What Is Happening In Halloween Kills Opening Scene

David Gordon Green’s Halloween Kills returns to 1978 in the opening sequence of the film, setting up the stakes for the survivors of that night heavily featured in the film’s depiction of the present day. It also shows how Michael was taken into custody that fateful night, surrounded by the guns of seemingly every member of local law enforcement. But it doesn’t tell the whole story. Officer Hawkins holds on to a lot of regrets from that night.

Green’s Halloween (2018) took place 40 years after the events of the original Halloween film and featured a PTSD-suffering Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) finally getting her revenge after 40 years of planning. Laurie always knew Michael would return for her, and this time she was ready. 2018’s Halloween ended with three generations of Strode women — Laurie, Karen, and Allyson — trapping Michael in the basement bunker of Laurie’s house then setting it ablaze. Michael seemingly burned alive as Laurie and her family were driven away. Since this iteration of Halloween is a trilogy, though, Michael was clearly about to escape. But how?

Halloween Kills opened not with the answer to that question, but with Allyson’s boyfriend Cameron discovering Officer Hawkins injured after an encounter with Michael’s psychiatrist from the previous film, then flashed back to Hawkins’ remembrance of Halloween 40 years ago. It’s in the past that the movie revisited the events depicted in 1981’s Halloween II immediately following the original film, and showcased Haddonfield’s law enforcement alongside Michael’s psychiatrist, Dr. Sam Loomis, desperately searching for Michael so they could bring him to justice. While setting the first reminders of Michael’s habit of staring out his sister’s bedroom window, the flashback featured a young Deputy Hawkins pursuing Michael with his partner, McCabe, in events that ultimately set up the stakes for him, Lonnie, and three other familiar names from franchise history.  

Hawkins carried a lot of guilt with him from 1978 and we learned the source of at least half that guilt right away. When he and McCabe pursued Myers into his childhood home, Michael surprised McCabe and was about to kill him when Hawkins came running to the rescue. But like most events in Halloween Kills, which has earned mixed reviews, things didn’t go as planned. With Michael strangling McCabe, Hawkins took a shot, hoping to stop Myers and save his partner. But the bullet went into McCabe’s neck and Michael escaped while McCabe bled out on the floor. The real reason for McCabe’s death was then covered up and Hawkins’ role in his partner’s demise covered up. But McCabe carried that guilt with him all those years, including another secret he didn’t reveal to Laurie until later when the film flashed back to 1978 again: that it was Hawkins who prevented Loomis from executing Myers there and then that Halloween night. Hawkins has blamed himself for every death since.

The opening flashback sequence in Halloween Kills did another thing for fans. It re-introduced Lonnie as a child and showed his terrifying encounter with Michael that night. Lonnie was spared when the police stumbled onto the scene, but he carried that horror with him for four decades. He and his fellow survivors Tommy Doyle, Lindsey Wallace, and Marion Chambers all did. They’re familiar names and faces from the original Halloween film, and the theme of survivors rising up against their assailant has been prevalent throughout David Gordon Green’s trilogy. Lonnie’s experience that night motivated his actions throughout Halloween Kills, as did the experiences of Tommy, Marion, and Lindsey. All but one gave their life facing their boogeyman not with fear but with courage.

One by one, Michael Myers killed those returning characters who escaped him 40 years ago, including Lonnie and his son, who survived the events of Halloween. In fact, it’s the guilt-ridden Hawkins, traumatized Laurie, and survivor Lindsey who are the three left standing at the end of Halloween Kills, and it’s clear their time to face off against Michael Myers again is soon to come. Halloween Ends hits theaters next October and promises to bring a conclusion to the psychological torment Michael has caused Laurie, Hawkins, and Lindsey all these years, one way or the other.

About The Author