There's a new Halloween in theaters, bringing fans back to the world of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode in Haddonfield. Though it's been 40 years since the first movie became a smash hit, the popularity of the Halloween franchise has never really lessened, even if the quality of the movie did over time.
In the new film, it's clear that those behind-the-scenes are massive fans of what's come before as they take many opportunities to pay tribute to not only the original film, but the sequels that came in the years that followed. With keen eyes, the GameSpot staff walked into the new Halloween, ready to catch each and every Easter egg director David Gordon Green hid in the new movie, from nods to Michael's original killings to even a Season of the Witch shoutout.
Were you able to catch all of the Easter eggs and references concealed in the new Halloween, some of which were hiding in plain sight all along? Take a look at our gallery and let us know in the comments which reference was your favorite--or if we somehow missed one.
If you're looking for even more Halloween goodness, we went ahead and ranked not only the most brutal kills in the franchise, but every Halloween movie as well. Make sure you don't miss those.
1. O Brother, Where Art Thou
The later Halloween movies tried to establish more backstory for Michael Myers, including that he was actually Laurie Strode's long lost brother, much to fans' chagrin. The new movie simultaneously acknowledges and debunks that development during an early conversation between Allyson and her friends, when she tells them that the brother rumor is just something someone made up.
2. By Today's Standards
In the same scene, Allyson's friend Dave points out that by today's standards, one guy killing a handful of people with a knife isn't even that big a deal. From the character's perspective, many more people than that die in terrorist attacks and mass shootings on a regular basis. But in a meta sense, this conversation is an acknowledgment of the fact that, despite its iconic status, the original Halloween is tame by today's horror standards. Note that the conversation is punctuated by Allyson and Vicky telling Dave to shut the f*** up.
3. The Music
Obviously Halloween's main theme music is the same as the iconic music in the original, but did you know that John Carpenter actually came back to work on the music for this movie too? You can thank him (as well as his son Cody Carpenter and Daniel A. Davies) for the throbbing synths that accompany those familiar piano notes.
4. The Opening Credits
The font and style of the opening credits are a direct nod to the original's aesthetic. You'll know if you have any fans in your theater based on the crowd's reaction to the big orange text appearing on the screen.
5. The Pumpkin
The pumpkin that appears during the credits, too, is a reference to the original. This time around, instead of simply slowly zooming in on a lit jack-o-lantern, the credits first show a decaying pumpkin regenerating--signifying Michael Myers, and the Halloween franchise itself, coming back to life.
6. "The New Loomis"
Dr. Loomis played an important role in several movies in the series, including the original. From Laurie's perspective, Haluk Bilginer's character Dr. Sartain is "the new Loomis" in the sense that he's Michael's physician now. But in a meta sense, Sartain also fulfills a similar character role in the new Halloween--at least, at first.
7. The Final Girl
Another trope the original Halloween fully embraced is the "final girl." Laurie Strode, as the shy, pure, "good girl," is the only one to survive The Shape's onslaught. In the new Halloween, the character herself acknowledges the trope when she points out to her granddaughter Allyson that she was once on the honor roll as well. The original movie's trauma changed her forever--just as this movie's events no doubt changed Allyson.
8. "I Saw Him. I Saw The Shape"
For script reasons, Michael Myers actor Nick Castle was originally credited as "The Shape" back in 1978. The name was never used in the original movie, but Laurie Strode says it during the dinner scene in the new film. "I saw him," she says. "I saw The Shape." And in the credits, Castle is once again referred to as "The Shape."
9. Return Of Castle
Original Michael Myers actor Nick Castle actually returned to the role for this movie. That's him in shots where Michael has his mask off and you can see a grey-haired, balding man with a beard. For other shots, especially more physically demanding ones (Castle is 71 years old), James Jude Courtney played The Shape.
10. Found Footage
The shots of six-year-old Michael murdering his own sister in a flashback are actually just footage from the original movie--the 1978 film's opening scene, in fact.
11. "Pure Evil"
The concept that Michael Myers is something other than human first comes from Dr. Loomis when he’s trying to explain what the sheriff in Haddonfield is dealing with. Loomis says that what he found behind Michael’s eyes as he was trying to treat him was “something purely and simply evil.” Loomis isn’t the only person to say Michael is pure evil, as the concept that it’s impossible to reason with him comes up again in 2018. Forty years later, all of Loomis’ warnings are borne out once again.
12. "The Boogeyman"
While Michael is stalking around Haddonfield early in the 1978 Halloween, the movie introduces Tommy, the young kid Laurie is babysitting later that evening. Young Tommy is hassled by other kids at school, who tell him the Boogeyman is going to get him. Laurie, the extremely responsible teenager that she is, continually reassures Tommy that there’s no such thing as the Boogeyman--until Michael shows up and throws that idea out the window. Referring to Michael as the literal Boogeyman continues 40 years later when the Shape returns to Haddonfield.
13. Happy Halloween from Silver Shamrock
Some fans spotted this reference in trailers for the new Halloween, however this is a great nod to cult classic Halloween III: Season of the Witch. In one scene with kids trick-or-treating, there are some children on the streets wearing what are clearly the masks from that film--a skeleton, a pumpkin, and a witch. Hopefully, they didn't all go home and have their faces rot when they saw the Silver Shamrock commercial.
14. A Familiar Tune
There's one audio callback to the original film that would be incredibly easy to miss. In fact, it was Halloween director David Gordon Green who pointed it out to us. "In the original film, there's a scene where Laurie is walking down the sidewalk and she's singing a song to herself," he said at the movie's junket. "It says, 'I wish I had you all alone. Just the two of us.' They couldn't afford the rights to the song, so Jamie and John freestyled that song on the set and that became that. And then I had a band write the version of the song. And then when the boy and his father are driving the truck to the bus crash, that song was playing on the radio."
15. Hanging Around
What might be the biggest and most shocking kill of the 1978 movie is when Michael takes out Bob, the boyfriend of Laurie’s friend Lynda, immediately after the couple have sex in the bed of the parents of one of the kids Laurie is babysitting on Halloween. The big kill: Michael pins Bob to a wall with a butcher knife, demonstrating his ridiculous, unstoppable strength. That kill gets revisited 40 years later when Dave, the boyfriend of babysitter Vicky, runs off to fight Michael with a butcher’s knife of his own. When we next see Dave, he’s knifed to a wall, Bob-style.
16. The Babysitter Murders
Babysitters getting murdered is, of course, a big part of Halloween--in fact, the movie was originally going to be called The Babysitter Murders. The original movie sees Laurie being hunted by Michael, but while she escapes, her friends Annie (who is babysitting) and Lynda (who takes advantage of her friends babysitting to get a free place to have sex with her boyfriend) aren’t so lucky. Returning 40 years later, Michael murders a few people indiscriminately in Haddonfield, but he still makes sure to add babysitter Vicky and her boyfriend to the body count.
17. Trapped In The Closet
There might be no more iconic a moment than when Laurie hides in a closet in the 1978 Halloween, and Michael comes crashing through the slatted doors, getting closer and closer. For some reason, Laurie outfitted her entire house with closets that sport the thin, easily-punched-through slatted doors in her adult years. When Michael comes calling, there’s an extended scene of Laurie checking those familiar closets for her prey.
18. Laundry Day
During Michael's rampage through Haddonfield, there's a pointed, lingering shot of some laundry hanging on lines outside the house where Vicky is babysitting. This raises many questions, such as who still hang-dries laundry in 2018, and how they expect that laundry to ever dry if it's hanging out there all night collecting dew. More importantly, it's a callback to Michael's creepy wanderings in the original, where he spends some time hidden among laundry.
19. Good Students
The discussion of fate in Allyson’s class is a direct parallel to Laurie in class, discussing the same topic, in the first movie, although they're referring to different authors. Allyson is also in the same seat as far as the positioning in the class, so she can look out the window and see creepiness outside.
20. F To Pay Respects
The cemetery scene in the new Halloween is a reference to the original, when Loomis stops by and finds Judith Myers’ headstone gone. The groundskeeper blames it on some pesky youths, but it's implied that Michael took it for some reason. By the time we return to the cemetery 40 years later, it's been replaced. Maybe the cops found it when they arrested him after the events of the first film.
Speaking of which...
21. The One Big Retcon
The new Halloween is utterly faithful to the original, except in one major way: Michael Myers was never captured in the first movie. You can view this as a retcon, or as something that simply happened offscreen, after the credits rolled. Myers was presumably injured after escaping at the end of the movie, so it's easy to imagine him being apprehended.
22. Now You See Me, Now You Don't
The other massive reference that will elicit cheers from fans in the audience is the scene where Michael and Laurie are fighting in her house. When she falls out the window, only to disappear when Michael briefly looks away, it's a direct homage to the ending of the original Halloween.
23. KS
Laurie has a rifle in her gun closet with the letters "KS" engraved on it. After Judy Greer's character, Karen, goes straight to that rifle when it's time to arm herself, it's easy to infer what the letters stand for: Karen Strode.
24. "Happy Halloween Michael"
Laurie says this to Michael as she emerges from the shadows after her daughter Karen shoots him in the face. She's referring to both the name of the movie, and the holiday on which it's set. lol
25. The Prankster Returns
While Michael is first and foremost a murdering psychopath, he also has a sense of humor. In the first film, he gets under a white bedsheet and puts on Bob's glasses, pretending to be a ghost. Lynda assumed he's her boyfriend--until he kills her. This time around, Michael instead hides one of his victims under a similar bedsheet ghost costume, leaving them to become a grisly discovery.
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