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 horror 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
"Get ready to meet the real monsters in town: true crime podcasters." ~ Honest Trailers - Halloween (2018)
Script []
After nine sequels and reboots that range from 'meh' [Halloween II] to 'please kill meh' [Halloween Resurrection]…
Freddie: 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 and the director of Your Highness. [Shot from Your Highness: a black 'CENSORED' bar covers a minotaur's exposed penis] Argh!
Halloween (2018)
Get ready for a snazzed up reboot of the original. Or rather, a reboot of the original sequel. Or maybe a new take on H20? Uh, look, I don't know, man. But this time there's even more carnage, more jump scares and even more of those stupid fake out jump scares that end up being something else [montage of fake-out jump scares]. Can we just stop with that?! It's like if comedies tickled you to get a laugh. It's cheating!
[Clip from The Simpsons: Homer barges into Bart's bedroom wearing a hockey mask and holding a running chainsaw]
Homer: BARTYOUWANNASEEMYNEWCHAINSAWANDHOCKEYMASK?!?!
Bart: AAAAAAAHHHHH!!
Return to the world of Halloween where the doctors are still shady, the cops are still useless, and Haddonfield hasn't changed at all - except for a recent boom in Asian food offerings.
Cop: A bánh mì sandwich. Bánh mì 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.
Podcaster: How does $3,000 sound?
She's still haunted by that night 40 years ago. So she became Sarah Connor, 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 be wondering, "Okay, she had 40 years to design a trap house, and this is the best she could do? A shotgun and a roomful of mannequins?" And, wait a second... Oh no! Why are they anatomically correct? I guess it really is the team that made Your Highness [cut back to the minotaur clip, with Psycho-like screeching music]. Argh!
Audiences won't need Activia to crap their pants, because Michael Myers is back [Jamie Lee Curtis in an Activia ad]. 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 people into stuff]. Hey, I get it man. You get to your sixties and you got to 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…
Podcaster: (driving a car with recorder in hand) Having witnessed the animal and its captive state..."
Podcaster: "This monster- (alarms go off)
…not calling ahead to secure their biggest interview
Podcaster: (talking into a driveway intercome) We're making a podcast.
…pointing their mics at the subject's back from 20 yards away... in the wind! [Podcaster (from 20 yards away): "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]!? Oh! 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! [Comparison of multiple near identical clips from the 1978 and 2018 versions], while sometimes doing things the first movie did... in reverse! [Montage of multiple inverted clips from the 1978 and 2018 versions]. Dude, what if in the next one they switch it up and have Michael Myers hunt Laurie. Whoa! Wait...?
Starring: [Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode] Clint Eastwoman; [Judy Greer as Karen Strode] Okay Michael, Say Goodbye to These!; [Virginia Gardner as Vicky] You're Next; [Dylan Arnold as Cameron Elam] Sassy Magazine's Sassiest Sassy Boy; [Miles Robbins as Dave] Obligatory Horror Movie Stoner [Dave: "Sick!"]; [Haluk Bilginer as Dr. Ranbik Sartain] Dr. New-Mis; [Jefferson Hall as Aaron Korey and Rhian Rhees as Dana Haines] Marc Scare-on and Scare-a Koenig, or, 'You Must Dismember This,' 'How Did This Get Slayed?' how about, 'Two Dope Screams?' 'This American Knife?' okay, okay, one more, 'Wait, Wait, Don't Kill Me!'; [James Jude Courtney as Michael Myers] Stab On My Haters; and... This Line For Some Reason: "I got peanut butter on my penis."
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a.
Halloween, Too
Okay, so when they make a sequel to this movie are they going to call that movie Halloween 2? Because this movie is a sequel to the original replacing the original Halloween II, so the next Halloween 2 would actually be Halloween 3... and 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. 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