- "Hey, world! Guess what, I'm Michael Myers' sister! I'm so fucked! "
- ―Laurie Strode[src]
Angel Myers, better known as Laurie Strode, (ca. 1990 - October 31, 2009) is a character in the Halloween franchise, the main protagonist in Rob Zombie's Halloween and Halloween II. She is based upon the main teenage protagonist from the classic Halloween, and is played by Scout Taylor-Compton.
Early life[]
Baby Laurie (Angel)
Laurie Strode was born as Angel Myers in 1990, the daughter of Deborah Myers and an unidentified father, who passed away shortly after fathering her.
When Laurie was less than a year old, her ten-year-old brother, Michael Myers, suffered a psychotic break and murdered their older sister, Judith, Judith's boyfriend, Steve Haley, and their mother's boyfriend, Ronnie White.[3][3]
Despite these violent acts, Michael felt nothing but love for his baby sister, who he affectionately referred to as "Boo". Their mother came home from work that evening and found Michael sitting on the steps outside their house, cradling Boo in his arms.[3]
He was subsequently admitted to Smith's Grove Sanitarium in Warren County where, a year later, he killed one of the nurses. This additional murder proved to be too much for Deborah Myers's psyche and she killed herself. An anonymous person heard the gunshot and called 911.[3]
Sheriff Lee Brackett responded to the call and discovered Deborah's body, and also found baby Angel in her crib nearby. Fearful that the child might grow up bearing the stigma of the Myers name, he omitted her from his official report, drove the infant to another town and dropped her off at a hospital.[3]
Three months later, the baby was adopted by a realtor from Haddonfield named Mason Strode, who just happened to be a friend of Sheriff Brackett's. Brackett could not believe that the child he had sought to rescue was now living under a new name, Laurie Strode, just down the street from the place where he first found her.[3]
Laurie grew up in a loving family, completely ignorant of her birth family's tragic history.
Babysitting[]
Laurie walks home from school feeling like she is being watched
Some seventeen years later, Laurie attended Haddonfield High School with her friends Annie Brackett and Lynda Van der Klok.
On Halloween 2007, Laurie had already arranged to babysit a boy named Tommy Doyal, but Annie had convinced her to also take care of her own charge, Lindsey Wallace, so that Annie could spend time with her boyfriend, Paul.[3]
While walking home from school, the three girls spied an ominous shape staring at them from across the street. Annie and Lynda made some comments towards the stranger, but Laurie was put off by his appearance. Little did she realize that the masked man was actually her older brother Michael who had just escaped Smith's Grove and made his way to Haddonfield.[3]
That evening, Annie picked Laurie up from her home and dropped her off at Tommy Doyal's house. Tommy was an excitable young boy who regaled Laurie with stories of the Mexican Wolf Man and the Boogeyman. Later on, Annie stopped by to drop off Lindsey. The two girls talked and Annie impressed upon Laurie the importance of getting a boyfriend. She told her that she could set her up with a boy named Ben Tramer, but Laurie was resistant to the idea as Ben had been called 'retarded'.[3]
Laurie pretends she sees the Boogeyman
As the evening wore on without Annie returning, Laurie decided to walk Lindsey back to her house. When she arrived, she found that Paul had been murdered and strung up while Annie was on the floor, covered in blood and cuts, writhing in pain.[3]
Then, Laurie ordered Lindsey to run back to Tommy's house. While Laurie was calling 911, Michael stepped out of the shadows and attacked her, grabbing his sister and tossing her about. Laurie picked up a chair and threw it through a pair of French doors. Then, she climbed out into the yard, but injured her ankle in the process. She shambled back to the Doyal house, screaming for Tommy to let her in. Once inside, Laurie locked the door behind her, but Michael smashed his way through. Laurie and the children ran upstairs and tried to lock themselves in the bathroom.[3]
Two officers responded to the 911 call, but Michael killed both of them, stabbing them with his large kitchen knife. Turning his attention back to Laurie, he managed to get a hold of her whereupon Laurie fainted. Michael carried Laurie back to the house in which they grew up. When she awakened, she found herself in the basement of the Myers house, the dead body of Lynda and the stolen headstone of Judith Myers lying next to her.[3]
Michael silently approached her and dropped to his knees. He set down his knife and pulled an old photograph of himself and Angel as children out of his pocket. Laurie failed to understand the significance of the photo, but took the opportunity to seize Michael's knife and stab him in the shoulder.[3]
Then, Laurie escaped from the house and ran across the neighbor's yard where she fell into an empty swimming pool. Michael, still managing to walk, pursued her until his former psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis arrived and shot him several times in the back. Dr. Loomis helped Laurie out of the pool and into a police squad car. Stricken, Laurie asked Loomis, "Was that the Boogeyman?", to which Loomis replied, "As a matter of fact...I do believe it was".[3]
Laurie screams after shooting Michael
Unexpectedly, Michael reappeared and pulled Laurie out of the car. Then, he dragged her back into the house, this time intent on killing her. Loomis distracted Michael at great physical cost to himself, so that Laurie was able to scramble away into the spaces between the walls. Michael began searching for her, punching through walls and pieces of plaster.[3]
Laurie picked up Dr. Loomis' handgun and climbed into the rafters. While crawling through the ceiling, one of the patches gave way and she fell through to the floor, landing on her face. Michael found and tackled her, sending them both barreling through a weakened wall onto the upstairs balcony and over the edge to the ground.[3]
Then, Laurie revived first, with her face completely covered in blood. She picked up the gun again and aimed it at Michael's face. She pressed the trigger several time with no results which Michael suddenly awakened and grabbed her wrist. Then, Laurie pulled the trigger again and the gun fired directly towards Michael's face which Laurie began howling in fear, pain and terror.[3]
Later, Laurie was found walking dazedly through the streets by Sheriff Brackett and was promptly taken to Haddonfield General Hospital to recuperate. She had suffered several injuries including cuts, a broken finger and various minor wounds. In time, Laurie healed from her injuries, left with only minimal scarring on her face as a physical remnant of her ordeal.[4]
The emotional trauma was not so easy to heal from. The fact that her parents had been murdered along with Lynda and two other teenagers on Halloween sent her into a psychological tailspin that only grew as the months passed. Sheriff Brackett invited Laurie to stay with him and Annie, who had likewise survived her encounter with Michael Myers.[4]
Laurie remained ignorant for the next year (or two) of the truth regarding her birth family.
Downward spiral[]
Laurie learns the truth
One year later (two years later in the unrated cut), Laurie had been seeing a psychiatrist named Dr. Barbara Collier who prescribed Laurie medication, but the young woman's psychological makeup continued to degrade even with her prescribed medication.
She found herself prone to fits of rage and suffered from intense nightmares. One such repeated nightmare involved Michael tracking her to the hospital mere hours after his initial attack and killing more people in his pursuit.[4]
Laurie also converted to vegetarianism following the grisly events of 2007.
Laurie also began working at a coffee-shop/vintage record store known as Uncle Meat's Java Hole where she befriended two of her co-workers named Mya Rockwell and Harley David. It was easier for her to hang out with Mya and Harley than it was with Annie for every time she saw Annie's facial scars, she became overwhelmed with guilt over the collateral damage incurred by her best friend during Michael's murder spree.[4]
Laurie's guilt regularly emerged as spouts of vitriol directed towards Annie and maintained an uneasy and often explosive relationship as they lived together in the Director's Cut. In the Theatrical Cut. both are maintaining a healthy relationship and are helping each other. By 2008 (2009 in the Director's Cut), Laurie's panic attacks and nightmares reached a critical mass. She began experiencing waking nightmares that she could not explain. In one of these tormented fantasies, Laurie saw herself dressed up in a Halloween clown costume and murdering Annie.[4]
What she did not realize at the time is that what she was experiencing were actually psychic impressions from the memories of Michael Myers. Laurie began seeing images of young Michael as well as her birth mother Deborah. On Halloween night, Laurie's world came crashing down. She discovered that Doctor Sam Loomis had written a second book about Michael Myers, this one detailing the events of the massacre from two years prior.[4]
Laurie read the book and learned the truth about her family lineage. Her real name was Angel Myers and she was Michael's little sister.
Final fate[]
Laurie after finding Annie on the floor
Distraught, Laurie sought solace in her friends Mya and Harley. She could not bear the idea of being Michael's sister and wanted only to drown herself in alcohol and partying. The three of them went to the "Phantom Jam" rave in town and Laurie dressed up as Magenta from the monster musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show.[4]
She became heavily intoxicated at the party and began seeing images of Deborah and young Michael trailing after her. Later, Mya eventually decided to walk Laurie home. When they arrived back at the Brackett house, Laurie was horrified to discover that not only was Michael Myers still alive, but he had attacked Annie. Then, Laurie cradled Annie in her arms while Mya called 911 and was later killed by Michael.[4]
This time, help did not arrive in time and Annie died in Laurie's arms. Then, Michael burst into the room and attacked Laurie who fled from the house onto the highway. A passing motorist found Laurie scrambling across the road and offered to take her to the hospital.[4]
Michael caught up with them and murdered the young driver. Capturing Laurie, he brought her back to his cabin hideout in a field off Eagle Road. Laurie saw Michael, as well as the ghostly figures of Deborah Myers and young Michael standing before her. Deborah spoke to Laurie, forcing her to repeat the words "I love you, Mommy" over and over again. Laurie tried to escape, but the apparition of young Michael held her on the floor.[4]
Michael stabbed to death by Laurie
Soon afterwards, police squad cars and helicopters surrounded the house. Then, Loomis entered the cabin and was slaughtered after a final unsuccessful attempt to reason with Michael. Brackett saw the scuffle and was able to make a clean shot, shooting Michael in the chest. Michael was forced backwards by the recoil and ended up getting impaled on farm machinery.[4]
Laurie got up while the visions dissipated. She knelt down next to Michael saying, "I love you, brother" before taking his knife and stabbing him several times in the chest and one final time in the face, seemingly killing him. Laurie emerged from the shack, wearing Michael's tattered mask. Succumbing to insanity, Laurie dropped to her knees. Laurie was either subsequently placed in a mental asylum where she sat silently in her bedroom,[4] or either had a vision of being in a mental asylum as she was being shot to death (in the Director's Cut).[5]
She looked on with sinister satisfaction as Deborah Myers slowly approached her, a large, white horse walking by her side.[4]
Director's Cut fate[]
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The police shoot Laurie
The Director's Cut of Halloween II, widely available on home video included a much different (and more thematically sound) ending for the main characters of the reboot films.
Michael and Loomis fought each other when Michael stabbed Loomis in the stomach outside the cabin. Afterwards, the Sheriff's deputies opened fire on Michael, apparently killing him. Laurie exited the cabin moments later.[5]
In a state of shock, she picked up Michael's hunting knife and hovered over Loomis' prone body, as if she were going to kill him. The officers opened fire once again and Laurie Strode died in a hail of gunfire.[5]
Her final thought was that of her biological mother approaching her with a white horse as Laurie smiled sinisterly.[5]
Notes and trivia[]
- According to screenwriter/producer Debra Hill, the character of Laurie Strode was originally named after John Carpenter's first girlfriend.
- The decision to give Laurie the birth name Angel was meant to emphasize her status as an extreme opposite to Michael.
- Laurie states that she is 17 on Halloween 2007, but she may be older than she thinks: on the same night, Sheriff Brackett mentions that seventeen years have passed since her adoption, which took place following Deborah Myers' suicide a period of time after Michael's original murders, and Laurie was close to one year old when they happened. So she may in fact be older than eighteen.
- Laurie was officially 19 years old at the time of her death in Halloween II, however, as per the above, she may have been slighty older.
- The current "canonical" ending of Halloween II is not ascertained, in the absence of a sequel. The Director's Cut arguably has an ending with Laurie's death as well as those of Loomis and Michael. Moreover, most viewers who only watched the film on home video are on the whole familiar only with the ending in which Laurie dies, as the Director's Cut is far more available in stores than the limited release of the Theatrical Cut.
- The character of Angel Myers was created by writer and director Rob Zombie based on concepts originally developed by John Carpenter and Debra Hill.
- Her H20 Timeline counterpart has also been killed.
Appearances[]
| Film Appearances | ||||||||||
| "Halloween (2007)": Appears |
"Halloween II (2009)": Appears
|
"Halloween 3 (3D)": Absent | ||||||||
References[]
- ↑ Date approximated based upon the relative age of the character, who is stated to be seventeen in the remake.
- ↑ Rob Zombie confirms in the audio commentary for the Halloween II Director's Cut that Laurie Strode dies when she is gunned down by the police. The following scene of Laurie in a mental facility is actually just her final thoughts as she lies dying.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 Halloween
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 Halloween II
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Director's Cut of Halloween II