The scariest thing about Michael Myers isn’t his knife or the fact that he murdered five people while hunting down his long-lost sister–it’s the trauma he left behind.
Just ask Laurie Strode, reprised by Jamie Lee Curtis, who still suffers from PTSD 40 years later.
In Halloween: 2018, Laurie’s life is in shambles. She’s suffered two failed marriages, she’s estranged from her family and has debilitating PTSD. She even calls herself a “self-proclaimed basket-case.” But trauma doesn’t prevent Laurie from remaining the badass Final Girl she originally was. Before she was separated from her daughter Karen, the Strode girls learned survival strategy in their shack in the woods. The two practiced marksmanship, crafted booby-traps and even fortified their house in preparation for Michael’s return.
However, Karen never believed her, and Laurie’s obsession with preparation only drove a wedge between them.
Until Michael returned.
The backstory to Laurie’s life was reimagined by director David Gordon Green. Before the newest “Sequel,” there had been seven other sequels, three without Jamie Lee Curtis, and an alternate timeline in which Laurie was killed by Michael. Green wanted to reimagine the series and Halloween: 2018 is the true sequel to the original film. The producers, Blumhouse, wanted not only to give the fans the “ending they deserved,” but to also expand the series in a new decade.
In an interview with Blumhouse, the owners said they plan to make a sequel to the newest Halloween. “Let me tell you, we got six movies out of Paranormal Activity–they found new footage five times in a row! I feel like we can figure out the next chapter. But we’ll see,” they said in an interview with MovieWeb.
While Halloween: 2018 featured the return of Michael Myers, he wasn’t the driving force of the film. Family and feminism surmounted the fear experienced by Michael’s victims, and at times, the audience.
All the prepping Laurie did lead to the inevitable reunion of the Laurie, Karen and Allyson, Karen’s daughter in a final showdown against her brother. Before Michael found them sheltered in their home, he took the leisure of killing 17 people along the way–the most victims in any Halloween film.
It was this final confrontation with Michael that the theme of feminism and family arose.
Three generations of Strode girls united to take down Michael once and for all. They each got a stab at Michael to take him down; they then locked him in a basement and set the house on fire.
As the Strode girls escape, they then watch the house burn with Michael still locked inside-symbolism that all-too-closely resides with the #metoo movement.
Three women avenge their trauma 40 years later to not only lock up the “criminal” but watch him burn for his crimes as well. Not to mention they did it without the help of the law.
It’s too real to ignore.
But what’s next for Laurie Strode? Maybe nothing–the audience witnessed her transform from traumed-ridden victim to revengeful victor and kill the one man who haunted her days. She completed her hero’s journey, so maybe Karen or Allyson will become the next Final Girl. Or maybe, it’ll be an entirely new timeline for the sequels.
Although the future of the Strode girls is uncertain, the ending confirmed one thing for sure: 2018 is the year of the woman.
