Halloween Ends Director Nearly Worked In A Massive Halloween III Easter Egg
Director David Gordon Green's "Halloween Ends" isn't scoring well with cinephiles, according to Rotten Tomatoes. But the film still grossed over $67 million worldwide in just two weeks of release, according to Box Office Mojo. However, "Halloween Ends" succeeds in creating Easter eggs to the earlier films in the franchise, despite the fact that Green's trilogy disregards all the movies in the franchise's history with the exception of John Carpenter's original "Halloween" from 1978.
One of the most glaring Easter eggs is presented in the relationship between the Shape and one of the new characters in "Halloween Ends," Corey (Rohan Campbell). Evil spreads from Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney) to Corey like a contagious cold, and this is reminiscent of how Michael Myers' evil likewise spreads from the Shape to his niece, Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris), at the end of "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers." And "Halloween III: Season of the Witch" almost got its own shout-out.
"Halloween III" is a departure from the rest of the films because it is the only installment not to feature Michael Myers as the antagonist. Even Irwin Yablans, who served as the executive producer of "Halloween III" couldn't understand why Silver Shamrock's Conal Cochran (Dan O'Herlihy) was the villain and not Myers. "The decision not to use the Michael Myers character was stupid," Yablans said during "Stand Alone — The Making of Halloween III: Season of the Witch." But turns out, Green wrote a "Halloween III" Easter egg he never shot for "Halloween Ends."
The Silver Shamrock factory nearly appeared in Halloween Ends
Director Tommy Lee Wallace took the reins of the "Halloween" series for the franchise's third film after having served as an editor and production designer on John Carpenter's "Halloween." In that sequel, Conal Cochran is a warlock who runs the Silver Shamrock factory, and he intends to kill all the world's children with his booby-trapped Halloween masks. And Green nearly included the Silver Shamrock factory at the conclusion of "Halloween Ends."
"There was an ending I wrote that we never filmed," director David Gordon Green said in an interview with MovieMaker Magazine. "And it takes place at Silver Shamrock factory as it was spitting out witch, skeleton, and jack-o-lanterns masks. And then it started spitting out Michael Myers masks. I had a temptation to go there." Green decided the move to include Silver Shamrock in the film would solely be fan service, so he chose not to include the "Halloween III" Easter egg. "It was in every draft of the script ever published, but we never filmed it," Green continued.
While the Silver Shamrock Easter egg didn't make the final cut of the film, Green did give "Halloween III" a slight shout-out in the opening title sequence. "It's a cool movie," Green admitted to liking "Halloween III" in the same interview with MovieMaker Magazine. "So, I thought my nods would be the blue titles in the intro for those insightful enough to catch it."