20 Jaw-Dropping Facts About the Halloween Series

John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) began as a low-budget horror movie featuring a mysterious figure silently stalking a young babysitter in a suburban neighborhood on Halloween (while also dispatching a few victims), before becoming an unexpected box-office phenomenon. It quickly evolved into a sprawling franchise, one so mired in contradictions that it continually rewrote its own narrative, discarding entire chapters along the way. Much like its silent, masked antagonist, the Halloween franchise refuses to die, with filmmakers regularly trying to bring it back—sometimes with mixed results.

In the iconic 1978 slasher classic, Michael Myers (Nick Castle) has been incarcerated since the age of six for the brutal murder of his sister with a large kitchen knife. After 15 years, he escapes the psychiatric institution and returns to his hometown to terrorize again. Eleven films later (with Halloween Ends slated for release in 2022), the plot has only become more convoluted. Here are 20 shocking facts about the Halloween saga.

1. Freddy Krueger had a hand in the creation of John Carpenter's original Halloween.

Carpenter filmed the fall-themed Halloween in the heat of a California summer, so they used artificial leaves to create the perfect autumn look. One of the crew members assigned to spread the leaves was Robert Englund, who would later become famous for wearing Freddy Krueger's iconic striped sweater in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). "It's so funny," Englund shared with Access Online. "I actually had a roommate when they were shooting the original Halloween, the John Carpenter one, and he convinced me to go to Pasadena one day with garbage bags full of dead leaves."

2. Michael Myers' face earned $250.

In the first film, Nick Castle plays the iconic masked figure stalking Haddonfield, but it was Tony Moran who portrayed Michael Myers when the mask was removed to reveal the human face underneath. Moran was paid a neat $250 to play the role of a serial killer for that one scene.

3. Stuntman Dick Warlock landed the role of Michael Myers in Halloween II by being unsettling.

When Halloween II (1981) was searching for a new actor to play Michael Myers, stuntman Dick Warlock got a chance to meet with producer Moustapha Akkad and director Rick Rosenthal. Spotting the Myers mask outside Rosenthal's office, Warlock had an idea. He put it on and entered Rosenthal's office, standing completely still and refusing to speak as the director asked questions. The eerie silence did the trick; Warlock’s creepy audition earned him the role of "The Shape" in Halloween II.

4. Michael Myers became Laurie Strode's sibling due to writer's block—and a six-pack of beer.

There was never meant to be another movie featuring Laurie and Michael, and Carpenter and Hill had no idea how to continue the story for Halloween II. "I didn’t think there was any more story, and I didn’t want to do it again," Carpenter told Deadline. "But I had to write the second movie, and every night I sat there and wrote with a six-pack of beer trying to get through this thing. And I didn’t do a very good job, but that was it. I couldn’t do anymore."

5. Jimmy the paramedic makes it out alive in the TV version of Halloween II.

Jimmy (Lance Guest), the well-meaning paramedic who develops a soft spot for Laurie after the traumatic events of the first film, seems to exist solely in Halloween II (1981) to flirt and faint from a head injury. His other notable moment is collapsing onto a car horn, inadvertently revealing Laurie's hiding spot to Michael. His final act is passing out again, leaving us questioning whether playing dead is a survival strategy or a way to die ironically from a lack of medical attention.

In the more family-friendly TV version, Jimmy gets a much happier ending; he's seen in the same ambulance as Laurie, holding her hand and telling her, "We made it." The franchise's signature Choose Your Own Adventure feel lets fans decide his ultimate fate. Did Jimmy and Laurie fall in love, get married, and have a daughter named Jamie before dying in a car crash together? Or did he die that very Halloween night after helping Laurie escape? The choice is yours!

6. Jamie Lee Curtis made a secret cameo in Halloween III: Season of the Witch.

Hill and Carpenter initially intended for the original Halloween to be the first of a series of horror films set around different holidays, but the success of Michael Myers derailed that idea. After reluctantly agreeing to make Halloween II a sequel with Myers once again, the writers tried to reset the franchise by leaving him out of Halloween III entirely. Instead, they focused on a completely different story about enchanted Halloween masks. Despite the absence of Myers or Laurie Strode, Jamie Lee Curtis made a surprise cameo by voicing a telephone operator and the person announcing the town's curfew.

7. The nursery rhyme 'London Bridge is Falling Down' features in Halloween III's Silver Shamrock commercial simply because it was free.

The original Halloween is renowned for transforming a William Shatner mask into one of the most legendary symbols in horror cinema, and the third installment is famous for twisting a children's rhyme into the catchy earworm jingle for Silver Shamrock. Despite raking in massive profits from the first two films, the third film didn't receive a substantial production budget, so Hill suggested using "London Bridge is Falling Down" as the basis for the tune because it was in the Public Domain. Fortunately, there's even a 10-hour version available online for anyone to enjoy without irony.

8. Someone called the police thinking Danielle Harris was genuinely in danger while filming Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.

Following a fan outcry demanding Michael Myers' return, Halloween 4 shifted its focus from Laurie Strode to her young daughter, Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris). During a scene where Jamie screams and runs down the street, a concerned neighbor called the police, convinced that Harris was actually in trouble.

"I was banging on doors, yelling for help after I got lost trick or treating or something," Harris explained in the 25 Years of Terror documentary. "So, 4 o’clock in the morning, they’re hearing a little [kid] screaming... and someone called the cops."

9. Ellie Cornell, who starred in Halloween 4, received a higher payday for her death scene in Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers.

Jamie’s foster sister Rachel (Ellie Cornell), much like Laurie Strode, is a tough survivor who escapes Michael’s attack in Halloween 4. However, Halloween 5 director Dominique Othenin-Girard wanted to create a Hitchcockian shock at the start of his film, so he killed Rachel off early. The original plan was to have her take a shower (like in Psycho) before having scissors shoved down her throat. Cornell wasn’t happy with this, though. As she explained in a Halloween 4 commentary, she was upset that the tough Rachel, the Final Girl of the previous film, would be killed off so easily and gruesomely. In protest, she negotiated for more pay to reduce her role and came up with a more sympathetic death scene that wasn’t just about shock value.

10. Dominique Othenin-Girard landed the Halloween 5 job after tossing the script in the trash.

Hill met Swiss-French director Dominique Othenin-Girard at Sundance and was so impressed by his work that he arranged a meeting with Halloween producer Moustapha Akkad. Instead of following the usual audition process by wearing a Michael Myers mask and creeping everyone out, Othenin-Girard insulted them. He told Halloween Movies, "After analyzing the horror market and its sequels, as well as the script they gave me, I asked him if he planned to continue with the Halloween series. He laughed and asked who I was to ask such a question. I then said, 'If you do, may I do what I think will keep you in your privileged position in the market?' He nodded. So, I took the script and threw it in the trash in front of them." Akkad hired him, and they figuratively tossed out the old script.

11. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers marked Paul Rudd’s first leading role.

The producers of Halloween wanted Brian Andrews, who had played Tommy Doyle in the original, to return for Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995). However, since Andrews didn’t have an agent, they couldn’t track him down to offer him the part. Instead, the role went to up-and-coming actor Paul Rudd, who shot the film in October 1994—just a month before filming Clueless. While flirting with Alicia Silverstone made him a household name, battling Michael Myers gave him the chance to star in a movie whose title serves as an inside joke about how rough the production was.

12. Danielle Harris was legally emancipated for Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers—but ultimately, wasn't in the film.

Harris was eager to return and play a teenage Jamie Lloyd, but the production didn’t want to deal with the restrictions that come with a 17-year-old actress, such as limited work hours on set. To get around this, Harris paid for her own legal emancipation from her parents, but the production made her a lowball offer of $1000—less than the legal fees she paid to become emancipated. She turned the offer down, and the role went to J.C. Brandy.

13. Janet Leigh came out of nearly 20 years of retirement to star in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later.

Psycho had a major influence on Hill and Carpenter’s vision for the first Halloween, and casting Psycho star Janet Leigh’s daughter in the lead role was one of the film’s biggest nods to Hitchcock's classic. Two decades later, after the franchise had wandered aimlessly, the producers decided to resurrect Laurie Strode to inject new life into a series that had lost its way. Curtis returned to the role, and brought her mother along for the ride.

The MGM icon, who had only appeared in three films during the 1970s, had effectively retired after her last role in John Carpenter’s The Fog (1980), where she starred alongside her daughter. But in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), Leigh agreed to return to the screen. She played Norma Watson, Strode’s secretary at Hillcrest Academy, where Strode was living under the alias "Keri Tate" to escape her past. Leigh’s character also drove the infamous car from Psycho, complete with the NFB418 license plates, and her name was a tribute to both Norma Bates and Halloween alum P.J. Soles's character from Carrie, also named Norma Watson.

14. Katee Sackhoff provided the screams for Bianca Kajlich in Halloween: Resurrection.

A rumor suggests that producers discovered Bianca Kajlich, who starred as Sara Moyer in Halloween: Resurrection (2002), couldn’t scream only after she landed the role. While this remains unconfirmed, co-star Katee Sackhoff (who played Jen Danzig) revealed that it’s her scream we hear for at least part of Kajlich’s performance. In addition to this vocal substitution, Sackhoff’s body was replaced with a body double when she refused to flash her bra. This exploitation left a lasting mark on Sackhoff, and she now includes a clause in every contract to prevent anyone from impersonating her.

15. One of The Monkees appears in Rob Zombie's Halloween.

The reality TV-inspired Resurrection was widely seen as the film that sealed the franchise’s coffin, but five years later, Rob Zombie brought his own vision to life in 2007 with a remake of the original. New Laurie, new Michael, new Dr. Loomis. What better way to tie it all together than a cameo from the man who gave us "Pleasant Valley Sunday"? The Monkees drummer Mickey Dolenz appears in Zombie’s gritty remake as a gun dealer who doesn’t bat an eye at why Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) urgently needs a handgun.

16. Rob Zombie attempted to fully bury the Halloween franchise.

Zombie, like many before him, tried to bring the franchise to an end. His original concept for Halloween II (2009) saw the death of all major characters. Michael (Tyler Mane) would kill Loomis, and the police would mistake Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton) for a threat and shoot her, believing she’s about to attack Loomis’s body with a knife. This dark conclusion would’ve sealed the deal, but another ending was chosen, one that would set up the sequel Zombie would go on to make—the 10th installment in the series.

17. David Gordon Green’s Halloween premiered on Michael Myers's birthday.

After Zombie's take on the franchise, Halloween was left dormant for nearly a decade. Then, in 2018, the series revived itself with a third installment simply called Halloween, directed by David Gordon Green and written by Green, Danny McBride, and Jeff Fradley. The franchise now includes three films with the same title: the 1978 original by John Carpenter, Zombie’s 2007 version, and Green's 2018 version. In Halloween: Resurrection, it's revealed that The Shape's birthday is October 19, 1957, meaning the 2018 film’s release on October 19 was a subtle celebration of the character’s 61st birthday, perhaps with a cake and a very fitting 61 candles to blow out.

18. Jamie Lee Curtis couldn’t stop crying throughout the filming of 2018’s Halloween.

Jamie Lee Curtis had a deep emotional connection to the Halloween franchise, one that started with the original and grew over the years as she saw Laurie Strode’s character evolve. After a rough conclusion for Strode in Resurrection, Curtis returned in 2018, not just to play Laurie, but to redefine the character and effectively erase the other sequels. Initially expecting to be a minor character who could wrap her scenes quickly, Curtis was overwhelmed when she arrived on set. "I started crying the day I arrived," she told Entertainment Weekly in 2018. "I didn't stop crying until the day I left."

19. Halloween Kills nearly brought Paul Rudd back as Tommy Doyle.

To add a little more complexity: The 2018 Halloween is a direct continuation of the original 1978 film, not a remake, and introduces a much older Laurie Strode. Halloween Kills (2021) serves as the delayed sequel to the 2018 film and brings back several familiar faces, including Tommy Doyle. Although Green and McBride hoped to have Paul Rudd reprise his role as Tommy from The Curse of Michael Myers, his schedule for Ghostbusters: Afterlife clashed with the production. Instead, they cast Anthony Michael Hall as Tommy. The film also saw the return of key characters from the original movie, such as Nick Castle as The Shape, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' Kyle Richards as Lindsey Wallace, Charles Cyphers as Sheriff Leigh Brackett, and Nancy Stephens as Nurse Chambers.

20. Michael Myers is legally untouchable.

What keeps Michael Myers immortal? The answer is a top-notch contract lawyer. In Halloween H20, the series seemingly reaches a satisfying conclusion with Laurie decapitating Michael, but this moment sparked a huge dispute. Curtis was only willing to return if it meant finishing the saga, while Moustapha Akkad insisted the character should remain alive forever. Despite Dimension Films agreeing that Michael should die, Akkad held the legal power to ensure he wouldn't.

"There was something in the contract that said, 'You can never kill Michael Myers,'" Curtis explained in Halloween: The Inside Story. "They never told me... They just said, 'So, if you think he's dead, and the audience thinks he's dead—but he's not really dead—would that work for you?' I said, 'Yeah, I guess.'" Screenwriter Kevin Williamson came up with a solution, and in Resurrection, it's revealed that Michael killed another man, crushed his windpipe, and switched clothes (and his mask!) to keep the myth alive.