Halloween H20 Handled Laurie Strode’s Character Better Than The 2018 Reboot

While Halloween‘s 2018 reboot was a critical and commercial hit, 1998’s Halloween H20 arguably did Laurie Strode’s character arc better. When it comes to “final girl” heroines in horror films, Laurie arguably sits at the top of the mountain. It’s also no coincidence that her portrayer, Jamie Lee Curtis, is also arguably the greatest scream queen in history. John Carpenter’s 1978 classic is a true masterpiece, and calling it anything less would be to drastically understate its greatness, an assertion likely to find few challengers.

When director David Gordon Green and star Curtis got together to craft a direct sequel to Carpenter’s film, they were taking on a massive challenge. Thankfully, by most accounts, they succeeded in crafting a follow-up far more worthy than most of the prior Halloween sequels. Still, that hasn’t stopped some fans from being critical of exactly how Green chose to portray Laurie Strode, and her emotional and psychological reactions to encountering Michael’s horrific Haddonfield murder spree 40 years prior.

While it’s true that deep trauma effects everyone who experiences it differently, it can be easily argued that the way Green, co-writer Danny McBride, and Curtis opted to write Laurie for Halloween 2018 was unrealistic at best and fantastical at worst. That’s not in any way meant to imply the film was bad overall, but few movies are perfect, and this is one area of the process that definitely could’ve used some improvement and fine tuning.

Halloween H20’s Laurie Reacts More Realistically to Trauma

In Halloween H20, it’s revealed that some time after Michael’s apparent fiery demise thanks to Dr. Loomis at the end of Halloween 2, Laurie changed her name to Keri Tate, moved to California, and started a new life for herself. She runs a secluded private school called Hillcrest Academy, where her son John is a student. While Laurie is very much haunted by the night her brother killed her friends and tried to kill her multiple times, her moving on to try and live some semblance of a life rings pretty true, and feels like an extension of the smart, capable young woman Laurie was in 1978.

At the same time, her getting a new identity and moving clear across the country also makes logical sense, as in this continuity, she’s still Michael’s sister, and she knows that was his motivation for targeting her so relentlessly. As far as she knows, her and John are Michael’s only remaining relatives, or at least the only ones he’s likely aware of. It’s also only been 20 years since his last rampage, and considering that it took him 15 years to escape Smith’s Grove the first time, he clearly has no problem playing the waiting game. Laurie is also quite reluctant to fight Michael, and only does so once her drive to protect her son activates her mama bear instincts.

Halloween 2018 Turning Laurie Into Sarah Connor Is Hard to Buy

By contrast, Halloween 2018 deals with Laurie’s trauma in a completely different way. She’s clearly developed PTSD, which makes perfect sense, but all but abandoning an attempt at a normal life in favor of turning herself into a survivalist warrior hermit just doesn’t fit with Laurie’s portrayal in the first two films. While Jamie Lee Curtis gives a great performance as far as conveying the intent of Green and McBride’s characterization, turning horror’s greatest survivor into a gun-toting Sarah Connor clone feels very false.

For one, she’s not Michael’s sister anymore, and has no reason to believe she was anything more to him than a potential victim he took a shine to upon seeing her in Haddonfield. Laurie has zero reason to believe he would try to come after her again, or anyone in her family, as again, that tie has been excised. There’s also the issue of the timeline when it comes to Laurie’s behavior, which deserves its own focus.

Halloween 2018’s Timeline Makes Laurie’s Behavior Even Odder

While no one would ever try and claim that having ones friends murdered by a psychopathic killer, and almost being killed herself, shouldn’t be a thing that haunts Laurie to some extent, the timeline in Halloween 2018 stretches credibility as to how she handles her issues. The saying time heals all wounds exists for a reason, and while the pain of her experience might never fully vanish, it’s hard to believe it wouldn’t have faded at some point over the last four decades. To think that Laurie would dedicate nearly her entire life to preparing for a return by Michael that she for some reason feels is eventual instead of just moving on as best she can feels a bit cartoonish and melodramatic.

After all, in this continuity, Michael is a guy who killed his sister as a kid, killed a few more people in 1978, got locked up, and has been quietly in custody for a whopping 40 years. He’s almost a senior citizen, and has made no escape attempts in all that time. As mentioned, he also has no real motivation to want to target Laurie or her family if he does escape, instead of just claiming other random victims. Outside of her simply being “the one that got away,” no vendetta exists. Laurie has absolutely no reason to jump to the conclusion that he’ll suddenly become active again 40 years after his rampage, and that she’ll be needed to put him down.

Halloween 2018 Is Still A Much Better Film Than H20

Even if Halloween H20 handled Laurie’s personal character arc better than the 2018 reboot, and that’s a debate that will surely rage on among franchise fans for years to come, it’s important to make clear that David Gordon Green’s movie is still a much better follow-up to John Carpenter’s classic than H20. It’s better written overall, better directed, has a better cast line-up, and also doesn’t have a Michael Myers mask so awful that it’s hard to look at it for those who love The Shape character.

Still, one hopes that Green, McBride, and Curtis try and use sequels Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends as opportunities to try and improve their arc for Laurie Strode, perhaps providing more information that could help better explain why she became who she became. If they don’t though, their Halloween sequels will still probably be light years better than dreck like Halloween: Resurrection and Halloween 5.

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