David Gordon Green exited the horror genre after the back to back disappointments of Halloween Ends and the disillusionment of The Exorcist: Believer. He may never return – time will tell – but even if he does, there’s a strong possibility his heart and mind won’t be in it.
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Funnily enough, you can argue Green’s head and heart were never fully in tune with horror and some of his creative decisions indicate as much. His bizarre and bungled turns in his Halloween trilogy and his lone foray into possession films weren’t for everyone.
Moreover, they came from wildly eclectic places, it turns out. He drew from many different films that were among his all-time favorites and one wasn’t Halloween or Exorcist-related. It wasn’t even a horror movie, which is a revelation that should surprise no one by now.
You have to remember Green’s roots are in comedy and indie films, so it makes sense he would borrow from that realm. The only problem is, as he found out, some styles and influences clash when blended with elements from an exotic recipe.
Going back to his IndieWire interview from a bit ago, Green could somewhat recognize where he went wrong with Halloween Ends. However, his issues might have been evident and caught early if he had more adequate oversight.
During his discussion with IW and unafraid to let things slip, he admitted Ends had an unexpected inspiration in an 80s teen drama when he calls his third film a mix of John Carpenter’s Christine and My Bodyguard from 1980.
“‘My Bodyguard’ is one of the greatest movies ever made. That was the inspiration for ‘Halloween Ends,’ but that’s another story,” Green stated. “And ‘Christine.’ That’s the obvious one. But ‘My Bodyguard’ is the real core of that movie.”
The true core of Halloween Ends was Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) using Michael Myers to get revenge on his bullies. From that angle, you can see what Green is talking about. However, Corey also got overconfident and decided he could do all the killing on his own because he had a spark of evil in him – or something.
My Bodyguard, which starred Adam Baldwin, Matt Dillon, and Chris Makepeace, has a tragic death at the center of a mystery in the life of the Baldwin character, Ricky. You can rightly guess that it doesn’t cause him or any others to erupt into a murderous rampage.
To casual observers – which we all are since we can’t read Green’s mind – Christine makes sense as a source of inspiration while My Bodyguard wouldn’t register unless they saw Ends and the latter several times, taking notes. Green had a vision unique to himself.
As he added, “But my point is, the movies I grew up on, I think there’s a great appetite for, if you can market it right.” Remember that IW is the same place he conceded we weren’t on the same journey he was while making his Halloweens. Either the stew wasn’t right or maybe there was no appetite, after all.