'Halloween Kills' To Premiere At Venice Film Festival As Jamie Lee Curtis Honored With Lifetime Achievement Award

Only two films announced so far, and the 78th Venice International Film Festival already looks like it’ll be one of the biggest festivals of 2021. Denis Villeneuve‘s highly-anticipated “Dune” is already scheduled to appear, and now Venice organizers have revealed that David Gordon Green‘s “Halloween Kills” will make its world premiere at the festival. Moreover, its star, Jamie Lee Curtis, will be honored with a Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award. Venice and the Festival’s Director, Alberto Barbera, made the announcement this morning.

“I am incredibly humbled to be honored in this way by the Venice International Film Festival,” Jamie Lee Curtis said in a statement. “It seems impossible to me that I’ve been in this industry long enough to be receiving ‘Lifetime Achievement’ recognition and to have it happen now, with Halloween Kills, is particularly meaningful to me. Halloween—and my partnership with Laurie Strode—launched and sustained my career, and to have these films evolve into a new franchise that is beloved by audiences around the world was and remains a gift. Italian Cinema always has honored and heralded the genre that gave me my career, so I couldn’t be more proud and happy to accept this award from the Venice International Film Festival on behalf of Laurie and all the courageous heroines of the world who stand tall in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles and refuse to yield.”

“Jamie Lee Curtis belongs to that rarefied group of Hollywood actors who best reflect the qualities that are the very soul of the global film industry and its legacy,” Venice International Film Festival Director Alberto Barbera said in a statement. A” direct descendant of America’s film aristocracy – she is the daughter of two unforgettable stars, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh – Jamie Lee Curtis is the natural embodiment of a star who knows how to play roles with versatility and amenability, all while infusing them with her peerless charisma and signature personality. All these qualities, combined with her work as an author of children’s books and her commitment to her charitable work, have cemented her status as an indelible and enduring global artist. To date, her extraordinary four-decade career, which began with her dazzling debut in John Carpenter’s 1978 horror classic, Halloween, encompasses more than forty feature films and reminds us that true talent, combined with intelligence, wit, endurance, and sheer grit, are the hallmarks of this true and unforgettable star.”

“Halloween Kills” is the sequel to 2018’s “Halloween” retconning requel —a film that discounts the events of the Halloween sacred timeline and starts where 1979’s “Halloween” ended, granted some forty years later. Directed by David Gordon Green, the 2018 “Halloween” was a huge hit, grossing $255.4 million, which is very high for an R-Rated horror film. “Halloween Kills” picks up just minutes after the first film’s events, and it’s the second in a trilogy that concludes with “Halloween Ends” in 2022. Here’s the ‘Kills’ synopsis:

Minutes after Laurie Strode (Curtis), her daughter Karen (Judy Greer), and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) left masked monster Michael Myers caged and burning in Laurie’s basement, Laurie is rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, believing she finally killed her lifelong tormentor. But when Michael manages to free himself from Laurie’s trap, his ritual bloodbath resumes.

The Venice International Film Festival runs September 1–11, 2021. Here’s the latest “Halloween Kills” trailer, in case you missed it.