Halloween Kills Makeup Team Reveals How That Shocking Character Returned to the Franchise

The David Gordon Green-directed Halloween films have brought back characters and actors from all corners of the franchise’s 40-year history, though the amount of time that has passed has made some of those callbacks more difficult or unexpected than others. As hinted at in the trailers for Halloween Kills, the latest entry into the series featured flashbacks to the earlier exploits of Michael Myers, which brought with it arguably the most shocking return of the series, with the film’s makeup team sharing new glimpses into how they pulled off the surprising and effective trickery. Halloween Kills is in theaters and on Peacock now.

WARNING: Mild spoilers below for Halloween Kills

Paying off the tease of a flashback to 1978, Halloween Kills depicts the events that followed immediately after the final moments of the original Halloween, with the Haddonfield police finally apprehending the murderous Michael Myers. This included sequences in which Dr. Samuel Loomis helps apprehend Myers, with the figure bearing a striking resemblance to the late Donald Pleasence, looking as he did in that film. 

Despite some fans thinking this effect was crafted using CGI or “deepfake” technology similar to what was used to revive a Star Wars: Return of the Jedi-era Mark Hamill for The Mandalorian, the film’s makeup effects designer Christopher Nelson took to Instagram to detail how the sequence was pulled off practically, with prosthetics applied to Tom Jones Jr., the film’s construction foreman. Nelson also shared the below photos of the transformation.

“For #michaelmyersmonday I’m doing Loomis/Donald Pleasence!” Nelson captioned the photos. “No, he was not cgi, but our own construction foreman Tom Jones Jr. in an 11 piece prosthetic makeup with hair pieces. So fun to do and was a pretty quick turnaround.”

Helping make the sequence even more effective, the voice of Dr. Loomis came from actor Colin Mahan, who previously voiced the character in a tape recording in 2018’s Halloween. The uncanny resemblance of Dr. Loomis in Halloween Kills to Donald Pleasence, in conjunction with the editing and lighting effects in which audiences witnessed him, come together for an impactful scene that not only honors the legacy of the actor but helps enrich the mythos of the franchise.

Halloween Kills is in theaters and on Peacock now.

What did you think of the sequence? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!