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A Tale of Two Lauries: Trauma in ‘Halloween H20’ and 2018’s ‘Halloween’

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Over the course of the Halloween series’ 40-year history, we have had two films that have attempted to address the events of Halloween night, 1978 as trauma. These films are interested in acknowledging the effect of the experience on Laurie Strode and in seeing how that trauma has impacted her in their respective modern days. Halloween H20 and 2018’s Halloween both take different approaches to Laurie’s fate, but with the shared desire to see how she has tried to cope with these life-changing events.

In H20, Laurie is leading a quiet life under the new name of Kerri Tate. She is the headmistress of a private boarding school in Northern California, where she lives with her seventeen-year-old son, John (Josh Hartnett). Though the events of Haddonfield happened 20 years prior, they still remain at the forefront of Laurie’s mind. She struggles daily with PTSD, nightmares and anxiety. She is on multiple prescription drugs to try to manage her stress and self-medicates further with alcohol. She has tried just about every therapy option there is, but to no avail. Her inability to move past the events of Halloween have driven a wedge between her and John. He is as much a caretaker as he is her son, and when the story opens, the audience can see the toll that her struggles have taken on their relationship.

Laurie lives in terror each Halloween that her brother Michael will find her. Although she saw Michael burn at the end of the second film, she knows in the back of her mind that he is still out there, and that one day, he will return. This year, 20 years after the initial events, he does.

In the 2018 Halloween, we see a Laurie that has handled the decades following the trauma very differently. Though absolutely scarred by her ordeal, Laurie used the time that followed to prepare. Laurie has spent her life hoping and praying that Michael would escape from Smith’s Grove so that she would have the opportunity to end what was started 40 years ago. 

The result is a woman whose primary focus is being able to protect herself and her family from the inevitable. She learned about weapons, survival tactics, and defense. She turned her home into a fortress. She placed the highest priority on survival – even higher than the well-being of her daughter, Karen (Judy Greer). Though she believed she was doing the right thing in teaching Karen to take care of herself, Laurie’s obsession with protecting her family from the Boogeyman made her a less than ideal mother, and her parental rights were eventually terminated. She lost everything that she had – her daughter, two marriages and every relationship in her life – because of her obsession with Michael.

We have two Lauries, both traumatized, but one obsessed with trying to outrun Michael and one obsessed with trying to run toward him. Laurie as Keri Tate fled across the country, changed her name, and tried everything she could to erase the memory of Michael from her mind. Laurie in 2018 has stayed in Haddonfield, and while she barricades herself in her bunker-like home, she has prepared for Michael’s inevitable return. Though she fears him more than anything, the idea of finally taking him down has become all-consuming, and she has built her entire world around it.

Ultimately, the vanquishing of a monster (in H20, Laurie’s brother, and in 2018, the return of The Shape) is the act that is able to help both versions of the character address and cope with their trauma. In H20, when Laurie locks the campus gate, she turns the tables by becoming the hunter, rather that the prey. She stops running from Michael and invites him to meet her on her own turf. In the 2018 film, Laurie is able to take on the thing that she has been fearing for 40 years with the help of her daughter and granddaughter. The relationships that have been broken over her lifetime are reforged and together, three generations of Strode women fight back against Laurie’s monster.

Both of these films offer thoughtful perspectives on the path that Laurie’s life might have taken as the result of the events of the original Halloween. As these two versions of adult Laurie are forced to confront their pasts, we see the different ways in which trauma can manifest, haunt, and ultimately be defeated.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

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Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

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Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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