Taking Shape

by Dustin McNeill

  Just then, the Shape appears behind Allyson. Laurie charges him with only a blade and a brutal knife fight unfolds on the front lawn. She slices his arm, returning the wound she received forty years prior, though the Shape buries his blade deep into her chest. Karen steps onto the porch holding a high-tech crossbow, which she fires at the slasher. The arrow impales him just below the right shoulder, jutting out several inches. Karen and Allyson pull an injured Laurie to safety, who mutters, “Kill it. It must die.” A badly wounded Shape drops his knife and stumbles into nearby woods, struggling to remove the arrow.

  EXT. WOODS. NIGHT.

  The Shape, wounded. He pulls the arrow from his chest and moves through the forest. SIRENS WAIL in the distance. His WHITE mask catching the moonlight. The Shape comes to a clearing. He turns and looks back in the direction of Laurie’s house. He watches, BREATHING... He touches his chest. Feels his wounds; his missing fingers. We reveal that he is standing among the shattered artificial faces of mannequins. The Shape walks to a tree and takes a seat. His head tilts back as his hand presses into his bloodstained clothing.

  His breathing deepens. Exhausted, or possibly his last.

  This original ending fails to satisfy on multiple levels. First, it’s much shorter than its theatrical counterpart. Laurie’s fight with the Shape is over almost as soon as it begins. This ending also gives Allyson nothing to do but get in the way. With both Laurie and the Shape so badly wounded, neither can claim victory to a battle forty years in the making. While this alternate ending was regrettably absent from the film’s home video release, it can be briefly glimpsed in the first trailer.

  “I think we went with the ending that fulfilled that promise of you’re going to see three generations of Strodes vs. Michael Myers,” producer Ryan Turek told ScreenRant. “That’s what I’ll say. I think what we ultimately went with delivered more of what you want to see on both a cat-and-mouse, stalk-and-kill level as well as emotionally fulfilling a lot of the character arcs we set up for Judy Greer’s character and Laurie and Allyson.”

  WRITTEN BUT NOT FILMED

  As the new film’s screenplay evolved leading up to production, numerous character moments were written into and out of the story. Some of these dropped moments offer more insight into backstories and motivations. Others have larger repercussions for the greater mythology. Collected within this section are several lost bits worth noting.

  One piece of mythology planned for Halloween 2018 but ultimately left out of the film involved the iconic Myers house. Theatrically, we never hear mention of 45 Lampkin Lane. The screenplay, however, does bring up the abode when Dr. Sartain inquires of its fate. Hawkins replies, “That old place was a shrine kinda-thing but for serial killer groupies and death metal bands. Vandals got the best of it. A local organization that I work with tore it down and turned it into a community garden. Turned tragedy into beauty if you can consider it.” While this is never addressed in the film, the aforementioned community garden does appear in the deleted scene where Allyson goes running. Might the Shape have murdered the dog after returning home to find it torn down and transformed? Possibly so. Since the Myers house is never officially referenced, it could possibly reappear in Halloween Kills or Halloween Ends – unless they too go the community garden route. (Would a pumpkin patch have been too inappropriate here?)

  Aaron and Dana’s drive to Laurie’s home and their eventual conversation was slightly expanded in the original script. Dana mentions having brought along the bribe money due to Laurie’s documented history of financial instability. (“She’s had every job you can think of in the last forty years from catering to cosmetology. Currently unemployed.”) During their brief chat, the podcasters ask Laurie to share what she remembers about the night of October 31, 1978. Laurie replies: “I have nothing but vague, very blemished memories of that night. The insight you’re here for does not exist.” She abruptly ends the interview soon after this comment.

  Speaking of Aaron and Dana, the podcasters were originally going to put up more of a fight upon encountering the Shape in the gas station bathroom. Theatrically, Aaron manages one good whack on his attacker with the crowbar before dropping it. Dana quickly retrieves the weapon, but is too terrified to actually use it. Per the script, Aaron was to have hit the Shape “three swift times” with the crowbar. The weapon would fall to the floor where Dana would retrieve it and drive it into the Shape’s foot, which has little effect. In an omitted line, Aaron whispers these final words: “Dana, what have we done?” The scene then plays out as in the film.

  As originally written, Laurie’s behavior on the night of October 30 was a little different than in the final film. Theatrically, Laurie watches from her truck as the Shape boards the transfer bus, tossing down mini bottles of liquor while clutching her Smith & Wesson. (The gun was an unscripted touch improvised on set by the filmmakers.) She screams out as the bus departs. Per an earlier script, Laurie was far less emotional, popping a single pill while telling herself: “Put the Boogeyman to bed now, will you, kiddo?” (Recall that Laurie similarly addressed herself as kiddo in the original Halloween.)

  The subsequent dinner scene also played out differently in the script. Theatrically, Laurie chugs Ray’s wine upon arrival to calm her nerves. Her anxiety gets the best of her, however, and she tearfully recounts watching the transfer bus drive away. Laurie apologizes for the emotional display and quickly leaves. As first scripted, Laurie’s nervousness manifested itself through inappropriate comments rather than tears. She jokes about Ray’s wet and clammy handshake before asking Cameron if he’s slept with her granddaughter yet. She tries repeatedly to order drinks before accidentally knocking into a waiter, overturning a giant tray of plates and glasses. An embarrassed Allyson begins to cry and Laurie leaves. “I’m a bad mom when I don’t show up and I’m a bad mom when I do.”

  A relatively late addition to the script, the restaurant scene was written to take the place of several other scenes nixed just before the start of production. The filmmakers had originally planned for Laurie for show up at Allyson’s Honors Society induction and have her breakdown there instead. This also would’ve been where Karen and Ray first meet Cameron. A location was scouted for the induction ceremony, but the production schedule proved too tight to fit these scenes in. They were instead condensed into the restaurant scene we now know.

  Many fans have noted how Laurie and Hawkins are on a first-name basis when they cross paths outside Julian’s home. Some have theorized that they might’ve been married in years past, but it’s unlikely Laurie would ever marry the man who stopped Loomis from killing her attacker forty years earlier. A pre-shooting draft of the script offered a possible explanation for their familiarity with one another. Apparently, Laurie is no stranger to Haddonfield’s law enforcement community. Seeing her at the gas station crime scene, Hawkins comments, “Is that who I think it is? She calls the station at least twice a month. She’s a paranoid pain in the ass. Tell her to go home.”

  The unfilmed pages of Halloween 2018’s screenplay offer a little more insight on Dr. Sartain than we receive in the actual movie. One obvious question posed in the script but not in the film – how exactly did Michael’s bus escape go down? As written, Sartain offers an explanation to Hawkins, which may not be entirely truthful: “The bus lost control after Michael overtook the first guard, then the driver. […] I tried to hide, but he found me. Locked me to a seat. He looked down at me. I closed my eyes and when I opened them, he walked away.” The screenwriters also hint at Sartain’s true nature when he praises Hawkins for having prevented Loomis from killing Michael back in 1978. “He lawfully stood between Dr. Loomis’ vindictive tirade and the right to a fair trial.” Hawkins rejects the doctor’s praise, instead confessing his deep regret over having saved Michael’s life that night. The psycho-psychiatrist also had more dialogue in the script while driving Allyson and the Shape to Laurie’s home. Despite being unconscious, Sartain lovingly addresses his patient as though awake.

&nb
sp; Alternate Sartain monologue.

  Michael, I see why you are who you are. The sensation is obvious. The thrill is exhilarating. Loomis was a coward. He was afraid to travel to such depths for you. But I love you and I know you feel the same way. I freed you from those unwilling to understand you. Those of archaic mind. The look on your face when you saw freedom? And then the carnage and confusion we created? I’m glad we’re together, Michael.

  Theatrically, Sartain’s final words desperately implore his patient to “say something.” The silent Shape denies this last request and instead lets his boot do the talking. As first written, Sartain’s final words were far more shocking. As the Shape lifts his boot, the doctor intones, “But you said I could watch,” which would seem to suggest that the Shape somehow conversated with his therapist while at Smith’s Grove. That bold implication, had it been made in the film, might’ve been a second bridge too far with the character. Sartain’s attitude grows somber as he accepts his imminent death, telling his patient: “Do it.” The screenplay’s scene direction then offers the most eloquent phrasing of what happens next: “The Shape stomps down onto Doctor Sartain’s head. His skull caves in – brains shit out.”

  CALLBACKS

  For a sequel that ignores the other nine films in the series, Halloween 2018 sure spends a lot of time paying tribute to them. The screenwriters make a giant effort to pack fan service references both big and small into the newest installment. These references serve nicely as a good will gesture to the rest of the franchise. Halloween 2018 isn’t necessarily dismissing its predecessors by not including them in its timeline. As Jamie Lee Curtis has remarked on more than one occasion, this alternate continuity is more of a “palette cleanser” for the new generation.

  “For fans, we pay homage and respect to every Halloween that has been out there.”

  - Danny McBride, MovieWeb

  References to the original Halloween in the 2018 film are almost too numerous to document. As already mentioned, the production recreates several iconic moments with Laurie now in place of Michael. The film also recreates the original’s classroom scene with granddaughter Allyson in place of Laurie. (Halloween actress P.J. Soles voices the teacher, who is again lecturing on fate.) The Shape placing Vicky’s corpse under a sheet and stabbing Dave to the wall both reference Bob’s death in the original. In both the 1978 and 2018 films, Laurie has a wide rimmed sun-hat as part of her wall décor. At one point, Deputy Hawkins refers to the 1978 massacre as “the babysitter murders,” which was Irwin Yablans’ original title for that film. During the restaurant scene, Laurie refers to Michael as “the Shape,” which is what Carpenter and Debra Hill called the slasher in their screenplay. Laurie later finds her son-in-law’s corpse stuffed into a closet similar to how she found Lynda’s dead body in Halloween. In one scene, police mention a disturbance at 707 Meridian, which was the original address for the Myers house location in Pasadena before it was relocated. As the Shape stalks Haddonfield’s streets, children can be heard singing the “Black cats and goblins” rhyme from the first film. As in Halloween H20, Laurie repeats her iconic line: “Do as I say.” Lastly, the song playing in the father/son’s truck before the bus crash scene is “Close to Me” by the Heavy Young Heathens. This is actually a cover of the improvised tune Laurie sang to herself in the first Halloween.

  One reference to the original that didn’t make it into the film was a cameo by former actress Kyle Richards, aka Lindsey Wallace. Richards has since become a reality starlet from her involvement with The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. She had publicly mulled such a cameo, though this never materialized. Ever the idea woman, Jamie Lee Curtis told TooFab.com how she envisioned this playing out: “Can you imagine if Laurie Strode was in downtown Haddonfield and all of a sudden [Lindsey] was walking toward her with her friends - because she’s now a grown woman, maybe she has kids of her own -- and she sees Laurie Strode? Because Laurie Strode has such a bad reputation in town for being this dogmatic boy who cried ‘Wolf, Michael Myers, Michael Myers!’ [Lindsey] sort of sees her and is like, ‘Kids, let’s [motion pushing them away].’ That would have been genius!” (Note: Kyle Richards is now set to return in 2020’s Halloween Kills).

  There are also several references to Halloween II, the most obvious being the pink robed woman murdered for her cutlery, who strongly resembles Mrs. Elrod. Per the script, the woman’s husband was to be asleep in the living room similar to Mr. Elrod. The actor hired for this role failed to show on the day of filming, however, which forced David Gordon Green to improvise. This led to the addition of a crying baby to the scene. (Fun fact: The infant was voiced by Jamie Lee Curtis.) The Shape also murders this woman’s neighbor, whom we overhear talking to someone named Sally – a reference to Alice - Halloween II’s first victim. To boot, during the course of this scene, the Shape watches as a couple – dressed in doctor and nurse attire – depart for a party. Oscar later encounters the Shape in someone’s backyard and mistakes him for the homeowner, addressing him as Mr. Elrod. Another Halloween II moment recreated in the new film involved the Shape bumping into a youth with a boombox on his shoulder. One reference scripted but left out of the film involved Dana reading some lyrical graffiti in the gas station bathroom. This turns out to be Budd’s perverted take on “Amazing Grace.”

  As the Shape stalks Haddonfield on Halloween night, several trick-or-treaters in Silver Shamrock masks from Halloween III can be seen running past camera. The gas station where Aaron and Dana stop, particularly the icebox, strongly evokes a similar locale from Halloween 4 where the Shape also kills a mechanic for his uniform. Oscar’s devil costume and the humorous lunch banter between the police outside Laurie’s home recalls Halloween 5. The sub-plot of Dr. Sartain being a Smith’s Grove psychiatrist with an evil agenda is highly evocative of Dr. Wynn from Halloween 6. The aforementioned bathroom scene with Dana feels reminiscent of similar scenes from Halloween H20 and Halloween 2007. Speaking of H20, Laurie drove a GMC Jimmy in that sequel, which can be seen on a hydraulic lift in the station garage. (This might also double as another Halloween II reference.) Halloween: Resurrection also appears to get a shout-out at the gas station where a van from “Wade’s Resurrection Church” can be seen. Lastly, Sartain’s death by face-stomping recreates Howard Boggs’ murder from Rob Zombie’s Halloween II.

  THE NOVELIZATION

  Halloween 2018 marked the first time in thirty years that a Halloween film received an official novelization. Written by John Passarella and released through Titan Books, the new film’s novel offers enormous insight into the personalities and motivations of the characters. Based on an earlier version of the shooting script, Passarella’s book also contains the film’s many deleted scenes where they originally appeared in the story. The book also reinstates numerous lines trimmed from throughout the film.

  Many of these added moments involve the nefarious Dr. Sartain, who explains to Aaron and Dana why he believes (or pretends to believe) Michael Myers is no longer a danger to society. (“We left two kitty cats in his cell overnight and both were retrieved unharmed.” Smiling, he spread his hands. “I hate to disappoint you.”) Passarella also expands upon the moment when Sartain boards the Smith’s Grove transfer bus - including his hushed comments to the Shape.

  Interestingly, the author differentiates between scenes of the main cast and scenes of the Shape in an unusual way. Most of the book is told in past-tense, though scenes involving the latter are specifically communicated in present-tense. This places an effective emphasis on moments where the Shape is present within a scene. He also depicts the film’s fiery ending in far more vivid detail than the film, which makes you wonder how the Shape could possibly return.

  “When the flesh of The Shape’s palms begins to cook against the hot metal bars, the struggle continues. When the stairs beneath The Shape begin to char and crumble, the struggle continues. When the air The Shape breathes sears The Shape’s lungs, the struggle continues. When the coveralls catch fire and the Mask begins to bub
ble and melt into The Shape’s hidden face, the struggle continues. And when all the flesh of The Shape’s body begins to sear and sizzle, the struggle continues…”

  INTERVIEW: David Thwaites

  (David Thwaites: Executive Producer - H40)

  You joined Miramax in 2015 as a vice president. How would you describe your role there?

  I was brought into Miramax by Zanne Devine, who was overseeing their film and television acquisitions. My objective was to come in as the head of film and build a slate for the company. Prior to Zanne’s arrival, it was really a library company under the ownership of Colony Capital and Qatar Investment Authority. The decision had been made to get back into producing. In order to do that, Zanne hired people to develop a slate, build it, and oversee it. That was my job.

  Had you seen the original Halloween at that point? And would you call yourself a genre fan?

  Yes and yes. I had been a fan of horror for a long time. I was involved in a movie that had some horrific elements called Black Swan. In some regards, that’s a horror movie. I was also a fan of the original Halloween. Like many people, I think it sort of devolved from there with the sequels, but I was definitely a fan. I eventually saw an opportunity to get the Halloween rights back from Dimension Films, which I thought would be something worthwhile. At the time, I might’ve been the only one at Miramax who thought that.

  How exactly did the Halloween rights go from Dimension back to Miramax?

  It was a complicated situation. In the Disney divorce from Miramax, there were a number of titles that went on a rolling option to Dimension as part of the settlement agreement. I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn to say this, but there was a provision that they had to keep making new sequels in order to retain the rights. At that moment in time, the option was coming up for renewal and several extensions had already been granted. When I got to Miramax and started looking at building a slate, the first place you always look is in your own library. What properties could potentially be reinvigorated that you already own? Halloween was a title I really wanted for that, but it wasn’t available because yet another extension had been granted to Dimension. Now that we were creating our own content, my philosophy was that we were in the rights-retaining business, not the rights-granting business. Through a series of complicated things, I saw an option to take back the rights to Halloween because they hadn’t made a sequel yet. We were actually negotiating several things with Dimension at the time, one of which was an extension to the Halloween option. I suggested to Miramax’ lawyers that we forego several things we had been wanting in order to take Halloween back. That may seem like a good decision in retrospect, but at the time everyone looked at me and went, ‘Do you really think Halloween is all that valuable? What would you even do with the franchise? There have been ten sequels to the original. Some have been successful, some not so successful.’ It wasn’t exactly a premium brand in the horror space at that point in time.