- "She couldn't survive without the idea of Michael. So in essence she "became him"."
- ―Dr. Bloch to Lindsey Wallace about Laurie Strode[src]
Laurie Strode is a character and primary protagonist in the Halloween franchise. She first appeared in the original Halloween, played by Jamie Lee Curtis.
In the movie Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later, a retcon was established which removed Halloween 4, 5, and 6 from continuity. As a result, the biography of this Laurie is drastically different to the one who appears in the H20 timeline. This incarnation of the character can be seen in Halloween, Halloween II, and Halloween III: The Devil's Eyes.
Biography[]
Early years[]
Laurie Strode was the youngest of three children of Mr. and Mrs. Myers. When Laurie was only two, her six-year-old brother Michael brutally murdered his older sister Judith with a Kitchen knife. Michael was sent away following the incident. At some point, when Laurie was very young, she was taken to visit Michael at Smith's Grove Sanitarium.
In 1965, her parents were killed in an automobile accident and Laurie went into the foster care system where she was soon adopted by the Strode family. The governor of Illinois kept her records sealed so that no one would further connect Laurie Strode with her psychotic older sibling. Laurie eventually forgot about her birth family and the visit she had made to her brother.
1978[]
By 1978, Laurie was a kind-hearted yet introverted girl of seventeen who attended Haddonfield High School with her friends Annie Brackett and Lynda Van der Klok. Laurie was shy and bookish and did not share her friends' overt personalities. She always claimed that her brainy ways scared boys away, which accounted for her sparse dating history.
On October 31, her adoptive father Morgan Strode, owner of Strode Realty, asked Laurie to drop off a set of keys to the old Myers house, which had been on the market for quite some time. Laurie had no idea that this was in fact the house she was born in.
During literature class, Laurie glimpsed a man staring at her across the street. After school, Laurie and her friends were walking home when she spied the same strange shape peering at them from around a corner. Annie went to investigate, but found nothing. She teased Laurie, saying that she "scared another one away". At home, she thought she saw the same strange, masked man in her neighbor's backyard behind a clothesline.[1]
After taking a shower, Laurie was visited by a frantic Lynda, who claimed that someone had been following her. Laurie worriedly assumed that Lynda's stalker was the same man she had been seeing, and became increasingly paranoid.[1]
Later that day, she went out with Annie and learned that someone had broken into Nichol's Hardware Store and stolen some rope, a knife and a Halloween mask. As Annie and her drove around town, Laurie expressed an interest in going out with a boy named Bennett Tramer. Annie decided to take matters into her own hands and surreptitiously contacted Ben without Laurie's approval. Laurie was deeply embarrassed when she heard the news and begged Annie to call him back and break it off.[1]
That evening, Laurie went to the Doyle residence to babysit young Tommy Doyle. She brought along a jack-o'-lantern and entertained Tommy by reading him some of his comic books and watching scary movies. As the evening wore on, Annie came over to the house with her own charge, Lindsey Wallace, in tow. She asked Laurie to keep an eye on Lindsey for the next few hours so she could go out with her boyfriend Paul. Laurie did not like the idea, but agreed after Annie told her she would cancel her pending date with Ben Tramer.[1]
What Laurie had yet to realize was that her psychotic brother Michael Myers had broken out of the mental institution at Smith's Grove and returned to Haddonfield to kill again. It was Michael that Laurie had seen earlier at school, on the sidewalk and in her neighbor's backyard. While Laurie was watching over Tommy, Michael was killing her friends one at a time including Annie, Lynda and Lynda's boyfriend Bob Simms.[1]
"He won't die..."
Laurie went over to the Wallace residence to check on Annie, but instead found the bodies of Annie, Lynda and Bob placed in key positions throughout the house. Michael Myers emerged and attacked Laurie, slicing her arm with his knife. This caused Laurie to fall over the second-floor landing, and she fell down the stairs, cracking her ankle in the process.[1][2] Screaming in terror, Laurie limped back to the Doyle house and screamed for the children to let her inside. Tommy eventually opened the door and Laurie quickly entered the house, locking the door behind her. Somehow, Michael managed to get inside the house and attacked Laurie again. She kept him at bay by stabbing him in the neck with a knitting needle then ran upstairs. Michael was undeterred and followed her up the stairs. He cornered Laurie in a bedroom closet and tried stabbing at her with his knife. Laurie straightened out the end of a clothes hanger and jabbed Michael in the eye, forcing him to relinquish his blade. Laurie picked it up and stabbed Michael in the stomach. He slumped to the floor and Laurie believed he was dead. Tearfully, she exited the closet and issued instructions to the children to leave the house. Moments later however, Michael rose and attacked Laurie again. He began strangling and Laurie managed to pull his mask away, seeing his face for the first time. At this moment, Michael's former psychiatrist Doctor Samuel Loomis burst into the house and fired a bullet into Michael's body. He followed it up with five more shots, which drove Michael through the bedroom window, out over the balcony and down onto the ground. When Loomis looked over the balcony however to check on Michael's body, he was gone. A shocked Laurie meekly asked him, "Was that the Boogeyman?", to which Loomis replied, "As a matter of fact... it was."[1]
Massacre at Haddonfield Memorial[]
Laurie was taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, but she was in too much of a state of shock to provide the EMTs or hospital staff with any pertinent information regarding her assailant. A young ambulance driver named Jimmy took a liking to Laurie and promised to watch over her as she recuperated. Jimmy told Laurie the name of the man who had been trying to kill her.[3]
Laurie was terrified about being put to sleep out of fear that the "Boogeyman" would get her. The chief of medicine Frederick Mixter dismissed her concerns and kept Laurie heavily sedated. After awakening, Laurie was alarmed to learn that the man who had pursued her was in fact Michael Myers, and worried when head nurse Virginia Alves told her that her parents could not be contacted. Later, Laurie learned from Jimmy that Myers had apparently died in a car accident, although the victim in question was in fact Laurie's crush Ben Tramer. Laurie panicked, trying to escape, causing the staff to sedate her once again. While unconscious, Laurie had a dream wherein she saw images of her brother at a young age and she recalled her mother telling her that she was actually adopted. Waking from this dream, Laurie began to slowly grasp her connection to Myers, though she had yet to realize that he was in fact her brother.[3]
Michael meanwhile, having survived his initial encounter with Dr. Loomis, had tracked Laurie to the hospital and sought to finish her off. One by one, he cut his way through each member of the attending hospital staff until nothing stood between Laurie and him. When Laurie realized that Michael was still hunting for her, she left her hospital room and began shambling down the empty corridors. Michael eventually discovered her and gave chase, but Laurie managed to escape by climbing through a window in a storeroom. She then hid in the unlocked car that happened to belong to Jimmy who joined her shortly. He told her that they were going to get away, but soon passed out due to an injury he had sustained. Laurie tried to start the car but was unable to and was forced to get out. At this time she saw Dr. Loomis, his assistant Marion Chambers and a Federal marshal enter the front doors of the hospital. Laurie tried to call out to them, but her voice was too hoarse. Michael appeared before her yet Laurie managed to get back into the hospital. Dr. Loomis pushed Laurie behind him and temporarily halted Michael by firing several more shots into his chest. This only slowed Michael down by a matter of seconds, however, and he quickly got back up and began chasing them.[3]
Laurie survives Halloween 1978
Loomis and Laurie sought shelter inside one of the empty examination rooms. The doctor handed Laurie a gun and locked the door to the room. Michael broke through however and critically injured Loomis. Laurie fired the gun given to her, hitting both of Michael's eyes. Though blinded, Michael continued to slash away at the air, hoping to connect with Laurie. The bleeding Dr. Loomis and Laurie then began releasing the valves on several canisters of ether. As Laurie vacated the room, Loomis ignited the ether, causing a massive explosion. Laurie turned around to see Michael still trying to walk towards her, but he finally fell down and was assumed dead. Laurie was then taken into an ambulance. Laurie stared outside until she was surprised by Jimmy, who had also survived. She grabbed his hand and told him that they had made it.[3]
Jamie Lloyd[]
Following the traumatic experience of 1978, Laurie married Mr. Lloyd and in 1980 had a daughter with him named Jamie. Both Laurie and her husband had "died" in an unspecified accident on November 30, 1987, leaving Jamie in the care of Richard and Darlene Carruthers, whose daughter Rachel Laurie had babysat as a teenager. Jamie was left with a shoebox full of pictures of her parents, including one that had been taken of Laurie on Halloween 1978. When Michael Myers returned to Haddonfield to kill Jamie in 1988, he used these pictures to ensure that the girl he was pursuing was indeed Laurie Strode's daughter.[4]
In 1995, Laurie's adoptive cousins, John, Debra, Kara, Tim and Danny Strode moved into the Myers house.[5] It is unknown what the Strodes' opinion on Laurie was.
20 Years Later[]
Keri Tate
In reality, Laurie had faked her death, relocated to California with her son, and changed her name to Keri Tate. She moved to Summer Glen, California where she became the headmistress of a small private prep school called Hillcrest Academy.[6]
Eventually, her past came back to haunt her and Michael reappeared and attacked her. Laurie fought him off and managed to knock him out, but she knew he was not truly dead. Once the ambulance arrived, the coroner loaded Michael in and Laurie stole a fire axe and the van with Michael inside.[6]
While she drove down the mountainous road, her brother began to reanimate and pull himself out of the body bag. Laurie slammed on the brakes and sent him through the windshield, driving into him with the van. The van plunged over the hillside and both Laurie and Michael were thrown from it. Michael got the worst of the deal; the van slammed into his body and pinned him against a fallen tree. Laurie found the fire axe, approached Michael and decapitated him with a single blow. She then took the head as a trophy and hid away for another year.[6]
Madness[]
Laurie as the Shape
As she hid away, Laurie started to grow insane and took on her brother's mantle (with some help from Terence Wynn). On October 31, 2001, she was at Smith's Grove Sanitarium and watched as Tommy Doyle escaped back to his hometown. Laurie followed him and made a stop at the graveyard and dug up the corpses of her friends, Annie, Lynda and Bob. She placed the bodies and tombstones in the Wallace home and set them up for Lindsey to find. Once everything was in place, Laurie waited for her moment to strike, which came when Tommy and Lindsey discovered the bodies. Laurie stabbed Tommy in the chest and then went after Lindsey, who made her way to the Myers home. Laurie followed after her and found her in Judith's bedroom, combing her hair just like Judith did the night she was murdered. Lindsey tried to reason with Laurie, still thinking it was Michael, and told "him" that both Judith and Laurie were now dead while reaching for Laurie's knife. This had no effect on Laurie, who slammed Lindsey against the glass and was about to stab her but was stopped, first from Lindsey stabbing her in the eye with glass and then by a bullet from Tommy's gun. Tommy ran over and unmasked Laurie and was shocked to discover it was his old babysitter. Laurie tackled Tommy and they fell from the second-floor window as she stabbed him in the neck, killing him. Lindsey witnessed all that happened and Laurie was later sent to Smith's Grove.[6]
Four weeks later, Lindsey came to check on Laurie and was told that she had not moved or spoken since the night she killed Tommy. Dr. Bloch explained to Lindsey that he believed that Laurie wanted to relive the terror of what happened to her and thus became him. Lindsey asked for a moment alone while she continued to think about what drove the Myers family to do all their murderous acts, as Terence Wynn looked on. As for Laurie, she simply stared outside her window, just like her brother used to do when he was at Smith's Grove.[6]
Notes and trivia[]
- According to screenwriter/producer Debra Hill, the character of Laurie Strode was named after John Carpenter's first girlfriend.
Appearances[]
- Halloween (1978)
- Halloween (1978 novelization)
- Halloween 1978 Extended Edition
- Halloween II
- Halloween II (novelization)
- Halloween II (Television Cut)
- Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (photograph)
- Halloween IV (novelization)
- Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (mentioned)
- Halloween III: The Devil's Eyes
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Halloween
- ↑ Halloween II provided the full diagnosis on Laurie's injuries.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Halloween II
- ↑ Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
- ↑ Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Halloween III: The Devil's Eyes