Caffeinated Clint
Whatever happened to it?
As I can attest to, the Dimension/Disney split left a lot of projects high and dry. One of them, was Halloween 9.
One of the many writers on that project, Matt Venne, told Fangoria a bit about his experience working on the sequel.
“Yes, I wrote a draft of HALLOWEEN 9, entitled HALLOWEEN: ASYLUM. It was a very strong premise, but the Dimension split from Disney really threw a lot of projects into a type of limbo, and I’m not sure exactly what the status of that project is. My fingers are certainly crossed, though! Whatever happens on H9, it was an awesome experience for two reasons. The first is that I finally got to work for Dimension and Bob Weinstein—a man who is behind some of my favorite modern genre films. FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, MIMIC, SCREAM and SIN CITY are all topnotch in my book.
“But more importantly, writing H9 gave me a chance to meet Moustapha Akkad, whose passing is still mind-bogglingly sad,” Venne continues. “Mr. Akkad is the man whose name I have known for as long as I can remember, written in huge orange letters, accompanied by John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN theme. I only met with him three times, but he was ultimately the man who gave me the go-ahead to write the script. I’ll never forget how larger-than-life he was—so regal and wise behind his gigantic desk. He had such an endless well of experience gained from a lifetime of making movies and so much more. Yet amidst all of that knowledge and power and wisdom, there was constantly a mischievous little twinkle in his eyes—a spark of life and playfulness that will live on forever in the minds of anyone who had the privilege to meet him.
“Finally, it’s one of those rumors you wish were true, simply because the director is so talented, but alas, Sion [SUICIDE CLUB] Sono was never attached to direct HALLOWEEN 9,” Venne reveals. “I think that story started because at one point, Sono was going to direct something I wrote [a screenplay called SECOND SIGHT] that Clive Barker was going to produce. But, man—hot damn!—what I wouldn’t give to see Sion Sono’s take on Michael Myers!”
The current title for the new “Halloween” is “Halloween : Retribution”, and as far as I know, it won’t be Venne’s words up there on the mesh screen.
