Halloweens Original Script Suggested A Dark Twist With Michael & Laurie

Halloween’s Original Script Suggested A Dark Twist With Michael & Laurie

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The original script for Halloween infers a dark link with Michael and Laurie. His fixation on the babysitter has often inspired unique analysis.

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Halloweens Original Script Suggested A Dark Twist With Michael & Laurie

The original script for John Carpenter’s Halloween had a moment that suggested a dark twist with Michael and Laurie. Before the sequel’s left field attempt to make the characters related, the ambiguity of Michael’s fixation on the intrepid babysitter has often inspired unique analysis.

Carpenter’s influential horror film started an entire subgenre of similar psycho killer productions. The amount of films, and their dedication to the very same template created by the filmmaker and his writing partner, Debra Hill, prompted the retroactive label “slasher movie” several years later. Much was made out of protagonist Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her status as the virginal good girl within her group of sexually active friends. By imposing a moral code onto the film, a few critics tried to equate Laurie’s survival as a commentary on the dangers of promiscuity.

Blindly following the Halloween playbook, other slasher films created similar heroines who were shy and virtuous. These Laurie-like characters, usually the smartest of the potential victims, would live to the final reel – ultimately defeating the bad guy. Another retroactive term, the final girl, would also become part of the dialogue to describe this particular stock character. Even Curtis would be cast in variations of this role with the Canadian slasher films Prom Night (1980) and Terror Train (1980). Other than sticking very close to an established formula, these post-Halloween films rarely had the intelligence to suggest subtext. Most final girls were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time.

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Halloween’s Shooting Script Suggested A Dark Subtext

The first time escaped psychopath Michael Myers sees Laurie, she is leaving a key at the front door of the home where he killed his sister. Watching through the front door, he sees her along with Tommy (Brian Andrews), a grade school kid she is tasked with babysitting. Laurie is the same age as Michael’s sister the night he murdered her, and Tommy is roughly the same age that he was the night of his crime. A note of recognition compels Michael to follow her, enough of a reason for most audiences. As Laurie walks away from the Myers’ home, she begins to sing, “I wish I had you all alone, just the two of us, I would hold you close to me…”

In the original shooting script, as Laurie sits in class, she writes in her notebook “Laurie Strode is lonely”. After this, she glances out the window to see Michael outside watching her. It is later established by Laurie’s two girlfriends that she “never goes out” and “probably has a small fortune stashed away from babysitting”. Throughout the film, as her friends plan ways to fool around, Laurie comments on their machinations and how “everybody’s having a good time tonight”. Though subtle, the subtext could be argued that Laurie conjured Michael into her life by inviting him to an extended dance. While Laurie’s scribbling in her notebook did not make the final film, it does point to a concerted effort to frame the character as vulnerable and open to romance.

A later confession to her friend Annie (Nancy Loomis) reveals that she would be interested in going to a dance with fellow student Ben Tramer. This news excites Annie, but ends up embarrassing Laurie, who is used to putting up a brave front. “Guys think I’m too smart,” Laurie acknowledges earlier when chastised that she never goes out. Was Michael Myers simply answering her call? Carpenter has stated simply and emphatically that Laurie survived the night because she was the only one who wasn’t distracted. Yet, the intelligent way Halloween is structured makes the more ambiguous elements fascinating to ponder.

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Link Source : https://screenrant.com/halloween-1978-shooting-script-michael-laurie-plot-explained/

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