Halloween 5 Things That Remained Consistent (& 5 That Kept Changing)

Halloween: 5 Things That Remained Consistent (& 5 That Kept Changing)

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Halloween is one of the messiest horror movie franchises ever made. While some things changed, others always stayed the same.

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Halloween 5 Things That Remained Consistent (& 5 That Kept Changing)

When it comes to slasher movies, John Carpenter’s long-running Halloween has a special place in horror aficionados’ hearts, but not for the expected reasons. Halloween is infamous for having one of the most convoluted chronologies in movie history, making it both a guilty and genuine pleasure.

Over the years, Halloween took some really big creative swings, most of which failed to connect while others managed to stick the landing. The ongoing Blumhouse soft reboot – slated to be a trilogy – has mostly simplified its series of events, but Halloween wouldn’t be Halloween without its charmingly and uniquely messy timeline.

10 STAYED THE SAME: Season Of The Witch Is Non-Canon

Halloween 5 Things That Remained Consistent (& 5 That Kept Changing)

Whether someone saw it first in 1982 or watched it during a recent Halloween marathon, the third movie Season Of The Witch will always feel like a sore thumb. The movie has nothing to do with Michael, telling a story about a Celtic cult, androids, and spooky masks. Outside of the Silver Shamrock masks getting a cameo in Halloween (2018), Season Of The Witch remains non-canon.

Carpenter’s original plans were for Halloween to be an anthology of unconnected Halloween-themed movies. The experiment flopped and audiences wanted Michael back, causing the flood of Halloween sequels/reboots/remakes. The underrated Season Of The Witch remains one of the strangest sequels ever made, but it’s become one of the most beloved cult classics as well.

9 KEPT CHANGING: The Reason Behind Michael’s Inhuman Strength

Halloween 5 Things That Remained Consistent (& 5 That Kept Changing)

No matter what continuity, Michael is always freakishly strong. What varies across timelines is the justification for this, or the lack thereof. While some entries tried to explain his physical prowess, others just focused on Michael stabbing and (literally) breaking people.

The most infamous explanation is the Cult of Thorn, a generations-spanning sect that used a supernaturally-powered Michael for their ends. This is mostly ignored by the fanbase and films after part six, The Curse Of Michael Myers. The original continuity (continued in both H20: 20 Years Later and Blumhouse’s reboot) and Zombie’s remakes instead depicted Michael as a stronger-than-average person who could somehow survive grievous injuries.

8 STAYED THE SAME: Michael Never Gets A Proper Face Reveal

Halloween 5 Things That Remained Consistent (& 5 That Kept Changing)

A golden rule states that Michael’s face should never be shown. Minus an accidental reveal in the original film and subsequent glimpses of his eyes that are usually obscured by shadows, his face is never fully shown because whoever is under the William Shatner mask is unimportant. Michael is the living embodiment of pure evil, meaning he should never be humanized.

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This was averted in Zombie’s remake, but only because Michael’s childhood was shown. In the sequel, however, Michael barely wears the mask. In-universe, this is because that mask is rotting from wear and tear but some fans view this as Zombie making a deliberately anti-Halloween that spitefully rejected franchise norms. The remakes’ distaff status and Zombie’s own disowning of it made this maskless Michael easy for fans to ignore.

7 KEPT CHANGING: Michael’s Motive & Purpose

Halloween 5 Things That Remained Consistent (& 5 That Kept Changing)

The biggest mystery about Michael is why he kills. While this is an intriguing question, it’s one that doesn’t need an answer. Originally, Michael was just a force of nature; he killed for no discernable reason and that’s exactly what made him both dangerous and terrifying. However, as the sequels piled up, so did his poorly thought out motivations.

In Halloween II (1981) onwards, Michael was trying to reconnect with and/or kill his estranged sister Laurie or any surviving family. These familial connections are something Carpenter himself regrets making. Later on, Michael was enacting the will of the Cult Of Thorn before trying to pass a curse to an unlucky sap. These ideas fared poorly with critics and audiences, so Michael reverted to killing for no understandable reason. This return to simplicity in the Blumhouse timeline was, conversely, received positively.

6 STAYED THE SAME: Michael’s Lack Of Emotions

Halloween 5 Things That Remained Consistent (& 5 That Kept Changing)

Minus some body language and head tilts, Michael never shows any emotion nor does he speak. At best, all people hear is his heavy breathing since Michael lets his brutality and pile of dead bodies do the talking. His emptiness emphasized just how inhuman he is, despite what first impressions may imply.

Zombie broke this tradition, but primarily in Michael’s childhood flashbacks. When he grows up, Michael becomes the silent killer fans know and fear. The one time Michael explicitly showed emotion and talked was in the final moments of Zombie’s Halloween II’s, when he charged at Dr. Loomis while yelling “Die!” Fans generally ignore this uncharacteristic moment of rage.

5 KEPT CHANGING: Michael’s Family Life

Halloween 5 Things That Remained Consistent (& 5 That Kept Changing)

Michael having a family isn’t a contested detail about his origins, but it’s his childhood years differs greatly. Originally, the Myers family was just like any other family. It just so happened that something snapped or clicked in Michael, leading him to kill his older sister on Halloween night.

In the remake, the Myers are a terrible clan that routinely fights and abuses a young Michael. The only one who’s nice to him is his mother Deborah, who takes her life after realizing how far gone Michael is. Both incarnations reveal that Laurie is the Myers’ estranged youngest daughter, though this was retconned in Blumhouse’s timeline.

4 STAYED THE SAME: Dr. Loomis Dies

Halloween 5 Things That Remained Consistent (& 5 That Kept Changing)

Due to Donald Pleasence passing away, his iconic character Dr. Loomis – Michael’s psychiatrist – is canonically dead. That being said, his presence never left. His unfinished attempts to find Michael after Halloween II (1981) give the police information on the killer’s whereabouts in H20, and his tapes are heard in Halloween (2018).

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While the original Dr. Loomis passed away peacefully off-screen, he dies brutally twice in Zombie’s continuity. First, Michael crushes his face but inexplicably, Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) survives (with face intact) and makes it to the sequel. This time, he’s stabbed when he fails to talk Michael down.

3 KEPT CHANGING: Laurie’s Post-Halloween Life

Halloween 5 Things That Remained Consistent (& 5 That Kept Changing)

Laurie Strode’s life after Halloween was never the same. While her trauma was constant in all appearances, what differs is how she coped. In H20 (which ignores everything after Halloween II), Laurie lives a relatively peacefully as a school’s headmistress but is still reeling from the experience. In the remakes, a severely traumatized Laurie loses her grip on reality before getting institutionalized or dying, depending on which cut of Zombie’s Halloween II is on. In Blumhouse’s retelling (which ignores everything after Halloween), Laurie became a paranoid recluse who’s been stocking up on firearms and waiting for the chance to gun down Michael.

Additionally, Laurie’s family life changed a lot. H20 shows he has a son named John, whereas Blumhouse gives her a daughter – Karen – who’s different from Jamie, her orphaned daughter introduced in part four, The Return Of Michael Myers.

2 STAYED THE SAME: Dr. Loomis’ Futile Efforts

Halloween 5 Things That Remained Consistent (& 5 That Kept Changing)

Try as he may, Dr. Loomis could never truly understand or help Michael. His reactions to this changed depending on his actor but the ending was always the same: Dr. Loomis’ efforts are all for naught.

After the original Halloween, Dr. Loomis dedicated his life to tracking down Michael. All the way to his death, an obsessed Dr. Loomis was desperate to end Michael, leaving dire warnings that were heard posthumously. The remakes’ Dr. Loomis genuinely tried to understand and stop Michael but eventually gave up, moving on to monetizing his experiences through exploitative tell-all books. He attempts to talk to Michael one last time, but dies as a result.

1 KEPT CHANGING: Laurie’s Importance To The Story

Though she doesn’t appear in all the movies, Laurie is an irreplaceable part of Halloween. When she’s around, Laurie is the center of the story either through her family ties to Michael or her own survival but when she’s absent, she’s killed unceremoniously.

Specifically, The Return Of Michael Myers off-handedly mentions Laurie died in a car crash, explaining her absence in the succeeding Revenge and Curse Of Michael Myers. Similarly, Laurie is quickly killed off in the opening minutes of Resurrection and is never mentioned again. Jamie Lee Curtis only worked in Resurrection to fulfill a contractual obligation and ensure that she would never return in a possible follow-up to this all-around terrible Halloween.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/halloween-things-stayed-same-kept-changing/

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