"Kill for him."
"Do you know why we celebrate Halloween?...A long, long time ago, it was night of great power, when the days grew short and the spirits of the dead returned to their homes to warm themselves by the fireside. All across the land, huge bonfires were lit; ohh, there was a marvelous celebration. People danced, and they played games and they dressed up in costumes hoping to ward off the evil spirits, especially...the boogeyman."
— Mrs. Blankenship, explaining Halloween to Danny.
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers opens with a teenaged Jamie escaping with a baby from the clutches of a mysterious group known as the Cult of Thorn (who freed Michael from jail at the end of the previous film). She doesn't get far — thanks to Michael Myers — but she manages to hide her child before Michael finally kills her. Tommy Doyle, one of the kids Laurie Strode babysat in the original film, finds the child — an act that leads Michael back to Haddonfield. As the bodies start to stack up again, Tommy — assisted by a retired Dr. Loomis — tries to unravel the mystery surrounding the cult that seemingly controls Michael and save the child Michael wants to kill...
The film underwent a heavily Troubled Production with heaps of Executive Meddling, and was released to heavy savage from critics and fans. It has since gained infamy due to its two bootlegged (and better-received) alternative versions: the gorier director's cut and the much different producer's cut (which would later see an official release in 2014). This film also marks the end of this version of the Halloween continuity previously set by Halloween 4 and 5; the next Halloween film — Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later — ignores the events of this film (and the previous two films) and creates an alternate continuity that picks up after the events of Halloween II (1981).
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers contains examples of the following tropes:
- Aborted Arc: The last two films had spent a lot of focus on Jamie as a main character and this one seems like it will follow the same pattern as she attempts to protect her son, perhaps once again bringing up the psychic link she had been shown to have with her uncle in the last film. But she's unceremoniously killed twenty minutes into the film, the psychic link is never even mentioned, and the focus shifts to a bunch of new characters instead.
- Abusive Parents: John Strode is all three kinds, physically, verbally, and emotionally.
- Alien Blood: Michael emits yellow-green liquid while Tommy beats him with a pipe. This is actually the corrosive fluid Tommy injects him with just prior to the beating- it's not his actual blood.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: In the beginning of the film, a caller on the Barry Simms show says she's in love with Michael because he's so uninhibited and untamed. Sadly a real phenomenon known as hybristophilia, the attraction to someone who has committed an outrage.
- Ambiguous Ending: in the final scene (Theatrical Cut) we see Michael Myer's mask lying on the floor and hear Dr Loomis screaming offscreen. The finale is open to multiple interpretations, firstly that Myers has killed Loomis, secondly that Loomis has discovered that Myers has recovered from Tommy Doyle's beating and escaped. Both scenarios have the problem of explaining why Michael abandoned his precious mask on the ground? The third explanation is that we are witnessing Loomis finally kill Michael, hence why the Halloween 1-6 continuity (the "Curse of Thorn" storyline) ends here.
- Artistic License – Linguistics: The symbol that cursed Micheal with the Curse of Thorn was the Thurisaz rune from the Futhark alphabet, which was used by Germanic-speaking cultures like the Anglo-Saxons and Norse rather than Celtic ones. Had the Thorn Cult been as Celtic as they claimed, they should have used an actual writing system of Celts, such as Ogham, Lugano or any of the Celtiberian scripts.
- Asshole Victim: John Strode, Barry Simms, and the Thorn Cult members who get killed at the hospital.
- Autobots, Rock Out!: Several of Carpenter's themes from the original are remade on the electric guitar.
- Big Bad: The Man in Black, aka Dr. Wynn.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Mrs. Blankenship.
- Blind Without 'Em: Debra, apparently, given the way she fumbles for her glasses after dropping them. And they've been broken in the fall, rendering them useless even when she does put them back on.
- Blood-Splattered Innocents: A little girl notices "it's raining red" at one point. Barry Simms's body is strung up in the tree the girl is standing under.
- Bookends: The producer's cut features a scene of Jamie tied to a table, dressed in white, wearing a crown of flowers, apparently preparing to be raped by Michael. By the film's ending, Kara is tied up the same way, presumably for the same reason. note
- Cain and Abel: John is the Cain to Laurie's father Morgan's Abel. While Morgan was at least a better father and husband to his family as shown in the original film with the only thing that strains the relationship between Laurie and him is the fact that he withholds the truth about Laurie's lineage from her, John, however, is the opposite as he is an Abusive Dad towards his own daughter and grandson unlike Morgan's decent relationship with his daughter until the events of the first film.
- Car Fu: Michael runs Jamie off the road.
- Chekhov's Gun: The axe that Debra Strode idly notices on her front porch is what Michael later murders her with.
- Child by Rape: Jamie's baby. Even if Michael isn't his father, the poor girl was undoubtedly raped by someone, given her young age and captive status.
- Composite Character: The characters of Dr. Wynn from the original Halloween and the Man in Black from The Revenge of Michael Myers are retroactively fused together in this film.
- Continuity Nod: Tommy Doyle returns to the series, still traumatized by the events of the first film.
- Creepy Uncle: Michael, aside from being a psychotic mass murderer, raped Jamie in the producer's cut, making him both the father and great-uncle of her baby.
- Cult Defector: In the opening scene, a nurse who is part of the Cult of Thorn helps Jamie and her baby escape from the cult after experiencing Curious Qualms of Conscience. It's one of the last things she ever does.
- Danger Takes A Back Seat: Barry's death.
- Dead Guy on Display: Barry Simms's body is strung up in a tree by Michael in a line of lights.
- Decoy Protagonist: The film begins with Jamie escaping the Cult of Thorn with her baby in tow and Michael in hot pursuit. However, Michael impales her on a corn thresher in the theatrical cut (or simply stabs her in the producer's cut), before the focus switches to Tommy Doyle and the Strode family, namely Kara and her son Danny.
- Defiant to the End: Jamie's final words are to declare "You can't have the baby, Michael", knowing that she's been able to hide him.
- Destination Defenestration: Kara jumps out a window to escape the Cult of Thorn.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: It is revealed that the Man in Black is Dr. Wynn, a minor character from the first film.
- Dramatic Thunder: Used when Mrs. Blankenship mentions the boogeyman, and later when Beth describes Judith's death.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: at the end of the film Dr Loomis has solved the mystery around Michael at last and destroyed the cult that spawned him. Tommy has triumphed over him and can now go on with his life. Jamie has died but her baby survives, escaping the evil plans of Michael and the Cult of Thorn. Kara and Danny have lost the rest of their family but now have formed a new pseudo one with Tommy and Jamie's baby. If you accept Loomis kills Michael offscreen then his victory is complete, he can retire and live out his remaining years in peace.
- Evil Former Friend: Wynn becomes this to Loomis once he reveals his role in the plot.
- Eviler than Thou: After hearing the cult leader's Utopia Justifies the Means reasoning, all Loomis can say is, "And I thought Michael was a monster...but you..."
- Evil Uncle: John Strode, due to being the brother of Laurie's father, can be considered to be this due to being an Abusive Dad towards his own family and a Shady Real Estate Agent who neglects to inform his family that the house he bought from his brother was the Myers house. However, it is unknown if John and Laurie had ever interacted before.
- Michael is also this, following the plot from the last two films, but here it's implied that he's being forced to kill people by the Cult of Thorn.
- Failed a Spot Check: In the Producer’s Cut, Barry Simms gets into a van that he thinks is his, but it has the Smith’s Grove Sanitarium identification. As Michael kills him, the camera pans out to another van a couple of spots away, which has Barry’s radio station logo on it.
- Final Girl: Laurie's adoptive cousin Kara is built up as this, having to keep her young son Danny safe from Michael and the Cult of Thorn. Tommy could also count as one of the rare male examples of this trope.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Debra Strode’s death is marked by a spray of blood on recently washed sheets.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The Man in Black, who is revealed to be Dr. Terrence Wynn, the leader of the Cult of Thorn, who controls Michael and uses him as a vessel for Thorn, a Druidic force that drives its hosts to kill their families as sacrifices on Samhain. However, Michael revolts against them, killing Wynn and most of the cult.
- Grew a Spine: Debra does this after putting up with John's bullshit when she calls him following her meeting with Dr. Loomis. She tells John about Jamie Lloyd's death and calls him out on having moved them into Michael Myers's house, telling John she's getting the kids and leaving with or without him. Unfortunately, Michael is already in the house and kills her later on.
- Gross-Up Close-Up:
- Jamie being impaled on a corn thresher in the theatrical cut.
- Along with the poor doctor who has his head forced through a gated door by Michael in the theatrical version.
- And the guy who gets his neck twisted 180 degrees, enough to rip his neck open.
- Hand Wave: Loomis's burn scars are entirely gone and his face looks completely normal and healthy. He handwaves it as plastic surgery, but it's got to be the best plastic surgery on Earth.
- Hate Sink: John Strode and Barry Simms. You can't truly hate Michael Myers, but these two are both truly loathsome people.
- Hearing Voices: The Man in Black provides voices (that command to kill) to those chosen to perform the sacrificial familicide. Mrs. Blankenship babysat Michael and recalls him saying he heard voices the night he murdered his sister. Danny (who sleeps in Michael's old room) is also visited by the Man in Black.
- Henpecked Husband: Inverted with meek Debra Strode dealing with her asshole husband. She finally stands up to him after Dr. Loomis warns her to get her family out the house before Michael comes back.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Jamie abandons her baby at the bus station in the hopes that someone will find him and protect him, then flees, successfully drawing Michael's attention away from him.
- Hollywood Healing: As cited above, Dr. Loomis apparently got the best skin grafts in history for his burn scars from the 4th and 5th films to have completely disappeared.
- I Can't Hear You: When Jamie gets inside the truck she finds, she tries to tell its owner that Michael is near him, but he can't make out what she's saying because the windows are closed and it's pouring rain.
- Ignored Expert: Averted at least in one respect. Loomis successfully warns Debra that the house is sacred to Michael and that her family must get out of there immediately. Unfortunately, Michael's already lurking about and kills Debra before she can get off the property.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice:
- Jamie getting impaled on a corn thresher in the theatrical cut, plus John Strode gets pinned to a fuse box later on.
- Lets also not forget that the midwife who helps Jamie escape with her baby has her head driven through a conveniently placed spike on the wall and is left hanging (eh-hem, the first kill of the film, mind you).
- It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: The film begins on a Halloween Eve that's a classic example of one of these.
- Jerkass: John Strode and Barry Simms. The former is the abusive father of Kara and Tim, who gets himself, his wife, and Tim killed because he neglected to tell them that their house was where Michael Myers used to live, and the latter is an obnoxious, rude, and sleazy radio DJ who ridicules Jamie's cries for help. Needless to say, nobody is upset when Michael kills both of them, with John Strode, in particular, getting one of the franchise's most brutal deaths (in the theatrical cut).
- Kill the Cutie:
- Jamie Lloyd, who in the theatrical cut winds up impaled on and ripped open by a corn thresher courtesy of Michael.
- She may count as an older example, but Debra Strode as well after all she puts up with from her husband.
- Lightning Reveal: Mixed with Stealth Hi/Bye when Michael is stalking Jamie in the barn.
- Loony Fan: Barry's radio show callers, including one woman having the hots for Michael.
- Machete Mayhem: For his massacre of the Cult of Thorn in the Theatrical Cut, Michael picks up a surgical machete from a table of implements.
- Mama Bear:
- Jamie Lloyd and Kara Strode. Jamie is a subversion because Michael still kills her, but she still manages to keep her baby out of his hands. Kara takes on shades of Action Girl when she tries to keep Michael from killing Danny.
- Debra Strode's a subdued example. She does what she can to support Kara even though John's such an asshole and lambasts her for doing so. However, the moment Dr. Loomis tells Debra her family's in danger because of Michael Myers's return, Debra immediately calls John to tell him she's taking the kids somewhere safe and she's not sticking around for him. Sadly, she dies just like Jamie because Michael is already lurking in the house.
- Mirror Scare: Michael pulls this on Tim.
- Mythology Gag:
- Kara's parents are Debra and John Strode.
- Jamie knows how to drive, despite having been held prisoner since a very young age, just like Michael inexplicably knew despite having been institutionalized since he was 6.
- Danny is carrying a pumpkin home and is spooked into dropping it by Tommy — much like how in the original film bullies caused Tommy to drop his while one of them ran into Michael.
- Danny looks across the street to see Michael standing there and him disappearing in the blink of an eye — literally — exactly as Tommy did in the original.
- In the producer's cut, Michael stalks Kara on her college campus, much like he lurked across the street from Laurie's school.
- The sequence of Michael murdering the post-coital Beth and Tim, Kara running across the street when she realizes what's happened, finding their dead bodies, being attacked by Michael herself, then fleeing back across the street while still being pursued by the knife-wielding Michael, is all very similar to the sequence in the first movie with Bob, Lynda, and Laurie. She even finds Debra's body hanging upside down just like Bob's was.
- The movie starts out very similarly to Part 4—a stormy night, then a cut to a child waking from a nightmare and being comforted by their parents, an establishing shot of Haddonfield, then a family breakfast scene.
- The stormy night is a reference to the opening of the original film as well.
- Neck Snap: Early in the film, a trucker who encounters an escaping Jamie winds up with his neck twisted by Michael nearly 180 degrees.
- Oddball in the Series: Not as severe as other entries as it’s more of a casting example, but this is the only film to not feature Jamie Lee Curtis or Danielle Harris, both of whom star throughout the franchise (the former in the first three, H20, Resurrection, 2018, Kills, and Ends, and the latter in parts 4 through 5 and the Rob Zombie duology).
- Oh, Crap!:
- Loomis when he hears Jamie's voice on the radio pleading for his help.
- Debra when she notices the axe isn't in the box she put it in.
- "Oh, Crap!" Smile: Tommy gives one when he sees Michael coming for him as he tries to break Kara out of Smith's Grove.
- Rape Discretion Shot: In the producer's cut, Jamie is tied to a table, surrounded by the cult members. Michael walks into the room. . . and that's the last thing we see.
- Recut: One of the most stunning examples of this. Apparently, the film ran over time and budget and they were unsatisfied with the original ending, so the suits decided to take it over and had new scenes shot for the film. Their version is the Theatrical Cut. When the film was shown on TV, someone got a hold of the now infamous Producer's Cut, which was the original cut of the film screened for test audiences. While the violence and cursing were trimmed, an assload of alternate takes and different opening narration were used, and the entire last 20 minutes of the film are RADICALLY different from the Theatrical Cut. The main change is that the explanation for Michael's killing ways is altered: the Theatrical version offered a scientific reason, but the Producer's Cut says the reason is supernatural (which also explains why Michael is also growing bigger in each previous film. It's because his power is growing). It also shows a final scene with Dr. Loomis realizing that he has been cursed by Thorn. This was likely altered when Donald Pleasence died. An early trailer showed that the film was originally going to be called Halloween 666: The Curse of Michael Myers. The Producer's Cut was only available through low-quality bootleg video releases until 2014 when its original masters were located, restored, and later included on the deluxe version of the Halloween Complete Collection Blu-ray set before getting a standalone Blu-ray of its own, and as of 2023, finally being aired on cable TV.
- Recycled In Space: Discussed in-universe with the concept of "Michael Myers in space."
- Retcon:
- Apparently it was Mrs. Blankenship, not Judith and her boyfriend Danny, who was babysitting 6-year-old Michael on that fateful Halloween night in 1963. This could explain why the original film opens with Michael crossing the street to his own house, since Blankenship lives directly across from them. Doubles with Remember the New Guy?. We also have a tentative link with Halloween 3: Season of the Witch, which also features an evil pagan cultist who refers to having an appointment with Mrs. Blankenship.
- Dr. Wynn is retconned into being the leader of a cult controlling Michael.
- Michael is retconned from a naturally (or supernaturally) psychotic murderer to a victim of an evil cult controlling him and making him murder innocent people for their own gain.
- Retired Badass: Dr. Loomis at the start of the film, as he thinks that the nightmare is truly over. Hearing Jamie calling a radio show brings him back into action.
- Series Continuity Error:
- Downplayed as the Myers house of this movie is modeled to resemble the same one seen in the original film...though it’s never explained how it went from being a mini-mansion in Part 5 to the normal size Myers house from old.
- Michael's mask is back to not having eye covers like the original mask used in the original film and II, unlike the masks from 4 and 5 which had eye covers.
- Series Fauxnale: Of a sort. While it is not the last Halloween film to follow the original movie, it serves as the last entry in the storyline set up in the fourth film. It helps that while the film seemingly wraps up character arcs for characters like Loomis and Jamie, it was still left open-ended enough for a possible continuation. In fact, there were plans to continue the story with a follow-up film, but the next film was Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later, which ignores everything after the second movie. Even then, there were plans to tie in that film with this one, but they didn't go beyond deleted scenes and script drafts.
- The Producers Cut in particular ends on a fairly conclusive note and can be seen as a wrap up to the timeline associated with 4-6.
- Sex Signals Death: No sooner are Tim and Beth able to enjoy a few moments after sleeping together than Michael kills them.
- Shady Real Estate Agent: John Strode. He is a real estate agent like his brother and Laurie's father Morgan, however, he is an Abusive Dad and neglects to inform his family that the house they're living in is the Myers house.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Tommy, psychologically scarred from his childhood encounter with Michael in the first film's events.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: After getting mocked for being related to Michael, becoming mute due to a powerful connection with Michael, all her friends, her sister, and her dogs killed, Jamie is kidnapped by the cult of Thorn and is forced to have sex with Michael and bear his child, and she's finally impaled by farm equipment in the theatrical cut or stabbed by Michael, put in a coma, and literally shot in the head by the Man in Black in the Producer's Cut. Jamie could be the contender for the most depressing character in all of the horror genre.
- Shout-Out: Two to The Shining.
- Danny Strode is named after Danny Torrence.
- The room Tommy breaks open to rescue Kara in the theatrical cut is room 237.
- Slashed Throat: Tim Strode is killed this way.
- Soft Glass: Probably one of the craziest examples ever happens when Kara flies face first through a window and belly flops to the ground two stories below with no discernible injuries from either the glass or the fall, although she is knocked out. Honestly, with Made of Iron abilities like that, why the hell is she afraid of Michael Myers?
- Spanner in the Works: The midwife throws off the cult's whole operation simply by helping Jamie escape with her baby. The entire movie hinges on this one act of kindness.
- Stopped Numbering Sequels: Notable, since even the third movie, which was supposed to change the franchise to an anthology series, still had "III" in the title. Averted with the Producer’s Cut of the film, which still refers to it as Halloween 6.
- Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Jamie Lloyd and Doctor Wynn.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: As a result of Michael's repeated rampages on Halloween—two separate ones on the same night (the first and second films), one occurring ten years later, and then another one only a year later—the citizens of Haddonfield ban Halloween celebrations. It doesn't stop Michael of course, although coincidentally, the citizens decide they're sick of not celebrating the holiday since Myers has been presumed dead or at least missing for the last six years, so they bring back Halloween celebrations the same day that Michael returns to commit more murder.
- Tangled Family Tree: Michael is both the father and the granduncle of his niece Jamie's baby. She herself is both the baby's mother and cousin.
- Teen Pregnancy: Is implied to be the case regarding Kara and her son Danny. Then there’s Jamie, who’s fifteen, and her newborn son Steven.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: One scene in the theatrical cut has Michael preparing to kill a bunch of sanitarium employees by overlooking a tray filled with medical tools. At first, it looks like he's going to grab a scalpel, but having apparently gotten tips from Jason Voorhees, he decides to grab a machete-like knife instead.
- Token Good Teammate: The midwife who helps Jamie escape with her baby.
- Uncertain Doom:
- It can be assumed that the whole entire Cult of Thorn, including Mrs. Blankenship, were killed by Michael during the operating room massacre in the Theatrical Cut. Notably, the CHAOS! comic that tried to tie the 4-6 and H20 timelines together has Dr. Wynn be still alive even in the year 2001, showing that he managed to survive the massacre along with Mrs. Blankenship and several others.
- Michael is last seen being beaten by Tommy with a lead pipe so that the corrosive chemical he injected him with gushes through the eye hole of the mask, but his fate is unclear.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Tommy Doyle's childhood encounter with Michael messed him up pretty badly.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: The Cult of Thorn apparently believes Michael killing his relatives will bring world peace...or something.
- It's implied they may have considered Michael the ultimate tool to extend their will, an Implacable Man assassin. And they may have been using Jamie to breed new ones if need be. If killing Michael's relatives helps keep him under their control, so be it.
- We Can Rule Together: The Thorn leader tries to persuade Loomis to join them. He refuses.
- You're Insane!: Loomis to the Thorn leader.Dr. Loomis: You...are....a madman.
- Your Head A-Splode: John Strode's death in the theatrical cut. Michael pushes him against a fuse box, electrocuting him to the point that his head messily blows up.
"...If there's one thing I know, you can't control evil. You could lock it up, you could burn it, and bury it, and pray that it dies, but it never will. It just rests for a while. You could lock your doors and say your prayers, but the evil is out there...waiting. And maybe, just maybe...it's closer than you think."
