Editorials
A Tale of Two Lauries: Trauma in ‘Halloween H20’ and 2018’s ‘Halloween’
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
‘The Vampire Lestat’ Concert Event Launches New Season With The Ultimate Expression Of Fandom
There are thousands of passionate fans decked out in gothic chic and champing at the bit like feral creatures. They’re screaming for Lestat, a legendary vampire-turned-rock star, as if the entire crowd has been glamored into submission.
The entire experience is magic, but not because some supernatural thrall has been activated. What’s going on is even more special. It’s the power of the effusive fandom that’s been authentically assembled by AMC’s sublime Immortal Universe, namely Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, now, The Vampire Lestat.
The Vampire Lestat is far from the first Anne Rice adaptation, and it’s not as if there’s been a lack of erotic vampire material for audiences to sink their teeth into. On June 2nd, during a one-night-only spectacle, New York City’s prestigious Beacon Theatre shook from Sam Reid’s bravado performance and an audience full of adoring fans who had already memorized Lestat’s songs.
It’s clear that The Vampire Lestat just hits differently than its predecessors. It’s become more than just a TV series at this point, and this opulent display of ego, swagger, and pure sex is the perfect way to premiere the new season and give back to the fans who helped make Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat such a breakout success. It’s exactly the sort of hyperbolized hedonism that would make Lestat cackle.
For all intents and purposes, AMC has successfully created the illusion that this concert/premiere is just one of the many destinations on Lestat and his band’s 54-stop tour that is simultaneously playing out on this season of television. It’s such a sophisticated and thorough level of interactive fan engagement that the audience doesn’t just understand, but also manages to accentuate through its involvement.
It’s a level of seamless synergy that’s not unlike the give-and-take relationship of vampire and victim.
Before the concert started, “LeStans” were sitting in the Beacon and flipping through a fake Rolling Stone issue with Lestat emblazoned on the cover, complete with interviews with the undead frontman inside. Other fans were admiring the vinyl pressing of Lestat’s EP as they walked past a section of undead band merch. Fandom and fantasy blur together, and it all becomes this elaborate, immersive experience. Fan celebration, erotic gothic fantasy, and a lavish rock concert transform into one beautiful thing.
To this point, AMC Global Media’s Chief Content Officer and President of AMC Studios, Dan McDermott, introduced the event by reiterating to fans, “You are the heartbeat of the series.” That’s abundantly clear on nights like this as that heartbeat collectively pulses to this performance. In terms of how AMC engages with The Vampire Lestat’s fans, it’s as bold a reinvention as the season itself.
This intuitive gamble speaks to AMC’s creativity in this department and a fandom that is eager to seize such opportunities. It’s the same innovation that led to zombie walks for The Walking Dead and real-life Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant pop-ups from Breaking Bad. It’s a great way to pump up the audience for The Vampire Lestat and then maintain that enthusiasm for the whole season.
For most series, a rock ‘n’ roll concert just doesn’t make any sense as a promotional tool. The Vampire Lestat finds itself in a very unique position where it can deliver an excellent concert at an iconic theater, but also use it to showcase The Vampire Lestat’s music by Daniel Hart (who was shredding on stage alongside Reid and the rest of their band) and, more than anything, Sam Reid’s endless charisma.
The way in which Reid feeds off of the crowd’s energy, modulating his performance and giving different sections of the Beacon life, is a perfect distillation of the series’ thoughtful relationship with its audience and how it’s become such a breakout success for AMC. AMC Studios President Dan McDermott emphasized that the fans are the reason that the show is still here and why an event like this is even possible. It’s rare to see a series in which every single cog in the machine is so perfectly attuned to its fans. Reid’s fans already cheer whenever they see him, so why not translate that to a concert setting?
It’s clear in this season of television that Reid was born to be a rock star, but it’s surreal to see him effortlessly command the stage — and the audience — at every step of the concert. He recites Shakespeare monologues and bitches out Armand between songs, all while the audience screams in support. For the duration of this concert, Reid is Lestat, and he’s given thousands of fans a memory that’s as immortal as any vampire.
Now bring on the encore and get this show on the road!
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