Warning: The following contains major SPOILERS for 2018's Halloween!
David Gordon Green's Halloween rebootquel ends with the three generations of Strode women locking Michael Myers in Laurie's basement and burning the house down. Although the ending does leave some ambiguity about Michael's ultimate fate, it is still a moment of triumph and about as happy an ending as you'll get in a horror film. It is also a far cry from the much darker ending in the film's early script, which would have seen the death of Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode.
Like in the final film, the climax of the early script by David Gordon Green, Danny McBride and Jeff Fradley also took place at Laurie's house, according to Bloody Disgusting. In it, Karen (named Jamie in the early script) and Allyson are hiding under the bed upstairs as Laurie is emptying her shotgun into Michael who, as he always does, keeps getting back up. When Laurie runs out of shells, she runs out of the room, leaving her daughter and granddaughter under the bed.
Michael Myers then pursues Laurie to another room where she appears to be hiding in the closet, just like she did in the original 1978 Halloween, only this time it's a ruse and Laurie isn't in there. When Michael continues looking for her in the hall, Laurie jumps out and stabs him with a screwdriver. This would have begun their final confrontation.
As Laurie stabs Michael over and over again with the screwdriver, Karen and Allyson climb out of the window and see the fight going on from outside. Michael drops his knife and grabs Laurie by the throat and lifts her off the ground. And as she stabs him one final time in the neck, Michael drops her, lifeless to the floor.
At that point, Karen would have went into the house and pushed Michael out of the window, only for him to escape into the night, just like in the original film. Then Allyson and Karen would go to Jamie Lee Curtis' matriarch to confirm that she is in fact dead.
The original screenplay also had a different beginning that would have been a prologue that recreated the ending of the 1978 film. This ending where Laurie dies would have paired with that beginning, echoing a few moments from it and bringing the film full circle.
Having Laurie Strode die is obviously a completely different ending than the one we got in Halloween, and it actually may have been more along the lines of what people were expecting considering that this film was pitched as the final confrontation between Laurie Strode and Michael Myers.
You can see why the inclination was to kill Laurie too, since the film introduces her daughter and granddaughter, who can continue the fight and keep the franchise going. Killing Laurie would have definitely made for a much darker ending and one that would have left audiences feeling very different as they exited the theater. It's tough to say whether or not keeping Laurie Strode alive was the right story decision. I think it probably depends on what happens next in the Halloween franchise.
Personally, I like the triumphant ending to the final film. Parts of the original ending feel a little bit too close to John Carpenter's 1978 film, especially with the same ending of Michael Myers getting up after being pushed out a window. We already get that callback with Laurie in the new film, so the reference is still there, but the ending is new and different. I think if Michael had clearly gotten away, it would have seemed a bit too focused on setting up a sequel versus the mild ambiguity the final film leaves you with.
Let us know what you think about this ending in the comments below and check out our Holiday Movie Guide for the biggest titles hitting theaters this holiday season.
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