There is an origin and a background to the story of Michael Myers.
There is a fictional character from the Halloween series.He first appeared in John Carpenter's Halloween in 1978 as a six year old boy who murders his older sister, then fifteen years later returns home to kill more teenagers.Nick Castle was the main character in the original Halloween, but Tony Moran and Tommy Lee Wallace replaced him during the final scenes.He was created by two people.Michael Myers has appeared in eight films, as well as novels, a video game and several comic books.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch was the only film in the series that was not connected to the rest.Six people have stepped into the role of Castle, Moran, and Wallace since they put on the mask.One of only two actors to portray the character more than once is Tyler Mane, who has portrayed Michael Myers in two films in a row.The filmmakers who created and developed the character over eight films or random participants in a survey characterized him as pure evil.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch was the only film that didn't feature any characters from the original two films and had nothing to do with Michael Myers.Following Halloween III, Michael would return in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.There have been literary sources that have expanded the universe of Michael.
The masked character known as "The Shape" is credited with being in the original 1978 film, Halloween.In the beginning of the film, a six-year old boy named Michael kills his older sister, Judith, and is taken to a sanitarium.Fifteen years later, Michael escapes the sanitarium and returns to Haddonfield, Illinois.Michael is going to murder several teens.He tried to kill Laurie Strode, but she was able to fight him off for a while.Michael falls over the house's second-story balcony ledge after being shot six times in the chest by Loomis.When he went to look at Michael's body, he found it missing.Halloween II (1981) was Michael's second appearance.The film picks up where the original left off, with Loomis still looking for Michael's body.Laurie Strode is followed by Dick Warlock to the local hospital, where he wanders the halls in search of her, killing security guards, doctors and nurses that get in his way.Laurie Strode is Michael's younger sister, and Loomis goes to the hospital to find her.Laurie escapes as the fire rages on after an explosion in the operating theater.
After the events of Halloween II, the story is told in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.Michael has been held at the Ridgemont Federal Sanitarium for a decade.Laurie Strode's daughter is still alive even though she was killed in a car accident.Laurie's daughter, Jamie, is killed by Michael in Haddonfield.The state police find Michael and shoot him several times before he falls down a mine shaft.After killing the hermit, Michael returns to Haddonfield to find Jamie again.Michael is captured and taken to the local police station, but an unseen figure kills the officers and frees him.
Jamie and Michael have not been seen in six years after the events of The Revenge of Michael Myers.The Cult of Thorn wanted to control Michael.Jamie hides her baby before Michael kills her.Paul Stephen Rudd discovered Jamie's baby.Tommy learned that the curse of Thorn was the cause of Michael's obsession with killing his entire family.The leader of the Thorn cult, Dr. Wynn, placed the curse of Thorn on him so that he would be able to survive serious injuries and kill members of his family on Halloween.Wynn is killed offscreen, though fans speculate he may have survived, but Michael kills all the members of the cult at Smith's grove.When Dr. Loomis returns, Michael's mask is left on the floor and we hear his scream.
Ignoring the events of the previous three films, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (2000) follows Michael (Chris Durand) as he searches for Laurie Strode and her son John.Laurie faked her death to escape her brother and Michael tracked her and her son to a private boarding school.Michael is going to kill John's friends.After ensuring the safety of her son, Laurie battles it out with Michael, and succeeds in decapitating him.Laurie was placed in a mental institution after learning the truth about her actions.Michael returns to his home after killing Laurie.A group of college students are filming an internet reality show inside his house.He was caught in an electrical fire after killing each of them.His fate remains unknown.
Rob Zombie's Halloween is a remake of the original film.The film focuses on Michael's psychology.The film follows the basic premise of the original film, with Michael killing his sister Judith, escaping Smith's grove, and stalking Laurie Strode.Laurie is shown to be Michael's sister from the beginning of the film.Michael is interested in Halloween masks and killing animals.During his time at Smith's grove, he takes up the hobby of making masks, which he wears constantly.Michael's motives for coming after Laurie were altered to show that he was trying to reconcile with his sister, the one person in his family he cared for, instead of just being out to kill her.
In October 1979 a novelization of the film was released.The book expands on the festival of Samhain and Michael's time at the Sanitarium.The 1981 adaptation of Halloween II written by Jack Martin was published alongside the first film sequel, with an additional victim, a reporter, added to the novel.Halloween IV was the last novelization to feature Michael.Like the previous versions, the novel was written by Nicholas Grabowsky and follows the events of Halloween 4.
Three young adult novels written by Kelly O'Rourke were published by Berkley Books over a four month period.The first novel, titled The Scream Factory, was released on October 1, 1997 and followed a group of friends who set up a haunted house attraction in the basement of Haddonfield City Hall.Mary and her friends are attacked by Michael when he returns home.The Mad House was released on February 1, 1998.The Mad House features a young girl, Christine Ray, who is part of a documentary film crew that travels to haunted locations.The crew is confronted by someone.
Chaos Comics published a series of comics about the character's first break into comics.The first, simply titled Halloween, was intended to be a one-issue special, but eventually two sequels spawned: Halloween II: The Blackest Eyes and Halloween III: the Devil's Eyes.The stories were written by Phil Nutman, with Daniel Farrands and David Brewer assisting on the first issue.The main character in each of the issues is Tommy Doyle, who is trying to kill Michael Myers.Backstory on Michael's childhood is included in the first issue, while the third focuses on the events of Halloween H20.
The comic One Good Scare was published in 2003 and featured Michael.The main character in the comic is Lindsey Wallace, the young girl who first saw Michael and Tommy in 1978's film.Hutchinson wanted to bring the character back to his roots, and away from the "lumbering Jason-clone" that the film sequels had made him.The comic book Halloween: Autopsis was released on July 25, 2006 as an insert inside the DVD release of Halloween 25 Years of Terror.The story was written and illustrated by Marcus Smith and Nick Dismas.As the photographer, Carter, he begins to take on the obsession of Dr. Loomis, until finally meeting Michael Myers in person, which leads to his death.
The Halloween comics will be published by Devil's Due publishing.Halloween: Nightdance is a four issue mini series with no characters from the films in it.October 31, 2000 is when the storyline takes place.Issue one follows Michael as he stalks Lisa, a fifteen year-old girl with a chronic fear of darkness.Nightdance was an attempt to escape the continuity of the film series and recreate the tone of 1978's film.Before the sequels established that a sibling bond was his motivation for stalking her, Michael became fixated on Lisa, just as he did with Laurie in the original Halloween.In August 2008, Devil's Due released a one-shot comic called Halloween: 30 Years of Terror, written by Hutchinson.The character of Michael appears in one of the stories in the anthology collection."Visiting Hours" and "Repetition Compulsion" are related.
The character is named after distributor Michael Myers, who worked with John Carpenter and Debra Hill.I felt I owed him because he helped push Assault on Precinct 13 into the London Film Festival, that's where my reputation began.He was this dearest, dearest man and that was my tribute to him."Make him human, yes, but almost like a force, and raise this Michael Myers character up to a mythic status; that's what Carpenter wanted to do," he said.A force that can't be denied.He put Michael into a "legendary kind of situation" because he didn't want to give him a background.He said that he was influenced by the killer robot in Westworld.This kind of character would be more frightening than personifying him.Michael's mask was meant to show how evil it would be if he blanked out his human features.
Rob Zombie commented on his intentions for the character when he was working on the Halloween remake.If he was more than just a faceless thing floating around in the background, the character could be made more intense.It was important for Zombie to be able to see the events that shaped the character.
Three actors were in the original film.Will Sandin played a child who killed his sister on Halloween night.Later in the film, Tony Moran and Nick Castle would portray the adult Michael, with Castle credited as "The Shape".John Carpenter and Nick Castle were both students at the University of Southern California.Castle asked Carpenter if he could hang around the set because he was trying to get his own movies off the ground.Castle must play the role of the masked killer in order for Carpenter to agree.Castle was paid $25 a day."Castle's motivation while filming was simple, walk from this point to the end point, and roll; this was reflected in the lack of directing, as Carpenter himself admits that the only bit of direction he gave Castle was, "Do nothing."Don't act, just walk.Castle tried to get into the mind of someone who is mentally ill, but he was told to keep it simple.The character of Castle was kept from being more than just a thug in a suit according to Jamie Lee Curtis.Tony Moran replaced Castle for the scene where Michael is revealed because he had more of an "angelic" face.
Moran, who was looking for work, got a call from his agent that he would be auditioning to play a "psycho" in a movie.Moran neglected to sleep, shave, shower or wash his hair for three days leading up to his auditioning.He wore tattered clothes and hiking boots.Moran demanded coffee after being introduced to John Carpenter, Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence.After he startled everyone at the table, he got a phone call that he had gotten the job.Tommy Lee Wallace was the production designer for the scene where Michael broke through the closet and Nick Castle was in the part up to that scene.Except for where Michael's body lies on the ground outside, Moran wouldn't film the rest of the scene.In response to the "angelic face" remark made by Castle, Moran contends that he was not made aware of that, but after viewing some photos of him and Carpenter on an A&E special, he "kind of sees what Castle means".
Castle was starting a career as a director when Dick Warlock replaced him in Halloween II.Warlock was a stunt double in a number of films, including The Green Berets, Jaws, and The Night Stalker.Warlock didn't see the original film until he got the job, but after seeing a few scenes, he modeled his behavior after Tommy Lee Wallace.In the scene where Michael attacks Laurie in the closet, Wallace portrayed the character as he sat up and turned toward Laurie after being wounded in her counter attack.Warlock modeled his movements for Halloween II after the scenes where Michael tilts his head to the side while staring at the body of Bob stuck on the wall.Warlock took on Michael's characteristic "breathing", which was heard in the original film, while he was behind the mask.Although "the Shape" had no lines, Castle's portrayal gave them the presence that they wanted for the movie; she goes on to say that Dick Warlock was unable to emulate that presence.
George P. Wilbur didn't watch any of the previous Halloween films when he took over the role.
Tommy Lee Wallace, writer/director of Halloween III: Season of the Witch, was the production designer/co-editor on Halloween, and it was up to him to find the perfect mask for Michael Myers.The William Shatner Halloween mask he found was exactly what he needed, and it didn't look like anyone.Wallace cut the eyeholes larger and rounder, removed the eyebrows and sideburns, poofed up the hair, and spray-painted the mask white.Wallace said that it created a shiver in the room and they knew they had something special.John Carpenter joked that he owes the success of Halloween to William Shatner.The Shatner mask was the only thing in stores at the time that matched what they needed on set.The original film's mask was used in Halloween II, contrary to reports.Dick Warlock said that the original mask was stored under the bed of the woman who brought it to Warlock to wear.Warlock thinks the lighting has a lot to do with the way the mask looks in the second film.The shape of my face is not the same as Nick Castle's, Tommy Lee Wallace or any of the other people who wore it in Halloween.The original mask was sold to a man in Ohio.There are two haunted houses.There are two in Toledo and one in Tiffin.The mask and coveralls were on display.Warlock thinks he'll display them in one place or the other every year.
The director of Halloween 5 began casting for the character using the Halloween 4 mask, but was "perplexed" by the performance of Don Shanks.Without facial expressions and dialogue the character would not be able to feel human and alive.The KNB special effects team tried to make a human interpretation of evil in order to create new masks for Don Shanks.It was necessary for him to distance himself from the look of the hockey mask on Friday the 13th.While the special effects team worked on the new masks, he requested that they alter the traditional design of the nose, which he thought felt too realistic and normal.The feel of a mask was what Girard wanted, something "unmovable, like a faade hiding a terrible secret behind steel".
Adam Arkin, who plays guidance counselor Will Brennan in Halloween H20, says, "There is something that's so neutral about that face that it becomes sort of indelibly etched in your memory, number one."You're able to project any kind of frightening idea or image on top of it.
It's a common belief that Michael Myers is evil.The character is described as a force of nature by John Carpenter.Professor Nicholas Rogers says thatMyers is depicted as a mythic, elusive bogeyman who cannot be killed by bullets, stab wounds, or fire.Michael's inspiration for the "evil" that he would embody came when he was in college.Carpenter visited the "most serious, mentally ill patients" while on a class trip.A young boy was among those patients.The boy gave a "schizophrenic stare" and "a real evil stare".The characterization of Michael in the original film would be inspired by Carpenter's experience.The scene where Michael kills the Wallace's German Shepherd was done to show how evil he is.
The ending scene of Michael being shot six times, and then disappearing from the ground outside the house was meant to frighten the audience.Carpenter tried to keep the audience guessing as to who Michael Myers really is, as he is gone and everywhere at the same time, he may be supernatural, and no one knows how he got that way.To Josh Hartnett, who played John Tate in Halloween H20, keeping the audience guessing was better than explaining away the character with "he's cursed by some..."You know, someone who just kind of appears and you think you can talk to, instead of an actual human.It has no feelings or remorse, that's frightening.Richard Schickel, film critic for TIME, felt Michael was "irrational" and "really angry about something".Schickel considered this the "definition of a good monster", by making the character appear less than human, but having enough intelligence to be dangerous.
Othenin-Girard wanted audiences to "relate to 'Evil', to Michael Myers's 'ill' side".Michael was wanted to appear vulnerable with conflicting feelings.Michael sheds a tear in a scene where he removes his mask.To give him a tear and to humanize him.If our boogeyman knows pain, love, or demonstrate a feeling of regrets, he becomes even more frightening to me.He has an evil determination.In [Halloween 5], Dr. Loomis tries to reach his emotional side.He thinks he could cure Michael.
According to Daniel Farrands, the character is a sexual deviant.Michael follows girls around and watches them, according to him.According to Farrands, as a child, Michael became fixated on the murder of his sister Judith, and for his own twisted reasons felt the need to repeat that action over and over again, finding a sister-like figure in Laurie who excited him sexually.The sequels took away from the simplicity and relatability of the original Halloween by making Laurie Michael's sister.Farrands was tasked with creating a mythology for Michael which defined his motives and why he couldn't be killed.He says that he can't just be a man anymore.He's a myth.He is supernatural.I think there's something else driving him.A force that goes beyond the five senses is driving this boy.Farrands admits that the film went too far in explaining Michael Myers and that he was not completely satisfied with the finished product.
The first time audiences hear Michael's voice in a film is in the 2007 remake.The beginning of the film has Michael speaking as a child, but he stops speaking completely in Smith's grove.Rob Zombie wanted the adult Michael to say his childhood nickname for Laurie in the film's finale.The act of Michael handing Laurie the photograph of them together was enough for Zombie to not use this version.
The writer of the comic book Halloween: Nightdance mentioned the character's "bizarre and dark sense of humor" when he wore a sheet over his head to trick a girl into thinking he was her boyfriend.There is a perverse nature to Michael's actions, according to Hutchinson.He suggests that Michael Myers' hometown of Haddonfield is the cause of his behavior, likening his situation to that of Jack the Ripper.Hutchinson describes Michael as a monster.Hutchinson said that explaining why Michael does what he does reduces the character.In the Halloween Nightdance trade paperback, Hutchinson explores the nature of evil in a short story called Charlie, which he says was written fifteen years ago.He thinks that Michael is a part of everyone and that people are afraid of snapping and knifeing someone one day.
A study was conducted by California State University's Media Psychology Lab on the psychological appeal of movie monsters.The Journal of Media Psychology published it.According to the survey, Michael was the "embodiment of pure evil" and was rated the highest of the other characters.Michael placed first as the character who shows audiences the "dark side of human nature" and second in the category of lending to the understanding of insanity.He was thought to have "superhuman strength" and was rated second in the category of "monster enjoys killing".Michael was the highest rated character in the "monster is an outcast" category.