Jamie Lee Curtis continues to be the embodiment of, “I’m not locked in here with you. You’re locked in here with me.”
Hailed as horror’s ultimate final girl, the Laurie Strode in the 2018 take on the Halloween franchise had spent her entire life waiting for the inevitable return of one Michael Myers. David Gordon Green’s vision took place 40 years after the original 1978 film, effectively retconning the series for the … well … I’ve lost count of how many times Halloween has gotten retconned.
That being said, Jamie Lee Curtis, this time around, was a mix of tragic (because Laurie had been so traumatized that she alienated herself from her family) and phenomenally badass (because she was right, Michael came back, and she was ready). It was an interesting back and forth between “Oh no Laurie what is you doin'” because she was pushing away her loved ones, but also, well, you KNOW Michael is waiting to make a grand entrance, so you get why Laurie acts the way she does.
The 2018 movie ends with Laurie, her daughter Karen, and her granddaughter Andi standing triumphant against Michael Myers, three generations of Strode women putting an end to—
Just kidding! Here’s the sequel trailer!
Minutes after Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee 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. As Laurie fights her pain and prepares to defend herself against him, she inspires all of Haddonfield to rise up against their unstoppable monster.
The Strode women join a group of other survivors of Michael’s first rampage who decide to take matters into their own hands, forming a vigilante mob that sets out to hunt Michael down, once and for all.
Evil dies tonight.
Laurie Strode.
Is so done.
With this shit.
The trailer starts right where the last movie left off. The Strode women are riding off together, finally taking a much-needed breath, but as the fire trucks speed on by they realize that, oh god, oh no, they’re gonna go and put the fire out. They’d burned down the house Michael Myers was in (after beating him down) and left him to die, but hindsight is a bitch, and now they realize that the fire department is gonna see if there are any survivors in that fire.
Of course there are.
There’s Michael.
This definitely explains Jamie Lee Curtis’ energy in this trailer. I can’t explain the level of “done” one has to be if they’re slow-walking down a crowded hospital hallway armed with a knife. I’m no psychic or anything, but I imagine Laurie is beating herself up for not sticking around the burning house to make sure Michael stayed extra crispy.
What’s going to make this sequel interesting is that Laurie Strode doesn’t have to convince her family, or anyone else, that this is a real threat. We see that they get to a hospital, and despite that cold open with Laurie crying out LET IT BURN, the family thinks that Michael is dead—only to be told that he is very much alive. Since everyone knows that the essence of evil is on the loose, it looks like the cast is going out to track Michael Myers down.
The kills this time around are beyond brutal (that fluorescent light kill is WILD), and the winks to past Halloween movies are a nice touch. (I see you, Season of the Witch masks.) While this take on the franchise has retconned past releases, these plot beats are similar to 1981’s Halloween II (right down to Michael killing that elderly couple), though in the upcoming Halloween Kills, Laurie Strode is much more proactive. In the original 1981 release, Michael Myers headed to the hospital to get to Laurie, but lord, Ms. Strode is not about to wait for his ass to show up.
Laurie gets out of her hospital bed, injuries be damned, and lets her daughter know that evil dies.
Tonight.
I know Michael Myers is a great threat and all, but I dunno, the trailer ending with “I’m coming for you, Michael” makes me think that Mr. Myers might wanna skip town.
Halloween Kills is set to release on October 15.
(image: Universal Pictures)
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