Halloween Kills gets its first teaser, plus a new release date

The first teaser/preview for Halloween Kills has slashed its way online, promising a creepy continuation of the 2018 movie.

The previous Halloween movie discarded years of unnecessary sequels and reboots, instead acting as a direct follow-on from John Carpenter's 1978 classic. Directed by David Gordon Green and written by Danny McBride, the film triumphantly resurrected the spectre of masked serial killer Michael Myers, and his long-standing target Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis).

By throwing in plenty of nods and winks to the original movie, Halloween secured itself as a nostalgic treat. Yet at the same time, it was also dramatically satisfying: Curtis' electric performance showed how the trauma of 1978 had taken a toll on Laurie's life. This led to a fiery conclusion as Laurie, her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and Karen's daughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) left Michael to burn alive in Laurie's home cum trap.

Judging from the Halloween Kills teaser, we pick up seconds after the events of the first film, with the three generations of women being taken away from the burning building. The emphasis on generational trauma is one of the most intriguing things about Green's approach to the Halloween mythology. Indeed, the first film ended with a shot of Allyson clutching Michael's signature knife – does this suggest that evil is about to make the leap across bloodlines and age gaps to take root in a new character?

That remains to be seen. What is chilling in the Halloween Kills video is the shot of fire engines charging towards the building where Michael has apparently been left to fry. If Curtis' convincingly frazzled yell of "Let him burn" doesn't register, then just wait for that final shot of Michael apparently alive and well. Of course, Michael never really dies – we heard his breathing at the end of Green's first movie, which leans into the popular notion that he's more than a human killer, instead akin to a supernatural demon.

Has that got you fired up? Well, here's the bad news. David Gordon Green and John Carpenter have released a statement saying that Halloween Kills has been delayed from October 2020 to October 2021, owing to the COVID-19 release schedule chaos. It will be followed by Halloween Ends, which presumably will stick to its release date of October 2022.

I know you all have been looking forward to an update on the status of "Halloween Kills". Here it is: pic.twitter.com/EWivyipYgR
— John Carpenter (@TheHorrorMaster) July 8, 2020

Still, the coronavirus pandemic has only delayed Michael's return to the big screen – after all, nothing can destroy this icon of horror. You can make your date with Michael and Laurie when Halloween Kills arrives on 15th October 2021. Let us know @Cineworld if you're planning to watch it.