40 details from the original 'Halloween' films you should know before you watch 'Halloween Kills'
"Halloween Kills" premiered Friday, the newest entry in the long-running "Halloween" franchise.
The series has 12 films but only the 1978 original and its 2018 sequel are relevant to this movie.
Insider has rounded up all the details and plot points to keep in mind ahead of "Halloween Kills."
Warning: This post contains major spoilers for "Halloween" (1978) and its direct sequel, also called "Halloween" (2018).
"Halloween Kills" picks up the story where "Halloween" left off in 2018, with Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) trying to kill Michael Myers (Nick Castle and James Jude Courtney).
The franchise includes 12 movies, including "Halloween Kills," but to understand the latest sequel, viewers only need to remember what takes place in "Halloween" (1978) and "Halloween" (2018).
Like all previous installments, "Halloween Kills" is set in Haddonfield, Illinois, where (if the characters are to be believed) nothing interesting ever happens.
Except, in 1978, the then-six-year-old Michael stabs his older sister, Judith (Sandy Johnson), in the original "Halloween" movie while she brushes her hair in her bedroom.
This bedroom, located on the second floor of the house, is as significant as some of the characters in "Halloween Kills."
In "Halloween" (1978), after Michael kills his sister, he is sent away to a psychiatric facility. Fifteen years later, he breaks out of the hospital and returns to Haddonfield on Halloween.
Around the same time Michael returns to Haddonfield, Laurie's realtor dad is trying to sell the now-abandoned Myers house and he watches her drop off a key at the home.
Michael goes on a killing spree on Halloween night and murders, among others, three high school students - Annie (Nancy Kyes), Lynda (P.J. Soles), and Bob (John Graham).
Before Michael kills her, Annie had been babysitting Lindsey (Kyle Richards). Annie had dropped Lindsey off at Laurie's house earlier that night to be with her boyfriend.
Ultimately, Lindsey, Laurie, and the boy Laurie had been babysitting, Tommy (Brian Andrews), all survive Michael's attack.
Richards reprises her role as Lindsey in "Halloween Kills," while Anthony Michael Hall plays an adult version of Tommy in the new movie.
In addition to being Lindsey's babysitter, Annie was also the sheriff's daughter.
Charles Cyphers reprises his role as Sheriff Brackett in "Halloween Kills," vowing to avenge his daughter's death alongside Lindsey.
"Halloween" (2018) is a direct sequel to the original 1978 movie, disregarding everything that took place in all of the previous nine installments.
This includes "Halloween II" (1981), which continued from the exact minute "Halloween" (1978) ended and established that Laurie was Michael's biological sister.
Forty years later, in "Halloween" (2018), Laurie has turned into a recluse living on her sprawling estate, protected by her tall fences, security cameras, and many guns.
As a result, Laurie is estranged from her daughter, Karen (Judy Greer), although she shares a closer bond with granddaughter, Allyson.
Allyson (Andi Matichak), like her grandmother when she was a teenager, enjoys wearing long-sleeved sweaters.
Laurie's home has a secret bunker under the kitchen counter that can be moved around with a remote control, possibly to hide from Michael if he ever broke into the house.
Unfortunately for the family, Laurie is right and on Halloween eve, Michael breaks loose while being transferred from a psychiatric facility to a maximum-security prison and returns to Haddonfield.
Right before entering a house to murder a babysitter (and spare the child - a nod to the 1978 film), Michael runs into a couple dressed as healthcare workers.
While he doesn't attack them and they appear to be minor characters at a glance - remember them.
Viewers should also remember this patient from Michael's psychiatric facility even though "Halloween" (2018) only gives him a few seconds of screen time.
Just as Michael watched Laurie drop off a key in 1978, in 2018, he watches a character named Sondra (Diva Tyler) show podcasters around Judith's grave. Make note of Sondra.
For a Halloween dance, Allyson dresses up as Bonnie and Clyde with her boyfriend Cameron (Dylan Arnold). Later, Allyson catches Clyde cheating on her and leaves with a friend.
On their way home, the young pair unknowingly runs into Michael. Allyson narrowly escapes unhurt but Michael kills her friend.
Michael eventually makes his way to Laurie's home with the help of his psychiatrist Dr. Sartain. Karen is also at the estate with Laurie, and Allyson joins them later.
In his debut scene, Dr. Sartain (Haluk Bilginer) says he is a student of Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence), Michael's original psychiatrist who said he knew the killer better than anyone else.
Back at the estate, Laurie and Michael face off once again after four decades, including in a confrontation from either side of a closet with slats.
In 1978, Laurie hid in a similar closet while Michael tried to break the slats to stab her.
In the sequel, Laurie is standing outside a closet with slats with a gun hoping Michael is inside and she can shoot and kill him.
Ultimately, Laurie and Karen trap him in the secret unit in the basement and set fire to the home. The family runs away from the property expecting Michael to die in the flames.
However, viewers don't actually watch Michael die.
Both "Halloween" movies from 1978 and 2018 end the same way - Laurie and everyone else thinks they've killed Michael, but he's basically indestructible.
At the end of the 1978 "Halloween," Loomis says he shot Michael six times but Michael still got up and ran away.
In the 2018 film, Laurie, Allyson, and Karen all stab and shoot Michael at various points, but he's only down for a few seconds each time.
While Michael refuses to die, the 2018 "Halloween" introduces viewers to one more character who's been trying to kill him since 1978 - Deputy Frank Hawkins (Will Patton).
Sartain stabbed Hawkins while trying to help Michael escape in 2018's "Halloween" (and minutes before Michael killed Sartain) but viewers don't see Hawkins die.
There's also a new sheriff in town - Sheriff Barker (Omar Dorsey).
While both the 2018 "Halloween" and "Halloween Kills" ignore the plot developments of the "Halloween II" sequel, Laurie spends most of the 2021 movie in a hospital, like "Halloween II."
"Halloween Kills" is out in theaters on Friday and streaming on Peacock.
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