Michael Myers (Halloween)

This article is about the fictional serial killer. For other uses, see Michael Myers.

Halloween character
File:MichaelMyers.jpg
Michael Myers
Gender:	Male
Race	Caucasian
Birth/Death	October 19, 1957 -
Location	Haddonfield, Illinois
Family	Judith Myers (sister) Laurie Strode (sister)
Enemies	Everyone
Portrayed by:	Halloween Nick Castle Halloween II Dick Warlock Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers George P. Wilbur Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers Donald Shanks Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers George P. Wilbur Halloween H20: 20 Years Later Chris Durand Halloween: Resurrection Brad Loree

Michael Myers (also known as The Shape) (born October 19, 1957) is a fictional character and the principal antagonist of the Halloween film series, except Halloween III: Season of the Witch. He is usually portrayed by experienced stuntmen. John Carpenter and Debra Hill developed the character for the film, which was originally called The Babysitter Murders where he killed his first victim — older sister Judith — at the age of six. Myers never speaks and his "adult" face is rarely seen in any of the films except the first film. In the first Halloween installment, the mask was a Captain Kirk Halloween mask, modified by widening the eye sockets, teasing out the hair, and painting the face bluish-white. The character also wears dark blue mechanic's coveralls, and black army boots. The subsequent masks, different in each film, base their appearance upon this mask. Michael Myers is well over six feet tall and demonstrates superhuman strength and although never runs, but is seen walking in all screen shots, he demonstrates a mysterious source of speed while chasing victims.He also constantly displays a lack of human emotions, except in Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, where he is seen with a tear running down his face.

Carpenter named the character after real-life Michael Meyers, who was the European distributor of Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), as a display of gratitude for this film's distribution and overseas success.

Early Life (1957 - 1963)

Michael Audrey Myers was born on Saturday October 19th, 1957 in Haddonfield, Illinois. His parents were Donald Myers and Edith (Nordstrom) Myers. He had two sisters, Judith Margaret and Laurie Anne, respectively. The Myers family was Protestant and all three children were raised in a nurturing, caring setting. Their two-story Victorian home at 45 Lampkin Lane was located in the quiet, northwest section of Haddonfield. In their vicinity was the posh, tree-lined boulevard of Orange Grove, home to the city's cleanest and quality-built residences.

Michael was prone to bedwetting in times of extreme low self-esteem. He spent much time by himself contemplating his role in the family and desperate to succeed his parents' expectations. In many ways, Michael was both mature and immature for his age. Because of his time spent frequently alone, he claimed to hear voices—audible only to him.

Michael and Laurie both shared curiosity and timidity, but Michael was notoriously shy, often clinging to his mother. When not in her presence, he sought the company of his maternal grandmother; she seemed to understand him, in some ways, more than anyone. Michael's grandmother was more disciplined than his own birth parents, but was cold and unloving. She chastised her daughter Edith simply for buying a costume for Michael. She believed that allowing Michael to participate in the spirit of Halloween would further contribute to her grandson's, and even America's, moral decline.

When Michael's parents had to go out, they often leave him in the care of his neighbor across the street Mrs. Blankenship. Unbeknownst to the Myers family, Mrs. Blankenship was a member of a local cult known as "The Thorn". To entertain Michael, Blankenship told him stories of the cult. The Thorn Cult believed that every so often to protect the village (or in this case, the human race) a member must be chosen to sacrifice his family on Halloween. The Thorn chose Michael to fill this role. After months of intense brainwashing through Blankenship's stories, Michael became deeply committed to the Thorn beliefs. They convinced him that in order for everyone else to be ok, Michael would have to kill his entire family, starting with his sister Judith. After realizing that he would be quickly incarcerated, Michael was told that the facility where they would put him, was a local base for cult operations and a resident doctor (Terrence Wynn) would look after him and nurture him as the years went by.

Halloween 1963 - The Night That Started It All

On Thursday October 31st, Donald and Edith, during breakfast, announced they planned to go out to dinner and then see a film at the Lost River Drive-In, a popular gathering site in Haddonfield. Judith already had plans to spend Halloween with her boyfriend Frank Greene. Michael and Laurie were going to be babysat by their neighbor Mrs. Blankenship. After school that day, Judith escorted Michael and Laurie across the street to the stately Blankenship residence. Judith embraced her two siblings and left with Frank down the sidewalk toward town. Don and Edith were going to catch a re-showing of Psycho and would return home at about 12:00 AM.

Laurie was only age two and Michael was age six. He was constantly checking the window for his sister Judith to return home. When he finally saw her return home with her boyfriend, he became filled with hate. When the couple entered through the front door, Michael quickly snuck out of the Blankenship house. He dodged behind tall lawn trees. He then silently crept up the front sidewalk to his house and saw the couple making out in the foyer. He then went to the side of the house and peeked through the living room window. Judith, so caught up in the moment, forgot her two young siblings were being babysat. When Frank asked if they were alone in the house, Judith replied, "Michael's around here someplace." The two lovers then agreed to continue their fun upstairs. Michael saw Judith's second-story bedroom light go out. He then entered his house through the back door and located a butcher knife in a kitchen drawer. He slowly made his way through the house. From around the corner, Michael saw Frank hastily leaving the house. He promised to call Judith the next day and then he left. Michael slowly made his way upstairs as a clock chimed at 10:00 PM. He found Judith seated in front of her vanity dresser combing her hair, wearing only underwear. A shocked Judith turned to see her young, costumed brother in her bedroom. Michael then repeatedly stabbed his sixteen-year-old sister in the chest.

Michael made his way outside just as his parents arrived home. Don removed Michael's mask. Michael himself was shocked at what he had just done and stood silent on the front sidewalk.

Incarceration, Treatment, and Escape (1963 - 1978)

Within days, local doctors in Haddonfield and the neighboring counties insisted that Michael be sent to the newly-constructed facility of Smith's Grove-Warren County Sanitarium, 150 miles away in western Illinois. Dr. Samuel J. Loomis was recently placed on staff at Smith's Grove by chief administrator, long-time friend, and medical colleague Dr. Terence Wynn. Not even 20 years before, Loomis had served in World War II for the United Kingdom, but suffered injuries and could no longer fight in combat. He soon after studied medicine and later moved to the United States to practice. He had some minor successes as a medical doctor, but he specialized in child psychiatry.

Michael was initially placed under Loomis' watch and care for four hours each day for a period of six months. On May 1st, 1964, Dr. Loomis met two senior medical officials in the hospital's forum chamber. Loomis pleaded to the point of begging that Michael be transferred to "the maximum security ward in Litchfield." The officials brushed off Loomis' request, believing that Michael was merely a "catatonic", whom "exhibits comatose behavior... no reaction to external stimuli." Loomis' extensive notes provided clues that Michael's "catatonia" was an ingenious cover for what he truly was: a remorseless, predatory psychopath. Loomis realized he couldn't win the debate, and so finally agreed to keep Michael as his patient; as he didn't trust anyone else to look after him.

During the 15 years Michael spent at Smith's Grove, Loomis tried for the first eight to get him to speak and reply, but soon became convinced that the young man was truly evil. The remaining seven years were spent desperately trying to convince the superior doctors to transfer him to a facility with tighter security. At the time of his 21st birthday on October 19th, Michael was to be presented to court in his home county. The verdict was going to determine further incarceration or freedom. The trial date for the murder of his older sister was pushed two weeks later for November 1st. Michael realized his younger sister Laurie was now age 17. He also knew that Dr. Loomis would do everything to keep him locked up, so he made up his mind to escape. Even though he tried to convince the doctors a man named Dr. R.J. Black spoke with Dr. Loomis; Black told Loomis that Michael was cursed with "The Thorn," where a young man must kill his own family for survival (Dr. Black neglected to mention how dangerous Michael could be if he escaped.) Loomis considered this.

Halloween (1978)

In 1978, Michael hijacked the car meant for his court transfer. The car was driven by Loomis' medical colleague and assistant Nurse Marion. After nearly attacking Marion, Michael got into the car and speedily drove off. His destination was his hometown of Haddonfield.

On the following day, October 31st, Michael had returned back to his childhood house, which is now vacant, run-down, and on the market under Strode Realty. That morning from inside, he saw a teenage girl leave a key under the front door mat.

He followed Laurie while she was in school, while she walked home from school with her friend Annie who shouted "Speed Kills!" and Michael followed them as they rode along to baby-sit in another neighborhood. Laurie sits for Tommy Doyle while Annie sits for Lindsey Wallace. Later on,to pick him up. Lindsey is taken across the street to continue watching The Thing from Another World with Tommy and Laurie. Soon after when Annie returns to her car, Michael kills her.

Later on, Annie's other friend, Lynda, and her boyfriend Bob showed up at the Wallace residence, where Michael also killed them. He then propped the three bodies in the upstairs bedroom. Just before Lynda's death, Laurie had received a strange phone call from Lindsey's house. Laurie decided to go across the street and investigate. When she arrived, she thinks her friends are playing pranks on her. To her horror she discovered the gruesome display of his victims and his sister's headstone. When Michael was within reach of Laurie, he stabbed her in the left shoulder. Laurie fled and Michael pursued her.

He stalked her all the way to the Doyle residence. Laurie instructed Tommy and Lindsey to call the police from a neighbor's house. After they took off, Michael once again went after Laurie, now attempting to strangle her to death. Loomis, who had been on his patient's path the whole day, appeared in time and shot Michael six times at point-blank range. Michael then fell from a second-story balcony. Despite his seemingly fatal injuries, however, he mysteriously disappeared: A set up for Halloween II to continue the story.

Halloween II (1978 continuing)

Continuing on the night of Tuesday October 31st, 1978, Dr. Loomis exits the Doyle house and walks onto the front lawn. He inspects the spot where Michael had landed and finds a patch of blood, and by the body outline on the lawn he instinctively knows that he shot Michael in the heart. Before others suffer the fate of death at the wrath of his patient, Dr. Loomis resumes his relentless search for Michael along with Sheriff Leigh Brackett. The traumatized Laurie Strode is taken by ambulance to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital for her injuries obtained during the chase and attacks.

Interrupting an annual television broadcast of Night of the Living Dead, Haddonfield reporter Robert Mundy has arrived on the scene of the Wallace residence located on Orange Grove Boulevard. He confirms that three teenagers, two girls, one boy, have been found murdered in an upstairs bedroom. Soon after, Loomis and Brackett spot a mysterious man wearing a similar mask slowly walking down a sidewalk. Loomis gets out of the sheriff’s car, equipped with his personal firearm, and trails after the costumed figure. Brackett follows closely behind Loomis, but a speeding police vehicle slams into the masked individual colliding him into a parked van. The two vehicles explode, trapping the man in an inferno. The police official leaves his car virtually unharmed, but Loomis wonders if Michael was the victim in flames. Brackett forcefully screams to Loomis "Is it him? Is it him, or not!?". Brackett’s police deputy Gary Hunt quickly arrives on the scene to confirm that there are three youths found dead across the street from the Doyle house. He believes that one of the teenagers is the sheriff’s own daughter, Annie.

Assured he is well out of Loomis’ reach, for the time being, Michael returns in pursuit of his sister Laurie. While making his way on foot in downtown Haddonfield, he overhears a radio announcement declare that the seventeen-year-old Laurie Strode had been transported to Haddonfield’s main hospital.

Michael soon after arrives at H.M.H. and later manages to slowly kill off the hospital’s principal staff: the security guard, a senior doctor, an ambulance driver, and four nurses, including Head Nurse Virginia Alves, whom Laurie befriended. Jimmy Lloyd, an orderly and a student at a local college, reveals to Laurie that the radio and television broadcasts have identified her attacker: Michael Myers. She acts confused in the presence of her new friend as to why that the man who was "that little kid who killed his sister" would be after her at all. Later on, she dreams about a moment she experienced seven years earlier. When Laurie was age ten, she once visited her attacker at the institution where he was being held. She also remembers the day her adoptive mother Pamela Strode confessed she was not her biological mother. Laurie then has flashbacks of her real family and remembers she once had an older sister who was killed by her older brother, then a six-year-old. She realizes that it is her own brother who is after her. Laurie is clued in to the near presence of her feared tormentor when the hospital goes dark and the staff isn’t around. Since the telephone in her room wasn’t working, she decides to search for a working phone and then try escaping on foot.

Dr. Loomis and Deputy Hunt meet a dentist named Graham at his office. The burned corpse is unveiled and Graham checks the teeth determining the man is young, at about age seventeen or eighteen. Loomis says Michael Myers is twenty-one and that everyone must assume he is still alive. Deputy Hunt then instructs his associate patrolman that all police officials do a sweep of the city from Chestnut Avenue to the Bypass checking every street, house, and backyard for the escaped patient.

Later on, Nurse Marion Chambers arrives in town to tell Loomis he is wanted back at the Smith’s Grove–Warren County Sanitarium, not just by his senior doctors, but by the Illinois governor himself. News of Michael’s first escape, the killing of three teenagers, being shot at, and his second escape had reached all over the state. Loomis feels that he cannot leave until he finds him. Accompanied by Marion is an Illinois state marshal whom is instructed to transport Loomis back to Smith’s Grove. When all hope of finding Michael is lost, Loomis reluctantly agrees to go back with Marion.

While on route to Smith’s Grove, Marion reveals "that girl, that Strode girl, that’s Michael Myers’ sister." Loomis realizes why Michael "came home" to Haddonfield. He killed one sister fifteen years ago, now he has returned to kill the other. Loomis fires a warning shot into the front passenger window, and the marshal swiftly turns the car around and the trio returns back into town to locate Laurie.

At the hospital, Michael is after Laurie once again. Marion and Dr. Loomis arrive and rescue her. Loomis shoots Michael five times, rendering him immovable [momentarily]. The marshal sees Michael’s body collapse, honestly believing Loomis succeeded in killing him saying that "He’s dead." Loomis shouts "No he’s not! Look at him! He’s still breathing!" Loomis then instructs Marion to call for help from the marshal’s Citizens' Band radio. Even after being shot a total of eleven times, Laurie sees Michael lying on the floor wondering "Why won’t he die?" Loomis shouts for the marshal to get away from Michael, but then the killer rises up and slits the marshal’s throat with a scalpel. Dr. Loomis and Laurie take off in the darkened hospital hoping to find a good hiding place.

Michael locates the pair in a rear operating room. Laurie reluctantly takes one of Loomis’ firearms and shoots Michael in the face, just barely missing his eyes. Loomis and Laurie fill the room with fresh oxygen and ether by turning on nearby tanks. Dr. Loomis frees Laurie from the room and then ignites a cigarette lighter. With the hospital on fire containing the psychiatrist and his patient, it is assumed that the explosion had killed them both.

Laurie soon after sees Michael engulfed by fire walk out of the operating room. She watches in fear as her brother comes increasingly closer. But the fire weakens the psychopath and he collapses on the floor. Until twenty years later, watching Michael lying on the floor in flames is Laurie’s last memory of him. For the next score of years, she hoped that Michael had died from being burned to death, but even fire couldn’t stop him from continuing his pursuit of living family relatives.

On the following morning of Wednesday November 1st, Laurie is pushed in a wheelchair by Nurse Marion to an ambulance. Laurie is apparently to be taken to a bigger hospital for further treatment.

• Note: In the Television cut of this film, Jimmy Lloyd the orderly, is in the ambulance when Laurie was helped in. He sits up to reveal himself when the doors are closed. Laurie is happy with tears to learn he survived, exclaiming "We made it!" The two hold hands and the ambulance drives off.

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)

Loomis and Michael survived the explosion at the hospital. Loomis had been scarred and walked with a cane, while Michael had spent an entire decade in a coma. On October 30th, 1988, two Smith's Grove medical attendants (one male, one female) were tasked with transferring Michael from Ridgemont Federal Sanitarium in Ridgemont, Illinois, back to Smith's Grove. Soon after, while in the back of the ambulance, the male attendant declared that Michael has one living relative, a niece, residing in his hometown of Haddonfield. Upon hearing this news, Michael suddenly awakened, killed the two attendants and caused the driver to crash upturned into a river.

Later on, Loomis rushed to the crash scene, searched for Michael's body, and came up empty. Loomis' superior tried to persuade him that even if Michael were alive, he would be too weak to cause any trouble. However, Loomis knew better and headed to Haddonfield. On the way, he stopped at a gas station to find two of Michael's victims. Loomis and his unstoppable patient stood yards apart from one another, Loomis pleading with Michael to leave the Haddonfield residents alone. Suddenly, Loomis pulled a gun out and fires at Michael, missing him. Michael then took off in a truck and almost ran over Loomis.

Loomis took a fresh look into Michael's past to contemplate the latest motive for his actions. Upon hearing of Jamie's existence and that she's in care of the Carruthers family, Loomis rushed to save her from her uncle.

The ever-methodical Michael attacked an electrician and propelled his body onto the power lines, knocking out power for all of Haddonfield, after ransacking the police station, killing all inside. Michael continued to stalk Jamie and almost attacked her, but Loomis stopped him. They all then drove away to the sheriff's house, where they boarded up all the windows and doors. The sheriff, his deputy and Rachel's boyfriend, armed with shotguns, guarded the house from inside. However, Michael outsmarted them, by hiding in the back seats of the deputy's police car, the deputy took Michael, unknowing that he resided in the back seats, from the Carruther's home to the sheriff's home, sneaking into the house before it was boarded up. Thus, they had locked themselves up with the very person they were trying to escape.

Sure enough, Michael surprised and killed them off one-by-one, chasing after Jamie and her older, adoptive sister Rachel. Ultimately, Jamie escaped, but Rachel plunged from the roof, apparently to her death. Jamie ran into Loomis, and the pair broke into the elementary school where Jamie attended. Michael surprised them both and then threw Loomis into a classroom door. As Michael closed in on Jamie, Rachel, who had in fact survived the fall, appeared and sprayed Michael with a fire extinguisher.

The two sisters escaped with a group of armed townsmen who also had a score to settle with Michael, as he murdered one of their sons. Michael stayed one step ahead by hiding under the truck, only to climb up and stab the gunmen one-by-one. Finally, the girls were left by themselves to fight off Michael, who was now slashing off the roof of the truck. Rachel abruptly stopped the truck, propelling Michael forward onto the ground, and then ran him over. This time, Michael didn't stir and Jamie got out of the car and touches his hand. Michael then nonchalantly sat up, but this time, the state police had finally shown up and they gunned him down as he fell into a mineshaft.

Jamie and Rachel returned home to their parents. As the evening ends, the opening sequence of the first movie repeated itself, except that instead of Michael dressed in a clown outfit, stabbing his sister, it was Jamie in the same outfit, stabbing her foster mother; when she touched Michael, his homicidal impulses transferred to her. Loomis tried to shoot Jamie, but the girls' police escort tackles him before he could do so, as Loomis is heard yelling "NO!"

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)

After falling down the mine shaft, the state troopers tossed dynamite down the mine to make sure they finished the job, but Michael crawled out in time. He spotted a hermit's house in the nearby woods and passed out as he tried to strangle him. The hermit then nursed him back to health, but on Halloween, 1989, Michael reawakened, killed the hermit, and continued his insatiable quest to kill his niece.

Jamie, now in a catatonic state, had been put under doctor's care at a psychiatric home. She had been having nightmares since the events of part 4 and apparently, now shared some sort of telepathic link with her uncle; she knew exactly when and where he would strike next. Michael snuck into Rachel's house, eventually killing her. Michael then killed off a group of teenagers (and two police officers) as he slowly built up to his main target, Jamie.

Loomis, who was slowly losing his mind, used Jamie's connection with Michael to set a trap for him at his house. Myers disposed of the police and even wounded Loomis as he stalked Jamie after Loomis almost got Michael to put down the knife for good. When Loomis tried to take Michael's knife away, Michael hesitated and slashed him. Jamie ran into the attic, where she found her dead sister Rachel. When he finally had the opportunity to kill Jamie, he suddenly stopped when she says "Uncle?" Afterwards, Jamie says "Let me see". In a bizarre moment of weakness and humanity, Michael listened to his niece and eventually took off his mask, beginning to cry. For the first time in 25 years, Michael questioned his beliefs. for a moment he questioned himself if the things that Wynn and Blankenship had been telling him his whole life was wrong. While he was coping with such a realization he soon snapped back out of denial. When Jamie said "Let me" and tried to wipe away his tears, Michael Myers (not the scared 6 year old child, the Brutal and almost unkillable Monster) recoiled and attacked Jamie in rage, thoroughly eliminating the last trace of Michael Audrey Myers from the killer. He angrily stalked Jamie until he encountered Loomis, who caught Michael in a net and beat him into unconsciousness. For the first time in the series, Michael was captured and imprisoned, but a mysterious stranger dressed in black blasted him out of jail.

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)

It is revealed that Myers was saved by a secret cult of Druids that existed to worship and protect him. This same cult also kidnapped Jamie, who was now 15 and gave birth to a son. Although Jamie escaped, Michael stalked and killed her, but he was unable to find where she hid the baby. Loomis, meanwhile, finally learned the secret of Michael's homicidal rage and apparent immortality: It was the curse of the symbol "Thorn," which makes the victim believes that if he kills all of his family members, he will bring balance to the conditions that afflict humanity.

At the end of the theatrical version of the movie, the audience is led to believe that Loomis was murdered by Myers, as a loud scream was heard from inside the building in which Loomis and Myers were last seen in. In the un released cut of the film, the reason Loomis screamed was because he found out that the Michael he was following was just Dr. Wynn in Michael's clothes. Wynn then passes on the duty of watching Michael on to Loomis, and Loomis receives the Thorn symbol on his right wrist. In reality, actor Donald Pleasence (Dr. Loomis) passed away before they did all the reshoots for the theatrical version. The scream is in fact the audio from the first version.

Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1998)

Laurie Strode had faked her own death and changed her name to Keri Marie Tate. She is now the Headmistress and a literature teacher at a respected secluded private school called Hillcrest Academy in fictional Summer Glen, Northern California. Myers discovered her whereabouts on October 29 1998 as he ransacked Nurse Marion's house and killed her back in Langdon, Illinois. Again he attempted to kill Laurie and her 17-year-old son, John. After all these years, she realized she was not afraid. She had indirectly waited for Michael to come back. Laurie knew her brother was coming, so she got ready to battle. After a violent struggle, it appears that Laurie decapitated her hated brother at the end of the movie; although we don't find out that the Michael she decapitated was a fake until the next movie.

Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

Laurie Strode thought she had put an end to her evil brother once and for all. It turns out, while Michael was still in the Academy's dining hall, a Summer Glen paramedic came to inspect his motionless body. Just as he was about to unmask him, Michael arose and crushed the paramedic's larynx. Michael then switched clothes with the now-mute and unconscious paramedic. When Laurie hijacked the coroner's van, she believed her brother had been loaded in. After succeeding in crashing the van down a steep slope off a mountainous highway, Laurie beheaded the costumed and masked man. When it was discovered she killed an innocent man, she was arrested for homicide. Shortly afterward, Laurie was committed to the psychiatric care facility of Grace Andersen Sanitarium.

Three years later, on the night of October 31st, 2001, Michael eventually located his sister at the institution. He broke into the facility, tracked down Laurie, and chased her as she made her way to the rooftop. Ardent preparation was the only thing left for Laurie in her captivity. She had planned an ingenious trap for her brother's eventual return. When he did fall for the trap and was hanging upside-down, Laurie wanted to make certain Michael was the man behind the mask. As she proceeded to unmask him, Michael grabbed her left hand. Equipped with his knife in her right hand, Laurie tried to drive it into Michael's abdomen. He grabbed her right hand as well. The rope suspending Michael broke and the two siblings were pulled to the other side of the roof. Michael grabbed the ledge with Laurie hanging on, he then drove the knife into Laurie's back. Laurie accepting her death, kissed the lips of her brother's mask and vowed that she would see him in Hell. Michael then released the knife, letting Laurie fall to her death. Coldly watching her as if he admired his handiwork, he knew that he had finally won.

One year later on October 31st, 2002, Michael was home in Haddonfield. He was living in a section of tunnels below his childhood house. The abandoned house itself was later being used as the setting for an Internet reality show by Dangertainment owner and operator Freddie Harris along with his girlfriend and colleague Nora Winston. Here, six college students, three from Haddonfield University, have won as contestants to spend Halloween night in the 'now-famous' residence.

That night, Michael succeeded in killing five of the college students and two of its crew members. It ended that Freddie and the reserved college student, Sara Moyer managed to electrocute and burn Michael while the garage was engulfed with flames. Michael's body was thereafter taken to the morgue. As a female coroner was about to unmask his charred face, his eye flashes open.

Halloween 2007

In June of 2006, it was announced that Rob Zombie would be writing, directing and producing a Halloween remake/reimagining of the original film for release in October of 2007. While the film will be a new beginning to the franchise, it has been made clear that the Michael Myers mask will remain. The exact release date has been offically set for October 19, 2007 by Dimension Films. Official cast and crew, and storyline are currently unknown. At one time, it was believed that the next film would be a sequel named Halloween: Retribution. It now seems that with the announcement of Rob Zombie's remake, Halloween: Retribution has been abandonded altogether. Also in question is the involvement of Heather Bowen, who had won a walk-on part in the next Halloween film, as the result of a contest held by the film series' official website. The legal separation of Miramax Films from Dimension Films and The Walt Disney Company, as well as the untimely death of series executive producer, Moustapha Akkad, had delayed formal commencement of this installment for some time.

Immortality

Though some credit Michael's juggernaut-like state, which allows him to recover from deadly experiences, to his own natural rage and murderous psyche, it is more commonly accepted to be caused by the Curse of Thorn, as stated in the sixth film. This curse possesses and compels Michael to kill all the members of his family, and all who stand in his way. According to myth, this is supposed to spare the "village" Michael inhabits from a form of plague or disaster. The Curse uses Michael as nothing more than a puppet and a guide to the appropriate victims. Thorn seems to fuel Michael in a way far exceeding any ordinary human capacity, since he was completely mobile, regardless of the fact that his muscles were supposed to be virtually useless to him.

It is also theorized that Michael himself, the man behind the mask, feels remorse for his killing. In Halloween 5, he seemed to fight back the curse and when he removed his mask, Michael wept (seemingly with remorse). It was as though he himself wasn't in control of himself, or was forced to act by the curse and could be possessed by the curse, similar to Simon Cartwright's hand being forced by the Uglies. Michael has on occasion, gone out of his way in order to kill certain people, namely, the members of the Cult. It is unknown what Michael may have endured at their hands, and as such, he may have had a vendetta against them, since taking time to kill them would slow his progress towards baby Steven, there is no logical motive for Thorn killing them. It may also have something to do with the fact that he had what he needed, his goal was about to be accomplished. Maybe he took the moment to reflect on everything that he had gone through, allowing the old Michael Myers, the small, shy, child to wake up. But when his niece tried to talk to him, it snapped his train of thought and brought him straight back to where he left off.

Notes

• In the script for Halloween, Myers is often referred to as "The Shape", because of him constantly blending in with the background shadows, only being cited by name when unmasked.

• John Carpenter got the idea for Myers' name from the British distributor of his film Assault on Precinct 13, Michael Meyers.

• It is known eight people played Myers in the first Halloween: (1) Debra Hill- Young Michael's hands and shadow in the opening point-of-view sequence (2) Will Sandin- Michael Myers at age six (3) Nick Castle- The Shape and while Myers escapes from Smith's Grove (4) Dog Trainer- played Myers when killing the Wallace's family dog, Lester (5) Production designer Tommy Lee Wallace portrays Myers in several key scenes of Halloween, including the infamous closet scene (6) Tony Moran- when Laurie unmasks Myers (7) Stuntman James "Jim" Windburn- stunt double for when Myers was shot and fell out the window, and (8) Director John Carpenter- It is not officially known which parts of the film, but he has long been rumored to have donned the mask in a few scenes. (Source: HalloweenFlash.com).

• Even though his exact size is unknown, it is clear that Michael Myers is quite tall and an accurate guess would come to well over 6 feet. Josh Hartnett, who appears in Halloween H20 stands 6 ft. 3 and next to Michael Myers he seems as if he is 3 or 4 inches shorter.

• In Halloween 4, Dr. Hoffman had typed Michael's middle initial as "M" on a Ridgemont Federal Sanitarium document. The producers of this installment probably just forgot that John Carpenter filmed additional scenes for the original Halloween. These scenes, which were filmed to coincide with the upcoming release of Halloween II, revealed that Michael's full name is Michael Aubrey Myers. This particular scene occurs at Smith's Grove on May 1st, 1964.

• Kane Hodder, who played Jason Voorhees in The Friday the 13th films, has expressed great interest in portraying Myers in a future Halloween film.

• Michael Myers wears a Captain Kirk mask, painted white.

• Moustapha Akkad, the Halloween movie series producer, always claimed Michael Myers was not possessed by The Curse of Thorn, and that the sixth movie may have been a mistake. Akkad said he always intended for Michael Myers to be as human as possible - but with frightening bouts of rage and insanity that made him feel more oblivious to pain than a normal person.