‘Oculus’ Director Reportedly in Talks For New ‘Halloween’ Movie

It was just last night that Blumhouse announced plans to make a new Halloween movie with original director John Carpenter serving as executive producer — which is great news, considering Carpenter’s lack of involvement in the franchise’s later years. The studio didn’t say whether the new film will be a sequel or a reboot, but they did say they were going for a more established director, and a new report suggests Blumhouse may have already found one.

Per Bloody Disgusting, Oculus director Mike Flanagan is in talks to helm the new Halloween film for Blumhouse and Carpenter. That’s a solid choice based on the strength of Oculus alone, though his latest film — Hush — wasn’t nearly as chilling as his previous effort. Flanagan also directed Before I Wake, a horror flick that fell victim to Relativity Media’s bankruptcy and has suffered repeated delays (those who have already seen it say that it’s also fairly underwhelming.)

Speaking about the project at an event last night, Carpenter proved that he still has a firm grasp on what makes Michael Myers so terrifying — and what made the numerous sequels and Rob Zombie’s reboot so disappointing:

We’re probably going to go back to the original traditions that we started with early on. It’s kind of gone astray a little bit. I thought maybe the remakes went off somewhere that I didn’t want ‘em to go. Michael Myers is not a character. He is a force of nature. He is not a person. He is part supernatural, part human. He’s like the wind. He’s an evil wind. When you start straying away from that and you get into explaining, you’re lost. So hopefully we can guide it back in that direction.

As to whether we can expect a reboot or a sequel following the continuity established in Carpenter’s films, Jason Blum could only offer, “We’re being vague because we don’t know. We’re talking about different things.” Blum reiterated Carpenter’s sentiments about getting “back to basics,” and added that they don’t want to make anything “too meta.”

If nothing else, Flanagan has showcased a more classic approach with his horror films, and he’s definitely more appealing than some of the alternatives.