#halloween H40

[thevideodungeon]

Halloween H40: 40 Years Later (2018)

The beginning and part 2 of the “H40 timeline,” ignoring all previous films other than the first. It’s an okay movie, decent, it's... fine. Honestly a little unremarkable when compared to the previous 8. It feels like they were more concerned with "honoring" the original than making a good sequel.

6/10

[writing-good-vibes]

HALLOWEEN (1978 & H40 TRILOGY) MASTERLIST

[masterlist of all of my HALLOWEEN ('78 AND H40) works !! anything marked with an * contains mild to explicit nsfw writing.]

stand alone works

saying don't be afraid -- michael centric

mother is the name for god -- corey centric

being here with you -- corey centric, companion to MITNFG, canon divergent

tell me i'm your one and only: the cunningallen homewrecker au (corey x mr allen)

tell me you'd like boys like me better *

meetings in parking lots *

turn off the shyness *

another lonely valentine's day *

the ballad of michael and corey: the cunningmyers road trip au (corey x michael)

you are now leaving illinois

loving you is like loving the dead * -- dd;dne

somethin' 'bout a horse, and a man, and a cadillac

holy water *

such dirty, domestic bliss *

you know what they say about dead men *

you're awful, i love you * -- dd;dne

corey cunningham x reader

it's soft and it's sweet *

in the back of his mom's mercury * -- post accident era

strawberry flavoured boy * -- post michael/cunningmyers era

miscellaneous

corey's love letters masterlist -- valentine's prompts

you're not the only one that i'm holding close * -- poly; corey x reader x bo sinclair

[thewalkinglamppost]

OURS

🔪🪡

[evilvvithin]

doesn't matter if you like 2018 Halloween or not, it gave us "the shape hunts allyson" and that fuckin counts

[hersweetrevenge]

corey commentary: the official making of h40 🎃🔪

honestly i feel like this book really helped me refocus my thoughts on corey and brought me back to basics for the first time in a while.

i've split this post into a few specific topics based on my own thoughts and the book details that i found most interesting. a lot of this i've talked about before but i'm bringing it back with evidence babyyy.

WARNING for suicide and suicidal ideation, murder, manipulation, mental health issues and crises, and passing mentions of child abuse.

costume

corey's costume was developed in reverse (pg. 176), starting with his final look, the leather jacketed bad boy, and working backwards to the opening scene look, the good boy on his way to the sock hop.

i love that this was the process, i think that's so interesting from both a design and character perspective. taking him from what he became to what he was? it feels sort of like they were centring nostalgia in a way, starting with who corey became and then looking back to who he was (and who he will never be again). it kind of makes his downfall even more heart-breaking to me.

rohan mention's wearing coreys clothes in his real life and how no one even looked at him (pg. 184). in the commentary he also mentioned wearing corey's glasses a lot to get into the character mindset.

very interesting that we have tried and tested proof that corey can literally fade into the background and go unnoticed. it must be a combination of trying to be visually more plain but also a very quiet demeanour. but then you have the angle of corey being forced to reduce himself to as small and quiet and invisible impossible. i like the way corey both wants to be invisible (to avoid confrontation) but also desperately wants to be seen and heard and believed and understood by someone.

frame of mind/suicidal ideation

rohan mentions that there's an element of corey having not been able to kill himself before, because it was too hard to do, but looking into michael's eyes he realises he can just "call it quits" and let michael do it. then, after he is spared by michael, it gives him "permission" (pg. 198)

i think it makes a lot of sense though that michael letting him go is what tips corey over the edge, maybe reinforcing his own buried guilt (if michael let him go, he must be evil, right?) and making it feel a lot easier to make horrific choices (murder) while also making his emergency exit plan (suicide) feel easier too, if he wanted to.

corey being "tainted" by the shape because he's so close to being that anyway (pg. 172).

i don't personally believe in evil as an actual supernatural force in these movies, but corey is definitlel portrayed as more susceptible to michael's influence, even if michael does actuall demand anything of him.

i think @/slutforstabbings was the one who mentioned this to me. but when corey meets michael he is mentally and physically more susceptible to reacting irrationally in a very real-world sense. he has a history of abuse, experienced a major trauma (the accident), been under intense stress (the party), and had a recent head injury (the fall from the bridge and smacking his head in the sewer). these factors all contribute to a mental health crisis and drastic change in personality.

i feel like this confirms that corey was likely headed for (possibly another) breakdown in the future, but the events of the party/meeting michael just triggers it sooner.

emotional control

rohan mentions corey purposely doesn't feel anything since the accident (pg. 188).

this might have been my favourite detail that gets mentioned. i've always thought that corey's way of surviving post-accident was to just shutdown completely and switch off all his emotions. it's interesting to know that rohan was playing him that way.

and also a lot of the time when corey does feel strong emotions, they are turned in on himself to try and keep them private, like his anger at terry results in him hurting himself (accidently) with the milk bottle, or him regularly climbing over the bannister at the allen house but not being able to let go while during the day he thinks about some outward expression of rage through the blowtorch at the garage.

the mirror scene symbolises the first time corey feels in control (pg. 198).

i've written about this a lot before, but i very much agree that the mirror scene is a moment of processing both "what the fuck just happened?" but also "this is what control feels like". corey's whole breakdown, starting from killing nelson, is about regaining control over his own life, even if it means un-restraining himself and doing horrific things.

killings

ryan turek (exec.) and paul logan (writer) specifically state how ends is essentially a revenge movie, with corey's kills start as revenge killings, but if he survived the kills would get more random (pg. 167).

i feel like this highlights the way that corey's connection with the shape is cut short, unlike michael who had it for decades. the shape (or the idea of it) lets corey get his revenge, but after that he could keep going, he'd pick up momentum and he wouldn't be slowing down.

this seems like this is pointing towards killing being corey's method of control rather than some more direct desire to kill.

he becomes "addicted" to violence and he knows it (pg. 191).

"addicted" is a super interesting word choice and i feel like it fits perfectly. corey starts with revenge, he has his reasons, but as time goes on he could find a reason for anyone if he wanted to.

if corey survived ends and got away, he'd be living his own life for the first time ever. i think there are a lot of things he'd over indulge in, and killing being an addiction plays heavily into that -- there would be nothing to tell him to stop.

high priest!corey

rohan specifically describes corey leading doug to the sewer as him bring michael a "sacrifice" (pg. 206).

vindication !! @/slutforstabbings once said to me, while we were talking about the ritualistic nature of corey and michael's relationship and killings, that corey replaces nelson as michael's high priest, as the person who brings the sacrifices and channels michael to the outside world.

manipulation

rohan says that corey "plays" at being the shaking little boy again when he jump scares laurie while waiting outside for allyson (pg. 204).

i love this, because i fully believe corey thrives on manipulation. i think corey is fundamentally a good person anyway, but in dealing with joan he knows how to make himself inoffensive and agreeable, and i think he knows that that "character" is a safe bet to keep people happy.

and the novelisation confirms that this almost works !! laurie thinks he's just awkward and still upset from the night before. the thing that makes laurie doubt how genuine he is, is that she can see how he changes -- she can see the way he switches from one demeanour to another. proof right that he can play at being who he needs to be in the moment.

but then, by the time laurie shoots him, corey really is just a scared little boy who is in way over his head and unequipped for the situation he finds himself in (pg. 226).

corey is unprepared and unpractised -- he doesn't have the experience that michael has in bouncing back. he isn't michael. he's fucked up big time, his plan has fallen through, and he's backed himself into a corner. all the terrible things he's done, everything he's been through, the taste of control -- it's all for nothing is laurie can get the upper hand on him like this.

he's scared and out of his depth but he's dangerous, but corey ends the film the same way he starts it, in a situation he has no control over and with only himself to blame. only this time he's having the last word, he's going to do what he could before and he's going to take laurie down with him.

relationships

rohan said ronald is "the loveliest thing" in corey's life, and that the gesture of giving the motorbike is "beautiful [but] manly and detached" (pg. 182), which is a way more sympathetic view than i have.

this is a wayyy more sympathetic view of their relationship than i have. i do like this angle though, the idea that corey and ronald did have some sort of relationship but that neither of them can express it very well, that they're taking the stereotypically masculine route of small gestures and not a lot of words. which seems at odds with what corey really needed from the only male role model in his life, but it's kinda sweet that corey must like ronald enough for him to be a good part of his life, rather than just neutral.

maybe the takes about ronald being a good stepdad aren't wrong 👀

corey falls for allyson most deeply when he sees how she is on the edge just as much as he is (pg. 215).

this made me wonder if allyson and corey could have ever been together without the events of the movies? if they still met by chance, would they get along? would the attraction still be there?

their relationship is based on parasocial affection and shared similar traumas, there's a certain emotional intensity there that translates to them making rash decisions and commitments that i don't think they would otherwise.

joan's last words (in an even more extended death scene) are begging "michael" not to hurt corey (pg. 222).

joanne baron has talked about joan's motivations and perspective in some interviews, so this scenes lines up very well with what she's said previously. joan has never treated corey like a person, he's an object for her to control, but her two moments of concern for him (when he comes home the morning after the party and her death scene) come from a seemingly natural and genuine place.

also, the biggest factor that made me loose my mind over this: she doesn't know it's corey killing her. she begs this masked murderer not to kill her son, not know that it is her son beneath the mask 💀

she's begging someone not to hurt corey after years of being the one who has hurt corey. it's too late to turn back, it was always going to end like this, but can you imagine what went through corey's mind in that moment? that his momma wanted him to be safe but never made him feel safe when she had the chance.

me whenever there is a direct quote from rohan in this book:

[finalgirlminamurray]

remember when halloween 2018 (or as i like to call it, halloween h40) came out and people were making those flowchart-style diagrams explaining the various halloween timelines? i like when people try to do that for the texas chainsaw massacre series because it is a fool's errand. you cannot divide that series into distinct specific continuities because there aren't any. there's a good argument to be made that every single film in that series takes place in its own completely separate timeline because it so often does not bother to meaningfully connect them beyond the single recurring character of leatherface.

i've mentioned before that tcm2 is my favorite sequel and the only one i actually like and will accept as a canon sequel to the original film, and part of that is because despite the complete 180 in tone it does, it's the only one that bothers at all to be a sequel. i think it's the only one that makes sense as a continuation of the first movie - the only glaring continuity errors are confined to the opening scroll text, which you can take or leave as part of the films' canon. (by this i mean the first movie's opening implies that the sawyers' crimes were discovered after sally's escape, while the second film explicitly says no evidence was found. also it retcons sally's last name to be "hardesty-enright" instead of just making lefty's last name also hardesty, for whatever reason.) there's one newly introduced member of the family but you can infer why he wasn't there in the first movie, and the one who isn't there this time has a good reason to be absent (he's died.) one of the main characters in this movie is a relative of the first film's final girl and his involvement in the plot is explicitly connected to what happened to his niece and nephew. the events of the first movie clearly happened in this universe. low bar, i know.

this could be attributed to this being the only sequel also directed by tobe hooper, although the original film's screenwriter did not return, and him having more of a vested interest in continuing the story of his own work. most of the original film's cast did not return for this one (can't say i blame them), but they work with that pretty well. i do think the film ends in a way that pretty decisively puts the brakes on any possible continuation from there, which could be attributed to hooper not really wanting to do a sequel in the first place and trying not to get asked back for another one. (i agree this was not a film that should ever have had sequels, much less become a full-on franchise. but you can tell that upon having to do it they were just like fuck it, let's have fun. hence the tone.) not that that stopped the studios from valiantly trying again and again to profit off of this title.

which might explain why the later sequels are so particularly weird. they don't really have a lot to go off of, i guess. i think part of the problem is that this is one of the few slasher films where the villain is actually a group of people, not a single recurring killer or identity various killers take up. they do have a silent, masked slasher who can be played by whichever new stunt guy you get for each film, but what about the rest of the family? it's always felt important to me that there isn't anyone outside of this isolated little unit in the first movie, but sequels keep inventing totally new characters out of nowhere with no explanation as to where they've been in previous installments. doesn't matter - we're in a new continuity now. tcm3 does not logically follow in any real way from tcm2 or tcm1. it's not a sequel despite the number in the title. it's a reboot.

(i've kind of come around on tcm4 aka tcm: the next generation. i used to think it was the worst sequel but now i think i get what it's trying to do a little better, although it is a pretty stupid movie in a lot of ways. some people have described tcm2 as a deliberate parody of the first film but i think that applies way better to the next generation, seeing how it follows a lot of the same plot beats but done in a more outlandish and parodic way. also, hey: same screenwriter as the original, returning this time as director.)

then the remake made a shit ton of money and kickstarted a new direction for 2000s horror (great. thanks for that.) and got a prequel that also actually made sense as existing in the same continuity as the film it was a prequel to. (again it probably really helped that they were able to get most of the cast back. no need to invent new family members when you still have all the same people playing them.) then in 2013 we got a sequel that promised to Finally be a Direct sequel to the original movie and...it made no sense as one. they try to pick up right where the original left off but right away there are once again a whole bunch of new characters who definitely weren't there in the first movie suddenly appearing in the house, including a baby whose existence is crucial to the plot.

(i'm sure everyone knows about the bizarre timeline decisions of this one, namely the main character ostensibly having been born in the same year as the events of tcm1 but only being about 18 years old during the main events of texas chainsaw 3d, despite it seeming to take place in the modern day. however there is an explanation for that! originally the film was supposed to take place in the early 90s when a character born in 1973 would have been that age, but studio meddling forced them to reshoot it to be 2013. you might notice that any mention or depiction of the exact year the opening scene takes place seems conveniently obscured in this film, implying that it is yet another alternate timeline where the events of tcm1 occurred sometime in the 1990s. this also serves as further demonstration that 1. studio executives are the dumbest people alive, and 2. people really don't care that much about the first movie. more on that later.)

leatherface 2017 is an attempt at a prequel that also makes little to no sense as a backstory for its titular character; i wouldn't be surprised if it started out as an original screenplay that got retrofitted into a tcm movie. there are no new sawyer relatives invented for this film (i don't think), but it does seem strangely insistent on keeping its leatherface away from the family for as much of the film as possible, making it feel especially like it didn't actually want to be a tcm movie. (the twist of the titular character's identity is clearly meant primarily to be surprising and not to make sense, but i can only say: there's no way that the original film's leatherface grew up apart from his birth family for that long and also used to be a "normal"-by-neurotypical-standards, verbal kid. different continuity.)

then in 2022 we get yet another attempt at No Guys Seriously For Real, This is a Direct Sequel to the First Movie, and i should have known things weren't looking good when it was announced this was actually getting dumped on netflix in february but my expectations plummeted to rock bottom when that teaser came out that thought the most relevant part of the movie to sell to people was a "canceled" joke. jesus. tcm:tng i'm sorry, this is the clear worst sequel. (if it was just that one dumb joke it might not be, but there's so much more that's awful in this movie - whatever.) anyway continuity-wise i guess this isn't completely disconnected, there is clear acknowledgement that the events of the first movie happened, but it's really not relevant to the main plot at all, when you get right down to it. pro tip: if a slasher sequel advertises the return of the original film's final girl, she will most likely not be in the film for more than five minutes. there's some implied backstory about leatherface running away to this neighboring town and being taken in by the lady who runs the orphanage, but honestly this could easily be yet another different continuity where leatherface is the adopted son of a kindly old lady (who still has a confederate flag in her window, jfc, i think this is the first time that imagery has ever been used in this series and it's associated with a character who's supposed to be sympathetic??) who was keeping a lid on his murderous tendencies before she died. points for effort i guess but i don't think it deserves much.

i really don't know why this series in particular is like this. most horror franchises will have their movies clearly follow each other and exist within the same continuity, sometimes with a reboot or two if they've gone on long enough (see: halloween having at least three different timelines, but all clearly branching from the same source.) if it's supposed to be an anthology series, they'll just...say that. i've heard it said that this series works best when viewed as variations on a theme, like the original film's events are an urban legend of sorts being told and retold around the campfire and every version is different because everyone remembers it differently or makes up their own. i do like that and think it makes the franchise make more sense but i know most people watching these movies aren't thinking about it like that, they're thinking of them all as sequels to the same movie, with the remake and its prequel being the only ones clearly existing in their own separate continuity.

it's a little sad to see how no one making official movies in the series seems to really care that much about the ostensible source material. maybe i'm biased because it's the film my brain latched onto the hardest when i started really getting into horror, but i think this movie is so interesting and there's so much there to explore with the little we're given about these characters and their dynamics and what they do and why they do it, and even if you can't really dive into all that in a movie you could at least use what's already there for your sequel and most of them just...don't. like they don't seem to have watched the original movie even before writing a sequel to it, just going off their own vague memories about that one scary movie about a guy with a human skin mask and a chainsaw. i know i shouldn't be expecting any more from a slasher franchise on its 9th installment but...whatever. it is what it is. this was never supposed to be a franchise in the first place. at least i can shout into the void about my thoughts and feelings on here.

(i think i read somewhere that the filmmakers were actually forbidden from referencing cannibalism in the script for texas chainsaw 3d and if that's true...oh boy. talk about missing the point. if you feel like something significant is missing in the later films in this series that's probably part of it.)

[rareandregal]

Halloween: The H40 Timeline

John Carpenter's Halloween (1978)

Halloween (2018)

Halloween Kills (2021)

Halloween Ends (2022)

[stevebuscemieyes]

[brandnulife]

Halloween Timelines

Thorn Timeline - Halloween (1978), Halloween 2 (1981), Halloween 4 (1988), Halloween 5 (1989), and Halloween 6 (1995)

H20 Timeline - Halloween (1978), Halloween 2 (1981), Halloween H20 (1998), and Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

H40 Timeline - Halloween (1978), Halloween (2018), Halloween Kills (2021), and Halloween Ends (2022)

Remake Timeline - Halloween (2007) and Halloween 2 (2009)

Not connected: Halloween 3: Season of the Witch (Silver Shamrock masks were seen in Halloween Kills)

[tuxxydo]

i don’t want the comment word limit to kill me so reblogging. So we got;

Halloween 78 which can technically be it’s own timeline cus the movie’s standalone.

Then there’s the thorn timeline which is Halloweens; ‘78,’81, 4, 5 and 6 which is all about jamie and the thorn cult.

Then there’s the H20 timeline which is Halloweens; ‘78, ‘81, H20 and Resurrection and is about Laurie and Michael having sibling beef for 20 years

Then there’s the Rob zombie remakes that fit in their own timeline

Then there’s the H40 timeline which is Halloweens; ‘78, 2018, Kills and Ends and is about Laurie and Michael having senior citizen beef (they’re not siblings in this timeline).

All the timelines are technically canon just not to each other (if that makes sense). The currently accepted continuity is the H40 timeline. Also Halloween 3 isn’t connected to any of these movies and is also it’s own continuity.

I still don't understand the whole canon of the Halloween series and what's actually canon or what isn't

[thevideodungeon]

Halloween Ends (2022)

For the fourth time, the Halloween series ends with a whimper. Using the story to explore the lingering effects of trauma from the previous movies could have been interesting, if not for the fact that that was the whole point of H40, making this feel largely like a retread of that. It does some interesting things, but ends up feeling more like an attempt to relaunch the series than it does an intentional end to a planned-out trilogy. But then weirdly switches in the last 20 minutes to trying way too hard to show how final of an entry it is. As with the rest of the H40 trilogy, it just seems way more interested in the prestige of being a Halloween movie than it does in being a good movie.

4/10

[writing-good-vibes]

somethin' 'bout a horse and a man and a cadillac

i present more of the silly little road trip au i have in my brain. corey and michael are (still) on the lam and corey is living out his silly little cowboy fantasies. big thanks goes to @slutforstabbings for putting the cowboy thoughts in my brain. no WARNINGS this time, besides a little bit of shoplifting.

Corey spots the security camera in the thrift store as soon as he walks in. The red light flashes conspicuously from where it is mounted in the corner, pointing towards the shop floor. It looks old, a lot older than the ones they use in Walmart or Target; the picture should be pretty bad, if they ever even watch the footage back.

Menswear is towards the back of the store, past the household goods. There are a few other people shopping, mostly in the women's section at the other side of the floor. Corey wanders through the homeware aisles on the way, looking with distain at the rows and rows of knickknacks. His finger runs over the edge of the shelf as he passes by.

He needs to get in and out quickly really, Michael is waiting outside with the engine running. But there's something about the return to civilisation that makes him linger longer than he should every time he stops in a gas station or dollar store, like being a spectator to the real world. Only, for the first time in his life, he likes being on the outside looking back in. Plus the air conditioning makes him shiver in the best way compared to the constant sweat he has while they drive.

Over the past few months, Corey's clothes have certainly taken a beating. He'd gotten used to swapping things out, when and where he can find them, but he preferred stopping at thrifts. Stains and tatters will soon make his current jeans to conspicuous to keep wearing, giving him an excuse to ask Michael to stop in the next town they got too.

Corey looks through the long rack of jeans, pressed up against the back wall. He needs something sturdy, durable, but comfortable enough to wear pretty much all the time for a good long while.

He finds a pair of real Levi's that he thinks will do, glances back at the flashing red eye of the camera, and steps a few paces along the clothes rail. Corey is pretty sure he's out of the field of view as he folds the jeans up, tucking them under his jacket and keeping them in place against his side with his arm. He's still not exactly a professional, far from it, but he's found his method.

When he turns to leave, that's when he spots it. He know he needs to go, but instead he stops at the end of the next aisle and picks it off the stand it's sat on. A brown felt stetson, with a thin, woven leather band.

Corey's eyes light up, a half-grin creeping over his face. Keeping the jeans tucked beneath his arm, he puts the hat on his head, peeking at himself in the mirror above the shelf. He tilts his head, this way then that, and the half-grin spreads out across his face.

He leaves the hat on and keeps walking. There's still no one close by, either busy shopping elsewhere or occupied at the register. Corey takes a deep breath, looks straight ahead as he reaches the store entrance.

The heat hits him as he steps out into the midday sun, prickling the back of his neck where his cord jacket rubs at his nape. He makes a beeline for the truck, sees Michael sitting just as he left him in the driver's seat.

Seeing Corey, Michael leans across the bench seat to open the passenger door. Corey breaks into a trot, looking back to double-check that no one has noticed him yet.

"Go, go, go," Corey breathes, sinking down in the passenger seat, hat slipping low on his head. His hair is just about growing back out since he cut it off, and the weight of the hat flattens his curls against his forehead before he pushes it back up.

Michael puts the truck into drive and crosses the parking lot, pulling smoothly back into the traffic heading out of town. Corey pulls at the waistband of his old jeans, tossing them into the back seat once he untangles them from his legs, and pulls the new pair on. They fit well on the waist, snug but not tight.

Once they're back on the highway, the sun seems to blaze even hotter, radiating off of the bleached tarmac. Corey's starting to feel the dust in the air, feels the difference from one state to the next. He props his feet up on the dash, his hat shading his eyes from the mirage ahead, and turns the volume of the radio -- tuned to the local rock station -- back up enough to hear it over the rumble of the truck.

They're headed west.

[thewalkinglamppost]

|WIP|🪡

[housefreak]

i was entirely wrong abt who died but i remembered the specifics ok enough and with the wiki yes i would call this the blood tree moment i coulndt remember when i was in my halloween h40 era

maybe slasher season 3 " solstice" was the other blood tree I was thinking of... I'm not quite sure but I really don't want to go check. like dude who was the early killer suspect was killed and I think put in a bag in the tree but I don't remember if y'know. blood happened <3

[hersweetrevenge]

Halloween Ends (2022) // Halloween (2018)

[vitux]