Halloween (2018) is the 279th episode of Screen Junkies comedy series Honest Trailers. It was written by Spencer Gilbert, Dan Murrell, Joe Starr and Lon Harris. It was narrated by Jon Bailey as Epic Voice Guy. It parodies the 2018 slasher film Halloween. The video is 6 minutes 5 seconds long. It was published on January 15, 2019, to coincide with the film's release on Blu-ray/home video. It has been viewed over 900,000 times.
Watch Honest Trailers - Halloween (2018) on YouTube
"But get ready to meet the real monsters in town: true crime podcasters." ~ Honest Trailers - Halloween (2018)
Script []
After nine sequels and reboots (shows the logos for Halloween II (1981), Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Halloween: Resurrection, Halloween (2007), and Halloween II (2009)), that range from "meh" (Halloween II (1981)), to "please kill meh"...
Freddie Harris (Halloween: Resurrection): (to Michael, while wearing a copy of Michael's mask) Go on, scoot! Skedaddle! Get the f*ck out of dodge!
...only one creative team can restore the Halloween franchise to its former glory: Kenny Powers (Danny McBride) and the director of Your Highness. (David Gordon Green) (shows a minotaur raping Courtney in Your Highness, complete with exposed penis the editor has kindly censored) AUGH!
Halloween (2018)
Get ready for a snazzed-up reboot of the original... or rather, a reboot of the original's sequel... or maybe a new take on H20...? I-I don't know, man. But this time, there's even more carnage (shows Michael burying an axe in Oscar's back), more jump-scares...
Julian: (after Vicky finds Michael in her closet and is attacked) Oh, sh*t!
...and even more of those stupid fake-out jump-scares that end up being something else. (shows Kevin being frightened by an escaped prisoner knocking on his truck window)
Vicky: (leaping out to surprise Julian) BLAHH!! Gotcha.
Dave: (scaring Vicky with a stick horse) NEEIIGH!
Vicky: Oh, sh*t. (chuckles)
Dave: Sorry.
Laurie: (leaping out to surprise Karen) Gotcha!
Karen: <GASP!>
Ray: Jesus.
Can we just stop with that? It's like if comedies tickled you to get a laugh. It's cheating!
Homer Simpson ("Cape Feare"): (barging into Bart's room wearing a hockey mask and holding a chainsaw) BARTYOUWANNASEEMYNEWCHAINSAWANDHOCKEYMASK?!?!
Bart Simpson: AAAAAAAHHHHH!!
Return to the world of Halloween, where the doctors are still shady (shows Sartain wearing Michael's mask, causing Allyson to cry in fear), the cops are still useless...
Sheriff Barker: (to Hawkins) What are we gonna do? Cancel Halloween? (laughs)
...and Haddonfield hasn't changed at all... except for a recent boom in Asian food offerings.
Officer Richards: (to Officer Francis) --a bánh mi sandwich. Bánh mi is essentially just the Vietnamese version of... a French baguette.
Thrill as we reunite with Laurie Strode, once they literally bribe her to be in the movie.
Dana: How does $3,000 sound? (shows the gate to Laurie's house opening for her and Aaron)
She's still haunted by that night 40 years ago, so she became... Sarah Connor, (montage comparing Laurie to Sarah Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day) a hardcore survivalist, convinced a final showdown is coming, with an estranged child she trained to fight, but while some families bond over brunch and spa days, Laurie will bring her clan together the old-fashioned way: by turning the tables on their relentless stalker, in a finale that will leave you wondering, "Okay, she had 40 years to design a trap house, and this is the best she could do?! A shotgun and a room full of mannequins?! And-- Wait a second... Aw, no! Why are they anatomically correct?!" (zooms in on a mannequin's realistically shaped penis) I guess it really is the team that made Your Highness. (shows the minotaur's exposed penis again) AUGH!
Audiences won't need Activia to crap their pants, because Michael Myers is back. You can run, you can hide, but... Actually, you could; he's not much of a mover. Now say goodbye to the slasher you thought you knew, because Michael is 40 years older, and he's matured into more of a shover. (montage of Michael shoving his victims into walls) Hey, I get it, man; you hit your sixties and you gotta conserve that energy.
But get ready to meet the real monsters in town: true crime podcasters. Watch these twits open the film by recording what would have been a terrible series, complete with tons of background noise...
Aaron: (recording while driving) --having witnessed the animal in its captive state... / (recording at Smith's Grove Psychiatric Hospital) This monster... (gets interrupted by a security door opening)
...not calling ahead to secure their biggest interview...
Aaron: (into an intercom) --we're... making a podcast...
...pointing their mics at the subject's back from 20 yards away, in the wind...
Aaron: Hello, Michael.
...and recording their podcast on the 40-year anniversary of the murders, instead of releasing it then. Come on! Hello?! Anybody ever heard of SEO (search engine optimization)?! Ugh, just awful. The true crime podcast about the murder of the true crime podcasters, though? Now, that's a season of Serial!
So suit up for a progressive horror film, about women fighting back against the men who traumatized them, with the undercurrent that people with mental illness are scary and violent, and should be killed or locked away forever. But it's easily the second-best film in the franchise, just by doing what the first movie did... again...
Teacher (Halloween (1978)): --what Samuels is really talking about here is fate.
Teacher (Halloween (2018)): --"'Fate took a different course.'"
(montage of similar-looking shots in the 1978 and 2018 films)
...while sometimes doing things the first movie did... in reverse. (montage of scenes showing Laurie in the 2018 film performing the same actions as Michael in the 1978 film) Dude, what if in the next one, they switch it up and have Michael Myers hunt Laurie? Whoooaa. Wait... (shows Michael about to stab Laurie in the 1978 film)
Starring: Clint Eastwoman (Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode); OK Michael, Say Goodbye to These! (Judy Greer as Karen Nelson); You're Next (Andi Matichak as Allyson Nelson); Sassy Magazine's Sassiest Sassy Boy (Dylan Arnold as Cameron Elam); Obligatory Horror Movie Stoner (Miles Robbins as Dave)...
Dave: (while exhaling weed smoke) Sick.
...Dr. New-mis (Haluk Bilginer as Dr. Ranbir Sartain); Marc Scare-on and Scare-a Koenig. Or, Um... "You Must Dismember This". "How Did This Get Slayed?" How About "Two Dope Screams"? "This American Knife"? Okay, Okay, One More. Uh, Uh... "Wait, Wait, Don't Kill Me!" (Jefferson Hall as Aaron Kovey and Rhian Rees as Dana Haines); Stab On My Haters (James Jude Courtney and Nick Castle as Michael Myers/The Shape); and This Line for Some Reason.
Ray: I got peanut butter on my penis.
Halloween, Too
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Honest title for Halloween (2018) - Halloween, Too. Titles designed by Robert Holtby.
Okay, so when they make a sequel to this movie, are they going to call that movie "Halloween 2"? 'Cause this movie is a sequel to the original, replacing the original Halloween II, so the next Halloween 2 would actually be Halloween 3... aaand my nose is bleeding.
Trivia[]
Honest Trailers Commentary - Halloween (2018)
- The 'starring section' includes puns on several podcasts. "Marc Scare-on" refers to Marc Maron of "WTF with Marc Maron." "Scare-a Koenig" refers to Sarah Koenig who hosts "Serial." "You Must Dismember This" = "You Must Remember This." "How Did This Get Slayed" = "How Did This Get Made?" "Two Dope Screams" = "2 Dope Queens." "This American Knife" = "This American Life." "Wait, Wait, Don't Kill me!" = "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!"
- Writer Joe Starr lauded motion graphics artist Robert Holtby for the fantastic work he did on the titles. As Holtby explained on Twitter, he almost gave on the titles, but persevered with the same lighting set-up and more post work to achieve the final look.
- In the associated episode of Honest Trailers Commentaries, the writers go into more detail about why the podcaster characters annoy them. The writers found it absurd that the so-called professional podcaster didn't even get his passenger to hold the microphone. They also criticized his sloppy technique of moving the microphone around too much AND holding it too far from his face. The writers suggested professional podcasters would simply record the intro later on in their studio The writers also balked at the notion that any podcaster would be able raise $3000 to pay a guest. "That's one hell of a Patreon."
- In a deleted joke, the writers called out Laurie Strode for apologizing to her daughter for training her in the fight against evil. In the writers' opinions, the daughter should have apologized to Laurie because her lifelong paranoia proved to be perfectly justified.
- Screen Junkies have also produced Honest Trailers for several other horror movies including the original Halloween (1978), The Conjuring, Get Out, A Quiet Place, The Purge, The Blair Witch Project, Saw, Paranormal Activity and It (2017). See list of Honest Trailers for more.
Watch the Full Honest Trailer Commentary on YouTube
Reception[]
Honest Trailers - Halloween has a 98.1% approval rating from YouTube viewers. Egotastic observed that Halloween (2018) "was better than it had any right to be, which leads the folks over at Screen Junkies to take it relatively easy on the film in their latest Honest Trailer. Yes, they point out the obvious fact that no one was expecting much from a movie written by Kenny Powers, but still, it took us all by surprise in the end." In their write-up on the Honest Trailer, Slash Film agreed that Halloween (2018) was a good film, writing "while Honest Trailers does make some jokes about the sequel treading familiar territory, I think it’s the simplistic approach and the flipping of iconic moments from the original movie that makes this one work so well."
Screen Rant highlighted the Honest Trailer for calling the film "a snazzed up reboot of the original." In the same article, Screen Rant also noted, "Screen Junkies calls out the filmmakers for their use of cheap jump scares and for basically just remaking the first film. They also joke that the filmmakers turned Laurie Strode into a new version of Sarah Connor from the Terminator franchise." ComicBook.com also highlighted that same comparison, writing, "One of the best moments of the parody trailer is when they compare Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) to Sarah Connor from The Terminator franchise."
Several sites wrote that Screen Junkies' joke about the podcasters was a stand out. MOE Lane particularly enjoyed Screen Junkies' "waspish" take on the podcaster characters, which humorously revealed how professionals feel "when Hollywood gets the technical details wrong." ComicBook.com concurred, writing, "The trailer’s harshest and most hilarious digs were towards the movie’s podcasters." Slash Film also highlighted the podcaster joke, writing: "as the Halloween Honest Trailer illustrates, the real monsters are the true crime podcasters. Seriously though, how inept do these podcasters have to be to record an episode on the Haddonfield murders committed by Michael Myers during the 40th anniversary of the crimes instead of releasing it during that time?"
Production credits[]
Video thumbnail for Honest Trailers - Halloween (2018)
Voiceover Narration by Jon Bailey
Title Design: Robert Holtby
Written by Spencer Gilbert, Dan Murrell, Joe Starr, Lon Harris
Produced by Spencer Gilbert, Dan Murrell, Joe Starr & Max Dionne
Edited by Kevin Williamsen and TJ Nordaker
Assistant Editor: Emin Bassavand
External links []
- Halloween (2018) Honest Trailer: A Snazzed Up Reboot of the Original - Screen Rant article
- The Halloween (2018) Honest Trailer. - MOE Lane article
- ‘Halloween’ Honest Trailer: The Real Monsters Are the True Crime Podcasters - Slash Film article
- ‘Halloween’ Honest Trailer Covers the 2018 Version, Which Was Still the Best Halloween Sequel (VIDEO) - Egotastic article
- The Latest HALLOWEEN Film Gets the Honest Trailers Treatment - Geek Tyrant article
- Oh, Shape! HALLOWEEN 2018 Gets the “Honest Trailer” Treatment - Dread Central article
- 'Halloween' Gets an Honest Trailer- ComicBook.com article