And Still It Comes: Fate and Mortality in the Halloween Franchise

Abstract

The Halloween series has gripped audiences for over 40 years. The 12th instalment, Halloween Kills (2021), is due to be released soon and promises to deliver what fans have come to expect: the return of Michael Myers from beyond the grave. One might argue that Myers is popular culture’s most famous zombie. He has been shot, burned, stabbed and decapitated, but still rises to walk on with that slow, steady gait. Relentless, he does not speak but pursues his victims with unexplained, mindless brutality. In the original 1978 film, Dr Loomis (Donald Pleasance) describes Myers as an ‘it’ not a ‘him’ – arguing that what lies behind the mask, behind the eyes, is nothing but the pure embodiment of evil; “no reason, no conscience, no understanding […] of life or death or right or wrong.” To Loomis, Myers is both more and less than a person – he is a timeless personification of death itself. “You were the first one to see it,” says Dr Wynn (Mitchell Ryan) in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995): “You recognised its power. Evil. Pure, uncorrupted, ancient.” And yet the films repeatedly interrogate and undermine this categorisation, foregrounding the humanity of their villain even as they insist on his monstrosity.

The idea that Myers might be ‘just’ a man is essential to the logic of the franchise. His emotional disturbance and preoccupation with family, especially sister Laurie Strode, is repeatedly located at the core of his violent urges. More recent films continue to emphasise this point. “Michael Myers is an evolving, aging creature like we all are” argues Dr Sartain (Haluk Bilginer) in Halloween (2018). Strode’s determination to destroy Myers embodies this conviction throughout the series. Even as he rises again and again from her blows, she maintains her belief that he is human and thus can be killed. Indeed, humanity is essential to the threat this figure represents. “To make Michael Myers frightening, I had him walk like a man, not a monster” explains John Carpenter. This paper explores how the duelling figures of Myers and Strode enable audiences to grapple with primal fears surrounding the inevitability of death and suffering. It is no coincidence that the original film features Strode analysing the nature of fate in her high school class. Death is the ultimate fate of all that is human. Fate has no face but must be faced – unlike a person, ‘it’ cannot be outrun, outsmarted or annihilated. As individuals and as a species we must face this truth again and again. But how do we muster the courage to go on, knowing what is coming? I argue that, despite their dark reputation, the Halloween films embody a spirit of both hope and acceptance. We know deep down he will be back, but Strode speaks to the importance of keeping on going, never giving up. In difficult times such as the present, this narrative becomes more critical than ever.