Halloween Kills Nearly Featured Significant Flashbacks to a Young Laurie Strode

One of the more unexpected and exciting elements of Halloween Kills was that the opening scenes took audiences back to 1978, authentically immersing viewers in the sights and sounds of the original Halloween and the immediate aftermath of that movie’s conclusion. In the new book Halloween: The Official Making of Halloween, Halloween Kills, and Halloween Ends, author Abbie Bernstein chronicles how early versions of that 2021 sequel included more flashbacks, which would have included more time with a teen-aged Laurie Strode, though these elements were abandoned not only because of the special effects for such scenes to be costly, but also that they would distract viewers from the immediacy of Kills‘ storyline.

Per /Film, it was co-writer Scott Teems who had developed those flashbacks but they were abandoned under the leadership of director David Gordon Green. For the flashbacks in the released film, Michael Myers was the only character featured prominently, with his mask making it easy to replicate him from 40 years ago. The flashbacks also included shots of Dr. Samuel Loomis, originally portrayed by the late Donald Pleasence, with these shots being a combination of facial prosthetics on a performer and a vocal double that resembled Pleasence’s voice. 

For a younger Laurie, the book confirms that the filmmakers either would have had to hire a new performer entirely to take the place of a teen-aged Jamie Lee Curtis, understandably putting undue pressure on them to match Curtis’ performance, or they would have had a younger actor’s face replaced with special effects to make her look like a young Curtis. 

The book explains that Green “liked a lot” of those flashbacks, but they were too distracting from the present-day story. Co-writer Danny McBride also “liked [the extended flashbacks], but people should be more concerned with what’s happening in the storyline we set up.”

It’s currently unclear if these Laurie flashbacks would have merely offered new looks and perspectives of the fallout of Halloween night in 1978 or if we would have gotten more insight into how the babysitter coped with the terror caused by Michael Myers. Given that the TV rights to the Halloween franchise were secured last month by Miramax, which are said to help revive the cinematic franchise as a whole, we could still spend time with a young Laurie in whatever future projects are being planned.

Stay tuned for updates on the Halloween franchise.

Would you have liked to have gotten these Laurie flashbacks? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!