Laurie Strode

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Laurie Strode
Halloween character
Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode
Portrayed by	Jamie Lee Curtis (in the original series) Scout Taylor-Compton (in the remake)
Information
Relatives	Michael Myers (brother) Judith Myers (sister) Deborah Myers (mother in remake and sequel) Jamie Lloyd (daughter) John Tate (son) Stephen Lloyd (grandson)
Address	Haddonfield, Illinois, United States

Laurie Strode is a fictional character in the Halloween horror film series, portrayed by actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Scout Taylor-Compton. She appears in six of the present ten Halloween installments, first appearing in John Carpenter's original 1978 film. She is the primary female protagonist and heroine of the first, second, seventh, ninth, and tenth films in the series. She only appears at the beginning of Halloween: Resurrection, and does not appear in Halloween III, IV, V, or VI; Laurie exemplifies the final girl stock character. Jamie Lee Curtis portrayed the role in all films Laurie is featured onscreen except for Rob Zombie's 2007 remake of the original and its sequel, wherein she is played by actress Scout Taylor-Compton.

Contents 1 Appearances 1.1 Films 1.2 Literature 2 Casting 3 References

[edit] Appearances

[edit] Films

Laurie Strode first appears in the original Halloween movie. The seventeen-year-old Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) 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, this is Michael Myers (Nick Castle), an escaped mental patient who murdered his sister fifteen years ago and has begun stalking her. As Laurie babysits Tommy, Myers stalks and kills her best friends, Annie (Nancy Loomis) and Lynda (P. J. Soles), 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 Myers. Laurie defends herself by stabbing him with a knitting needle, a metal hanger, and his own knife, but nothing kills him. As he rises once again and begins to strangle her, Laurie is saved by Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence), who shoots Myers off the balcony.^[1] Halloween II picks up directly after the first movie, with Laurie Strode being taken to hospital for the injuries she received from Michael Myers. Upon learning who it was who attacked her, the confused Laurie asks "Why me?" After being sedated, Laurie experiences a dream in which she visits an older boy in hospital. Waking up, she begins to roam the hallways of the hospital until coming face to face with Michael Myers (Dick Warlock), who has been killing his way through the hospital staff in search of her. Meanwhile, Dr. Loomis is told that Michael is actually Laurie's biological brother; she was put up for adoption after the death of their parents, with the records sealed to protect the family. Concluding that Laurie is still in danger, Loomis rushes to the hospital and causes an explosion which engulfs himself and Myers, while Laurie escapes the blast. The traumatised Laurie is last seen being transferred to another hospital.^[2]

In Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Laurie is said 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.^[3] The character of Jamie would go on to reappear in two more Halloween sequels,^[4][5] while Laurie's cousin Kara (Marianne Hagan) and her family appear in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers.^[5]

Jamie Lee Curtis returns as Laurie Strode in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, the seventh film in the series. This movie ignores the previous three sequels, and as such, the existence of the Jamie Lloyd character, who is not mentioned. Laurie is revealed to have 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 Tate (Josh Hartnett) is a student. The alcoholic Laurie is still struggling with the memory of twenty years ago, and worries that Michael Myers may return. Although John dismisses her as paranoid, her fears become reality when Myers (Chris Durand) resurfaces on Halloween and murders John's friends. After getting her son to safety, Laurie decides to stop running and face her brother. She manages to stop Michael, but unconvinced that he is truly dead, goes on to steal his body and decapitate him.^[6] In Halloween: Resurrection, it is revealed that the man Laurie killed was a paramedic with whom Myers had swapped clothes. The guilt-ridden Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) is now an inmate at the Grace Anderson Sanitarium, where the nurses believe her to be catatonic. Instead, she is preparing for Michael's (Brad Loree) 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, and Michael stabs her and drops her from the roof to her apparent death.^[7]

Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton) appears in Rob Zombie's Halloween remake. This movie establishes from the beginning that Laurie is Michael's baby sister, and the young Michael (Daeg Faerch) is shown to love her very much. When Michael is sent away for killing his older sister Judith (Hanna R. Hall), Laurie's mother 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 her. Michael attempts to communicate with Laurie through a picture of them both as children, but she does not understand and attacks him. Laurie hides as Michael hunts her down in their old childhood home; when he finds her, she shoots him in the face with Dr. Loomis' (Malcolm McDowell) gun.^[8]

In the sequel to the 2007 film, Laurie is seen as mentally unstable, having nightmares all the time and getting sick. After Laurie discovers she is Michael's sister Angel, she moves out of the Brackett house and begins acting crazy. She goes partying where she gets drunk and is eventually brought back to the Brackett house and discovers Annie's dying body. She escapes and Michael follows her until she reaches a road which she then gets someone to stop. As she enters the car Michael kills the driver and flips the car over, knocking Laurie unconscious. Michael removes Laurie from the car just before it explodes and takes her "hostage" in a shack. Laurie struggles to break free from young Michael but after Loomis enters it is revealed she has the same problems as her brother. After Michael is shot and impaled on farming equipment Laurie goes over to him and tells him she loves him. Michael drops the knife he was raising to kill Laurie, which she then picks up. She stabs Michael repeatedly (similar to how Michael kills in the film) and then shoves the knife into his face. Laurie emerges from the shack wearing Michael's mask and holding the knife to the shock of Brackett and the other police officers. She is next seen locked up in a room. As she raises her head her eyes are black and she grins evilly at a vision of Deborah Myers walking with the white horse.

However, in the director's cut of the film, Laurie's fate is entirely different. She does not kill Michael. She appears to be about to kill Loomis, and is shot down by the police, against Brackett's will. She is next seen in what was a mental hospital in the theatrical version, but may either be said hospital or a demented afterlife, as she was shot several times from several angles.

[edit] 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.^[9] 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.^[10]

Laurie appears in the twist ending of the comic book Halloween III: The Devil's Eyes. While examining the diaries of Dr. Loomis 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 over 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.^[11][12]

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. 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 [Michael] killing it", and can do nothing but wait for her brother's inevitable "visit" to set her free.^[13] 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 lead to her faking her death and becoming Keri Tate.^[14]

[edit] Casting

In an interview, Carpenter admits that "Jamie Lee wasn't the first choice for Laurie. I had no idea who she was. She was 19 and in a TV show at the time, but I didn't watch TV." He originally wanted to cast Anne Lockhart, the daughter of June Lockhart from Lassie, as Laurie Strode. Lockhart, however, had commitments to several other film and television projects.^[15] Debra Hill says of learning that Jamie Lee was the daughter of Psycho actress Janet Leigh, "I knew casting Jamie Lee would be great publicity for the film because her mother was in Psycho."^[16]

[edit] References

v • d • e The Halloween series Films Halloween (1978) • Halloween II (1981) • Season of the Witch • The Return of Michael Myers • The Revenge of Michael Myers The Curse of Michael Myers • Halloween H20 • Halloween: Resurrection • Halloween (2007) • Halloween II (2009) Characters Michael Myers • Samuel Loomis • Laurie Strode • Jamie Lloyd • Other characters