting ambiguity:
“Michael’s disappearance at the end of the first film makes you gasp, and I wanted to leave the audience that way. I didn’t want any sequels. Boy, was I wrong, huh?”
Ten franchise entries later, Carpenter may not be entirely satisfied with how things worked out for the property, but at least he seems very happy with the new Halloween, calling it the best installment in the series since the first one. And with the film out today in theaters, you can finally see for yourself if Michael’s latest killing spree leaves you wanting more.