This month brings the release of the new Halloween, which marks the 40th anniversary of the landmark horror franchise by seeing Jamie Lee Curtis return to her signature role as Laurie Strode after a long absence. In that way, fans can’t help but compare it to 1998’s Halloween H20, which also saw Curtis make an unexpected comeback alongside her eternal tormentor Michael Myers.
However, the actress herself sees a fundamental difference in the approach the two movies take to her character. For starters, H20 was all about Laurie running from the trauma of her past. If you remember, it saw her having relocated to California and living under an assumed name. Although, her murderous brother still found her.
“In that example, Laurie Strode was running. She was running for her life, she had changed her identity, she had moved away, she didn’t have the name ‘Laurie Strode’ anymore, and she was running as fast as she could. That movie was a lot about alcoholism and running from your fear.”
In contrast, Blumhouse’s Halloween – which doesn’t include any of the previous sequels in its continuity – is the opposite. The older Laurie has spent the last four decades facing her trauma head on, training herself to be ready when Michael inevitably returns to Haddonfield. For Curtis, this gives the new film a timely theme of women confronting their abusers.
“I liked that it was a movie about trauma and I liked that it explored it through generations. And it just so happens that we’re at a time in the universe where women are confronting the trauma of their lives and, quite frankly, the perpetrator of that trauma. And saying ‘no more, I’m going to take back the narrative of my life.’”
H20 featured Laurie with a teenage son named John (played by Josh Hutcherson). Halloween, meanwhile, will cast Laurie as the matriarch of several generations of women – her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) – something that Curtis is proud the film explores.
“And so the combination of that and the fact that they were talking about it through the lens of three generations: mother passing that trauma and fear and anxiety onto her daughter, and then passing it onto her granddaughter.”
Hopefully Jamie Lee Curtis will be a lot more pleased with Halloween in years to come than she is with H20. The actress previously revealed that, though she was initially excited to return to the franchise after so long, the experience of making the 20th anniversary movie ended up being a “money gig.”
Thankfully, then, all signs are pointing to Halloween being a high point for a franchise, with a strong opening weekend at box office expected. See it for yourself – if you dare – when it hits theaters on October 18th.
