Halloween Kills (read our review HERE) is currently in theatres and streaming on Peacock, and if you haven’t watched it yet you should turn away now if you want to avoid SPOILERS. Now that the film is out, FX artist Christopher Nelson has decided to reveal how one of the film’s biggest surprises was accomplished… but before we get to that, a featurette has been released online that has Nelson discussing how he tried to get the Michael Myers masks used in Halloween 2018 (watch it HERE) and Halloween Kills to look as much like the mask in the John Carpenter original (watch that HERE) as possible. Before the aging and burning, of course. You can watch the featurette in the embed above.
And now we can give away the surprise: one of the first things we see in Halloween Kills is a lengthy flashback to Halloween night, 1978 – and during this flashback, the iconic Doctor Sam Loomis makes an appearance, looking just like Donald Pleasence circa ’78 – 1981. How is this possible? A lot of fans are jumping to the conclusion that Loomis’s appearance must be some kind of digital trickery, but that’s not the case. Loomis was brought back to the screen through the use of prosthetic makeup effects created by the Vincent Van Dyke Effects company and applied to the film’s construction foreman by Nelson.
Nelson shared some close-up pictures of the result, and co-producer Ryan Turek shared a picture of himself on set with Loomis and ’78 Myers:
David Gordon Green’s Halloween 2018 ignored all of the other Halloween movies except for Carpenter’s original. Directed by Green from a screenplay he wrote with Danny McBride and Scott Teems, Halloween Kills is set on the same night as its predecessor.
Minutes after Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) left masked monster Michael Myers caged and burning in Laurie’s basement, Laurie is rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, believing she finally killed her lifelong tormentor. But when Michael manages to free himself from Laurie’s trap, his ritual bloodbath resumes. As Laurie fights her pain and prepares to defend herself against him, she inspires all of Haddonfield to rise up against their unstoppable monster. The Strode women join a group of other survivors of Michael’s first rampage who decide to take matters into their own hands, forming a vigilante mob that sets out to hunt Michael down, once and for all. Evil dies tonight.
The cast includes Jamie Lee Curtis as franchise heroine Laurie Strode, Judy Greer as Laurie’s daughter Karen, Andi Matichak as Laurie’s granddaughter Allyson, Robert Longstreet as Lonnie Elam (a character from the original film), Dylan Arnold reprising the role of Allyson’s boyfriend / Lonnie’s son Cameron, Jibrail Nantambu as Halloween 2018 scene stealer Julian, Omar Dorsey as Sheriff Barker, Nancy Stephens back in her Halloween, Halloween II, and Halloween H20 role of Marion Chambers, Charles Cyphers back as Brackett, Will Patton as Deputy Hawkins, Carmela McNeal and Michael Smallwood as “Sexy Nurse” Vanessa and “Hunky Doctor” Marcus, Anthony Michael Hall as Tommy Doyle, and Kyle Richards returning to the role of Lindsey Wallace. James Jude Courtney is playing Michael Myers for the second time. Original Michael Myers performer Nick Castle also has a one scene cameo. Newcomers include Brian F. Durkin as Deputy Graham and child actress Victoria Paige Watkins as Christy.
Green, McBride, and Curtis also serve as executive producers on Halloween Kills alongside Couper Samuelson and John Carpenter. Jason Blum produced with Malek Akkad.