October 23, 2018

Why the new ‘Halloween’ is basically a remake of ‘Terminator 2: Judgement Day’

I’m positive that I’m not the only one who noticed this while watching the new Halloween movie, but let’s discuss the ways in which David Gordon Green’s highly-anticipated horror sequel is basically just a remake of 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgement Day. 

Now, I’m not going to comment on whether this is a bad thing or not—that’s up for you to decide and/or reconcile dear reader. However, it would be impossible to flat-out ignore, especially if you’re a fan of the two franchises that essentially revolve around one-man killing machines attempting to murder young women. 

Obviously, the following essay contains spoilers for Halloween 2018, so if you haven’t seen the movie yet and don’t want to be spoiled, please stop reading. Can’t stress that enough. You have been warned! 

Ok! So, the argument is very simple because it begins and ends with our central protagonist, Laurie Strode (played by Jamie Lee Curtis). Forty years ago, Ms. Strode was physically and emotionally traumatized by the knife-wielding Michael Myers. The horror of that night did not simply dissipate when Michael was caught and institutionalized for the rest of his days (or so the world seemed to think). After that night, Laurie was never the same again, haunted by the thought of her friends’ murders, as well as the prospect of almost being murdered herself. 

While she probably needed lots of therapy and perhaps a prescription for anti-depressants, Laurie allowed her terror to turn into a fixation, an obsession that Michael would one day return and when that day came, she’d need to be prepared to kill him. As we know, Laurie was actually hoping for Myers to escape, just so she could have the pleasure of ending his life, a small revenge for what he did to her. 

Instead of moving far, far away from Haddonfield, Laurie built herself a fortress in the town’s woods and learned how to handle herself in a life-or-death situation. Not only that, but she forced her own fears and fixations onto her only daughter, Karen (played by Judy Greer), who was taken away by Child Protective Services when it became clear that Laurie was an unfit mother, teaching her young and innocent child how to handle a deadly weapon. 

As a result, Karen came to resent her mother, resulting in an estranged relationship. After two failed marriages and a very fractured relationship with her daughter, Laurie is considered crazy. In short, by the time we are re-introduced to Laurie Strode in the Halloween sequel, the happy-go-lucky babysitter we once knew in 1978 is dead and gone. In her stead is a battle-hardened and deadly warrior thought to be off her rocker for the doomsday-esque predictions she never tires of spouting off. 

Starting to sound familiar? It should because that’s exactly what happened to Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) after the first Terminator movie in 1984. When the 1991 sequel, Judgement Day, rolled around, her son, John Connor (Edward Furlong) was in foster care and she was institutionalized, all because she tried to train her son for a mechanical revolution/apocalypse that no one else believed in. 

So, to sum things up so far, we’ve covered two women that are now scarred from near-fatal attacks from murderous automatons. Both of these characters refuse to remain ignorant any longer and prepare for catastrophic eventualities that no one else gives any credence to. In addition, they attempt to pass these certainties onto their young children, who do not believe them either and end up in someone else’s care, while their mothers are written off as insane. 

The last point of my “Halloween-is-a-remake-of-Terminator-2” argument is that both Laurie and Sarah are vindicated in the end, bringing those that were once estranged into the traumatic fold. By the end of Halloween 2018, Laurie’s daughter and even her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) have experienced the terror of Michael Myers firsthand. They understand what it’s like to be hunted and nearly killed by a madman. Simply put, they are now on a level playing field with Laurie. 

Judgement Day does the same thing with John Connor, a troubled youth, ashamed of having a crazy mother. When the T-1000 (Robert Patrick) tries to kill him and the modified T-800 (James Cameron) saves him, however, he finally begins to understand that his mother was right the entire time. He is let in on a secret to which the rest of the world is blissfully naive. 

By the end of the movie, he is set on the path to lead humanity against the machines whenever Skynet decides to nuke the entire planet and take control. In essence, writer/director James Cameron was preparing to shift the franchise’s focus to a younger hero and explore the rise of the budding Resistance leader. We see that in the dreadful Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, but that’s an essay for another time. 

Switching back to Halloween 2018, director and co-writer David Gordon Green leaves the door open for future installments to focus on the younger generations of Strode women, Karen and Allyson. This is emphasized by the final shot of the camera zooming in on the carving knife held in the latter’s hand. She, like her grandmother, is now a part of Michael Myers, whether she likes it or not. When the last of the credits roll you can hear Michael’s heavy breathing beneath his iconic mask, a tease that he did not perish in the house fire set by Laurie.

It’s the same kind of uncertainty posed at the end of Terminator 2, the possibility that the machines may still have another plan up their collective sleeve, even after Sarah and John are able to destroy Miles Dyson’s work and the T-800 melts itself in the vat of liquid steel. 

And just as the Terminators and Myers become more and more dangerous, more people need to be brought into the fold in order to stop them. Correspondingly, this is the remedy to aging stars that can no longer carry a franchise by themselves, whether because of health, personal choice, or other reasons. 

Anyway, people have begun to say that Curtis’s badass return to the role of Laurie Strode bodes well for Hamilton, 62, reprising her role as Sarah Connor in the upcoming Terminator 6. What they seem to forget that we already knew her character was a badass, turned that way by the exposition used in the new Halloween, which borrowed it from Terminator 2. 

Thoughts?