John Carpenter Has Some Choice Words About Halloween Remakes
Remakes, spinoffs, prequels and sequels – this is what the movie industry seems to be all about these days.
But there's no smoke without fire, and as long as producers and filmmakers can make a buck, the trend will continue.
Some fans believe that remakes are inferior to the original movies because it is the first copy that is precious. But it is often the directors themselves who make remakes of their own films, from Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much to Michael Haneke's Funny Games.
Famed horror filmmaker John Carpenter recently opened up about how he feels about remakes of his classic Halloween.
"The 'Halloween' movie I love the most is the one I made back in 1978, the one I directed," he said. "Others are other people's visions. That's the way it goes. That's what happens when you give up. I didn't want to direct sequels. I didn't think there was story left. Boy, was I wrong, huh?" he told Vulture in an interview.
Asked about the Halloween franchise, whose latest installment, Halloween Ends, debuted this October, the slasher maestro said he just doesn't care. The filmmaker may not have been a part of the directing team, but he still made an important contribution by composing the music for the film.
Speaking of remakes, Carpenter said there are two categories of such films for him.
"One is where I'm the originator of the material. I wrote the screenplay. Two: It was an assignment from the studio. 'We want you to do this.' If it's an assignment from the studio, they don't pay me when they do a remake. They own the material," he said.
The filmmaker prefers the first option, because if he has penned the screenplay, he gets the money. "That's the kind of sequel I like," Carpenter has said, "My movie exists. Make your own. You want to pay me a bunch of bucks, fine. Have a great time," he adds.
The filmmaker was quite honest about his own movies, admitting that he never watches them again. The reason is that he doesn't want to see the mistakes he once made.
The Halloween fans have been disappointed with the latest Halloween Ends installment, saying that if it had been made 30 years ago with a lower budget, it would have been a generic best of the worst. Others say that it is arguably the worst of the franchise and that with each new reboot the quality gets worse. But the same was said about Halloween Kills when it premiered in 2021.