10 Times Horror Directors Admitted They Went Too Far

After the success of John Carpenter's Halloween, producer Moustapha Akkad pushed hard for a sequel. Carpenter and Halloween co-writer Debra Hill disagreed, believing the story was complete. But with Carpenter in need of money, he agreed to produce and co-write Halloween II, with first-time director Rick Rosenthal helming the project. 

However, John Carpenter found the rough cut scareless, incentivising him to intervene. As mentioned in the 2006 documentary, Halloween: 25 Years of Terror, the Horror Master said: 

“I didn’t think it was scary, so I went in and put in a couple of things to goose it — and they turned out to be some of the goriest scenes in the movie. I regret that because it made it look like we were just going along with what everybody else was doing."

It doesn't stop there, as Carpenter also showed regret about his decision to retcon Michael Myers as Laurie Strode's brother. Time and time again, he's confessed it was "a terrible, stupid idea" that was only used to give Halloween II a narrative hook.

When John Carpenter was brought back as a producer and co-writer for 2018's Halloween, it wasn't a shock to learn the sibling subplot was decanonized.