As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
- Deborah's suicide. While the film has problems, it's devastating to see a woman who tried to keep her family together lose it all because her son lost it, and then live with the cold fact her kid is basically far from the sweet little kid he was. Seeing her watching the good times with her family and Michael before killing herself and leaving Laurie alone is a heartbreaking but horrifying cataclysm that leads to the main events of the film..
- The death of Ishmael, the only guard that treated Michael with humanity. One of the last things Ismael does is gently try to calm Michael down and get him back to his room. Due to both his cries of "I was good to you, Mikey!" and the absolutely brutal method of killing him (waterboarding and then crushing his head by television set), his death is particularly hard to watch.
- The alternate ending. Michael finally seems to regain a flicker of humanity, willingly releases Laurie to Loomis, drops his knife, and looks to be wanting to follow them with no more harmful intentions...right before he is promptly gunned down by the police. Particularly heartbreaking is the way Loomis screams and begs for the police officers to stop; even after everything Michael did, he was still hoping to save him.
- When Laurie's parents are killed. They were so nice, but of course, this is a horror film, so they are made sympathetic so that we, the audience, feel bad when they die, and it works. It's worse for Mrs. Strode, her kill is dragged out and she's desperately crawling away after being stabbed off screen. Then, to twist the knife further, she realizes Michael's after Laurie and screams for him not to hurt her (wasn't his intentions at all, but still) and Michael just breaks her neck. This is all made even MORE heartbreaking in the director's cut where Laurie's parents get a lot more screen time and character development.
- Laurie and Sheriff Brackett's reactions upon finding Annie bleeding are this and Nightmare Fuel. Hell, it's scarier for Brackett.
- Annie tearfully screaming Laurie's name to try warning her of Michael's presence can be hard to listen, because of how desperate she sounds: trying to warn her friend that the same person who killed her boyfriend and left her to die is after them and because of her injured traumatized state, all she can do is scream in vain.
- The Director's Cut certainly helps make Dr. Loomis more of a sympathetic character. In the scene where Loomis is done taking care of Michael, he seems so regretful and hurt that he pats Michael on the shoulder and tells him to "take care".
