Laurie Strode

Laurie Strode is a fictional character in the ''Halloween'' franchise by John Carpenter and Debra Hill. She debuted in the original 1978 film as a high school student who becomes targeted by serial killer Michael Myers on Halloween night. Laurie appears in nine of the franchise's 13 films and is generally considered the main protagonist of the series, with later films seeing Michael continue to threaten her life. Most entries depict her as Michael's younger sister, although this detail is not present in the first film and disregarded by the current 2018 continuity.

The character is primarily portrayed by Jamie Lee Curtis, who appears as Laurie in the original film and six of its sequels. In the two films directed by Rob Zombie, she is played by Scout Taylor-Compton. Academic materials widely cite Laurie as one of the early and more influential examples of the "final girl" slasher film archetype. She has also appeared in various media outside of the films.

Appearances

Films

1978

Laurie Strode first appears in the original ''Halloween'' (1978). The 17-year-old Laurie (Curtis) is a high school student who has plans to babysit Tommy Doyle ( Brian Andrews) on Halloween night, 1978. However, throughout the day, she keeps seeing a mysterious masked man watching her wherever she goes; unbeknownst to her, he is Michael Myers (Nick Castle), an escaped mental patient who murdered his sister, Judith Myers (Sandy Johnson), 15 years before and has begun stalking her. Laurie notices Michael watching her and becomes increasingly worried, though her best friends Annie ( Nancy Loomis) and Lynda (P. J. Soles) brush off her concerns. As Laurie babysits Tommy, Myers kills Annie and Lynda in the house across the street. Growing concerned when they fail to call her, Laurie goes to investigate and sees their corpses laid out for her to find, before being attacked by Michael. Barely escaping, Laurie races back to the Doyle house. Michael follows, but Laurie manages to fend him off long enough for Tommy and Lindsey to escape. Laurie is saved by Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence), Michael's psychiatrist, who shoots him off the balcony; when Loomis goes to check Michael's body, he finds it missing. An unsurprised Loomis stares off into the night, while Laurie begins sobbing in terror.

'' Halloween II'' (1981) picks up directly after the first film, with Laurie Strode being taken to a hospital. She learns who was trying to kill her and has dreams of her mother telling her she was adopted and visiting Michael when they were children. Waking up, she begins to roam the hallways of the hospital until coming face to face with The Shape, who has been killing the hospital staff in search of her. Meanwhile, Dr. Loomis discovers that Laurie is Michael and Judith's sister; she was put up for adoption after the death of their parents, with the records sealed to protect the family. Realizing that Michael has killed one sister and now wants to kill the other, Loomis rushes to the hospital to find them. Laurie shoots Michael in the eyes, blinding him, and Loomis causes an explosion in the operating theater, allowing Laurie to escape. Michael, engulfed in flames, stumbles out of the room before finally collapsing. The traumatized Laurie is last seen being transferred to another hospital, along with another survivor, Jimmy.

1988–1995

In '' Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers'' (1988), Laurie is revealed to have died prior to the film's events, with the role of protagonist taken up by her young daughter, Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris). A photograph of Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie appears in a scene where Jamie remembers her mother. The character of Jamie would go on to reappear in two more ''Halloween'' sequels, while Laurie's adopted cousin Kara (Marianne Hagan) and her family appear in '' Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers'' (1995).

1998–2002

Curtis returned as Laurie Strode in '' Halloween H20: 20 Years Later'' (1998), the seventh film in the series. The screenplay was based on a story by Kevin Williamson. The story was conceived as a sequel to the sixth film, thereby keeping the timeline's continuity, but producers ultimately decided to go with a reboot and ignore the previous three films. In this timeline, Laurie faked her death in a car accident as a way of escaping her murderous brother, whose body was not found after ''Halloween II''. She is now living under the name Keri Tate, and works as the headmistress of a California private school, where her teenage son John ( Josh Hartnett) is a student. Laurie, who by now has become an alcoholic, is still haunted by memories of her brother's rampage, and lives in fear that he will return. Although John dismisses her as paranoid, her fears become reality when Michael (Chris Durand) resurfaces on Halloween and murders two of John's classmates. After getting her son and his girlfriend to safety, Laurie decides to stop running and face her brother. She stops Michael, but, unconvinced that he is truly dead, goes on to steal his body and decapitate him.

In '' Halloween: Resurrection'' (2002), it is revealed that the man Laurie killed was a paramedic with whom Michael (Brad Loree) had swapped clothes. The guilt-ridden Laurie is now an inmate at the Grace Andersen Sanitarium, where the nurses believe her to be catatonic. Instead, she is preparing for Michael to return, and when he does, she lures him on to the institution's rooftop. Although he falls into her trap, Laurie's fears of again killing the wrong person get the better of her; when she tries to remove his mask, Michael stabs her and throws her off the roof, to her death.

2007–2009: Remakes

A new version of Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton) appears in the Rob Zombie remake (2007). This film establishes from the beginning that Laurie (born Angel Myers) is Michael's baby sister, nicknamed "Boo", with whom young Michael (Daeg Faerch) shares a close bond. When Michael is institutionalized for killing their older sister Judith ( Hanna R. Hall), their mother Deborah (Sheri Moon Zombie) is unable to cope and commits suicide. The infant Laurie is discovered by Sheriff Brackett (Brad Dourif), who omits her from the records for her own protection, and she is eventually adopted by the Strode family. The adult Michael (Tyler Mane) escapes and comes home in search of his sister, killing her adoptive parents and her friend Lynda (Kristina Klebe) before kidnapping Laurie. Michael tries to make Laurie remember him by showing her a picture of them as children. This fails, and Laurie proceeds to stab Michael with his own knife. Laurie hides as Michael hunts her down in their old childhood home; when he finds her, she shoots him in the head with a gun she took from Michael's psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis (Malcolm McDowell), after which she begins screaming hysterically as the scene fades to an old home video of young Michael and baby Laurie.

In the sequel (2009), Laurie has moved in with Sheriff Brackett and his daughter Annie (Danielle Harris). She suffers recurring nightmares about Michael and their mother, and is seeing a therapist to deal with the trauma. Loomis, who has become a greedy and arrogant mercenary profiting from the murders of the previous film, reveals in his book “The Devil Walks Among Us” that she is Michael's sister and that she also suffers from his "illness". Laurie reads the book and discovers the truth, leading her to an hysterical outburst and storming out of the Brackett house. In the film's climax, she tells a mortally wounded Michael that she loves him, before stabbing him to death and putting on his mask. In the film's final scene, she sits in isolation in a psychiatric ward, grinning at a vision of her mother. In the director's cut of the film, Laurie picks up Michael's knife after Michael is killed and walks over to an injured and unconscious Loomis, and the police open fire on Laurie, apparently killing her too.

2018–2022

Jamie Lee Curtis reprised the role in ''Halloween'' (2018), which ignores the previous sequels in the franchise and serves as a direct sequel to the 1978 film. Consequently, Michael and Laurie are not related in this continuity since that revelation does not exist without the 1981 sequel. This film establishes that Michael (James Jude Courtney) was arrested following his killing spree in 1978, and institutionalized for 40 years in Smith's Grove Sanitarium. Similar to ''Halloween H20'', Laurie suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of Michael's rampage, and has prepared for Michael's potential return through combat training; she has been divorced twice, became an alcoholic, and lost custody of her daughter, Karen ( Judy Greer). Michael eventually escapes again and returns to Haddonfield for another killing spree. Michael is taken to Laurie's home by his deranged psychologist and engages in a showdown with Laurie, who severely injures him and severs two of his fingers, but he stabs her in the stomach and pushes her over a balcony; when Michael goes to check Laurie's body, he finds it missing, before being attacked by a very much alive Laurie. Trapping him inside the basement safe room, Laurie, Karen and Allyson (Andi Matichak - Karen's daughter and Laurie's granddaughter) set the house ablaze, and the trio escapes in the back of a passing pickup truck.

''Halloween Kills'' picks up where the previous film left off, with Laurie, Karen and Allyson forced to watch as fire engines go to Laurie's house as the truck takes them to hospital. While Laurie is left to recover in hospital, Michael escapes and goes on a new rampage, provoking various civilians into attacking innocents, such as mistaking an old mental patient for Michael. Laurie is left in hospital while Karen and Allyson try to stop Michael, allowing her to talk with Frank Hawkins, the lieutenant who arrested Michael after his first rampage (it is strongly implied that he is Karen's father). Outside the hospital, an attempt to rally a mob against Michael results in Michael killing the rest of this mob, including Karen, who sacrifices herself distracting Michael when he tries to kill Allyson.

Four years later ('' Halloween Ends''), Michael has been in hiding since his last rampage while Laurie has been blamed for provoking his attacks. Allyson's new boyfriend, Corey, becomes a kind of apprentice to Michael after they meet in the sewers, killing both people who have angered him and people who Corey perceives as handicapping Allyson. This culminates in Corey trying to stage his own suicide in a manner that makes it look as though Laurie killed him, driving Allyson to leave in a rage. A shaken Laurie realizes that Michael has returned to her house in time to kill Corey before they engage in their final battle. Laurie manages to pin Michael to the kitchen counter by stabbing him through both hands and crushing his right leg with a fridge, but even after she cuts his throat, Michael still nearly strangles Laurie before a forgiving Allyson returns, saving her grandmother by breaking Michael's arm. Laurie subsequently slits Michael's wrists, ending their struggle by watching him bleed out. Intending to ensure that the whole town knows he is dead, Laurie takes Michael's body to a scrapyard owned by Corey's family, destroying him in the yard's industrial shredder. She subsequently completes her memoirs and apparently renews her relationship with Hawkins, Allyson moving out of Haddonfield with Laurie's approval.

Literature

Laurie Strode's first literary appearance was in October 1979, in Curtis Richards' novelization of ''Halloween'', which largely follows the events of the film. She also appeared in the 1981 adaptation of ''Halloween II'' written by Jack Martin; it was published alongside the first film sequel, with the novel following the film events, with an additional victim, a reporter, added to the novel.

Laurie appears in the twist ending of the comic book ''Halloween III: The Devil's Eyes''. While examining Loomis' diaries in the hopes of finding out more about Michael Myers, an adult Tommy Doyle and Lindsey Wallace are attacked by a person dressed as Michael. They unmask the figure to reveal Laurie Strode, who has taken on her brother's mantle. At the conclusion of the book, Laurie kills Tommy (losing an eye in the process) and is subsequently incarcerated in Smith's Grove, where Dr. Terence Wynn takes an interest in her. This story follows on from ''Halloween H20'', but is set in a non-canon timeline contradicted by the release of ''Halloween: Resurrection''.

The anthology one-shot comic ''Halloween: 30 Years of Terror'' includes a Laurie Strode storyline entitled "Visiting Hours". Set between ''H20'' and ''Resurrection'', it shows Laurie in the Grace Anderson Sanitarium, where she wonders how her life could have been if Michael hadn't found her in 1978. In this alternate universe, she lives a happy life in which her friends are still alive, but the memory of Michael invades her fantasy world and leaves her with nothing. Laurie concludes that "I can't even dream of a normal life without ichaelkilling it", and can do nothing but wait for her brother's inevitable "visit" to set her free. Laurie appears prominently in the comic book limited series ''Halloween: The First Death of Laurie Strode''; set after ''Halloween II'', it depicts the events which led to her faking her death. In the novelization of Halloween Kills, the Shape views her as "She Who Will Not Die".

Video games

Strode made her video game debut with the 1983 Atari video game ''Halloween''. The game is rare to find, often being played on emulators. No characters from the films are specifically named, with the goal of the game focusing on the player, who is a babysitter, protecting children from a "homicidal maniac hohas escaped from a mental institution". Laurie Strode was added as a playable character, alongside Michael Myers, in downloadable content for '' Dead by Daylight'' released in October 2016. Her biography states:
:"You never know what really matters in life until you've realized it might end soon. Laurie is one of those who just wants a quiet life in the suburbs, hanging out with friends, family and maybe go on a date or two. Laurie is a typical teenager. You could pass her on the street and not think twice. She does her homework and is liked by her friends, teachers and family. A simple night of babysitting turns into something that will forever change the course of her young life. A knife swooshing through the air. Screams from afar. Noises that play tricks with her mind. But not Laurie, she's made of something stronger. Something that won't give up."

Merchandise

In 2019, NECA released an action figure based on her appearance in ''Halloween'' (2018). In 2020, NECA released a figure of Strode alongside Samuel Loomis based on their appearance in '' Halloween II'' (1981). The same year, Super7 released a reaction figure of her ''Halloween II'' appearance.

Casting

Curtis's manager submitted a photograph of her to the filmmakers who initially didn't want to cast her as they didn't believe her to embody the looks of Laurie, Annie, or Lynda (the virgin, the smart aleck, and the cheerleader). Her manager was persistent on the filmmakers meeting her. After a few meetings, she got cast in the role of the chaste Laurie. Curtis describes Laurie as a fulfilling character due to them being opposites — allowing her to act. In an interview, Carpenter admits that Curtis wasn't the first choice as he didn't know who she was at the time. He originally wanted to cast Anne Lockhart, the daughter of June Lockhart from ''Lassie'', as Laurie. Lockhart, however, had commitments to several other film and television projects.John Carpenter, ''Entertainment Weekly'' interview, quoted a
HalloweenMovies.com
; last accessed April 19, 2006. Debra Hill stated upon learning that Curtis was the daughter of '' Psycho'' star Janet Leigh, "I knew casting Jamie Lee would be great publicity for the film because her mother was in ''Psycho''."Debra Hill, ''Fangoria'' interview, quoted a
HalloweenMovies.com
; last accessed April 19, 2006.

Reception

Laurie has been compared to the character of Sally Hardesty from '' The Texas Chain Saw Massacre'' by a variety of scholars. James Rose notes the parallels between Laurie and Sally, stating:
:"...for as much as both survive, each, in the end, requires male intervention to fully save them from the narrative's male antagonist: Sally is rescued by a passing driver, while Laurie is saved by Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence). Despite this, both Sally and Laurie combine to make manifest the key attributes of the final girl as both struggled, endured and, in Laurie's case, attacked their aggressor until they could escape and be saved. In the slasher films that followed in the wake of ''Chain Saw'' and ''Halloween'', the Final Girl steadily gains in strength until she herself vanquishes the male antagonist."

Italian magazine editor Stefano Lo Verme, wrote that the 23-year-old Jamie Lee Curtis was the undisputed " scream queen" of American horror in 1978. He compared Curtis' performance as Laurie to the performances of Sandra Peabody as Mari Collingwood in ''The Last House on the Left'' (1972) and Marilyn Burns as Sally in '' The Texas Chain Saw Massacre'' (1974).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strode, Laurie
Female horror film characters
Halloween (franchise) characters
Fictional characters from Illinois
Adoptee characters in films
Fictional murderers
Orphan characters in film
Fictional principals and headteachers
Final girls
Film characters introduced in 1978
Teenage characters in film
Fictional alcohol abusers
Fictional characters with post-traumatic stress disorder
Fictional hermits