Actress Jamie Lee Curtis has had a long and celebrated career, but there’s one role that remains synonymous with her: Halloween’s Laurie Strode. Curtis has returned to the beloved horror franchise a number of times throughout the years, and will arrive in theaters this October with Halloween Kills. And she recently compared the Blumhouse movies to previous sequels.
David Gordon Green’s 2018 Halloween broke box office records, and started a new timeline that ignored all previous sequels. That story will ultimately be expanded into a trilogy, resulting in Jamie Lee Curtis appearing in a whopping seven movies total as Laurie Strode. Halloween Kills recently premiered at the Venice Film festival, where Curtis spoke to the franchise’s history, saying:
I think that what David has done, particularly with the 2018 movie, was to explore something deeper. We’re actors, so the deeper you want us to go, the deeper we will go, but also it was prescient what David and company figured out: We were on a verge of a wave of women understanding their own trauma and voicing it. The collision between the reality of life and the reality of Laurie’s life… happened in a pretty profound way.
She’s got a point. The 2018 Halloween movie was largely focused on Laurie’s trauma and how it affected her family. The movie’s release came as the #MeToo movement was coming into the collective consciousness, which is a connection that Jamie Lee Curtis seems particularly proud of.
Jamie Lee Curtis' comments come from a press appearance she did about Halloween Kills after its premiere in Venice (via Variety). She was reportedly asked about her impressive tenure in the Halloween franchise, before zeroing in on what clicked so well with director David Gordon Green in the 2018 movie. She specifically mentioned going “deeper”, which makes sense given the careful way trauma was addressed in the acclaimed slasher.
While the 2018 Halloween was very much focused on Laurie’s mental health, it looks like Halloween Kills is going to zoom out and follow as the town of Haddonfield becomes a character. The trailers show the stellar cast arming up to take on Michael Myers themselves, and it should be interesting to see if the former outcast Laurie grows into a leader for her community.
While the Halloween franchise is ultimately a slasher, there’s some real emotions attached to David Grodon Green's current trilogy. Jamie Lee Curtis has shared a number of gripping stories from the set, including a moment of solidarity where the cast and crew stood with Laurie and other survivors. Luckily it won’t be long before we see how this ultimately influences the theatrical cut of Halloween Kills.
Following Halloween Kills, the current trilogy will come to an end with next year’s Halloween Ends. Jamie Lee Curtis recently teased this might be her swan song as Laurie Strode, to the dismay of the generations of Halloween fans. But there’s no telling how the next two battles with Michael Myers ultimately shake out.
Halloween Kills will arrive in theaters on October 15th. In the meantime, check out the 2021 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
