Over the course of eleven films the Halloween franchise has taken several varied narrative paths, and director Steve Miner’s 1998 film Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later is no exception.
Intended as the finale to the story arc of character Laurie Strode (the series’ ‘Final Girl’ originated by actress Jamie Lee Curtis in John Carpenter’s 1978 classic Halloween, who reprised her role three years later in Rick Rosenthal’s direct sequel Halloween II), Miner’s film intentionally ignored everything which followed the two, including the narrative thread established in the sequels Halloween 4, 5 & 6. Those three films, without the inclusion of Curtis, saw series’ slasher Michael Myers set his sights on a new target, one Jamie Lloyd, a character who was introduced as the orphaned daughter of Strode, the latter having perished in an automobile accident.
But what if H20 hadn’t ignored this thread?
IMDB legend has it that the shooting script of H20, as written by Robert Zappia and Matt Greenberg (from a loose treatment by Kevin Williamson) allegedly bridged the gap with a scene in which a Hillcrest student Sarah (H20 actress Jodi Lyn O’Keefe) delivers a class report on the “Haddonfield Murders,” which ties the series’ disjointed narrative threads together (you can read the script pages below), and in effect renders the Lloyd narrative canon.
Above: Actress Danielle Harris as ‘Jamie Lloyd’ in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
So, was the scene shot? We reached out to Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later editor Patrick Lussier last week for clarification, and you can read his response below.
But first, the scene in question.
INT. CLASSROOM – LATER THAT DAY
Students file into the class, sit in their assigned seats. KERI stands behind a desk at the head of the class. The Bell Rings.
KERI
Good morning, class. Mr. Elliot’s out sick this week…turns out it was his appendix.
The students ad-lib “COOL,” “ALRIGHT,” “YEAH.”
KERI(cont’d)
Your compassion is overwhelming. But I’m sure you’ll be happy to hear that he gave me the list of students who will be giving their oral reports today.
The students groan.
KERI (cont’d)
I thought so. First up is Sarah Locke.
Sarah crosses to the podium at the head of the class, stands behind it. She reads off a stack of index cards in front of her…
SARAH (rapidly)
“The Haddonfield Murders” by Pamela Whittington. A totally gruesome depiction of serial killer Michael Meyers’ path of destruction in a small Illinois town.
Keri sits up in her chair, uneasy. Of all the books…
During the following, we INTERCUT between the described flashbacks and Keri, as she struggles to maintain her composure as the memories come flooding back —
SARAH (cont’d)
The riveting tale begins with young Meyers repeatedly stabbing his older sister to death on Halloween night in 1963.
BEGIN FLASHBACK.
During the previous dialogue we see the correlating scene from “Halloween” where young Michael Meyers in clown attire murders his sister.
SARAH (OS) (cont’d)
Years later Meyers escaped from Dr. Loomis’ care at Smith’s Grove Institution and returned home to Haddonfield.
During the previous dialogue we once again see the correlating scene from “Halloween” where Michael escapes from outside the gates of Smith’s Grove in Dr. Loomis’ station wagon.
SARAH (OS) (cont’d)
It was there that he stalked Laurie Strode…Meyers’ younger sister…
We see the correlating scene from “Halloween” where the Shape watches Laurie Strode through the screen door as she approaches the old Meyers’ house.
SARAH (OS) (cont’d)
What followed was a night of terror as Michael Meyers slaughtered one innocent victim after another. Strangled some… stabbed others… in the end it was a Halloween of unprecedented carnage.
We see a MONTAGE of murders from “Halloween” and “Halloween II.”
END OF FLASHBACK.
ON Keri, eyes swelling, struggling to keep the lid on her emotions…
SARAH (cont’d)
Ironically, Laurie survived that night, but was said to have died in a car accident years later… leaving behind her only daughter, Jamie.
BEGIN FLASHBACK.
During the previous dialogue, we see footage of young Jamie from “Halloween IV.”
SARAH (cont’d)
The book maintains there is truth to the rumor that Laurie Strode is actually alive and well and living under a new identity. Claiming that she gave up her daughter for adoption to protect the eight-year- old from her psychotic Uncle. Bad idea. Last Halloween, Jamie’s mutilated body was found in a barn just outside of Haddonfield.
We see Jamie’s demise as depicted in “Halloween VI.”
END FLASHBACK.
ON Keri, unable to stand it any longer. She grabs her bag, heads for the door.
KERI
Excuse me…
Keri darts out of the classroom.
The students sit in stunned silence, baffled. Sarah collects her cards and heads back to her seat…
SARAH (cont’d)
That was like so rude.
INT. GIRLS’ RESTROOM – MINUTES LATER
Keri bursts through the bathroom door…locks herself inside an empty stall…drops to her knees, barely making it over the toilet before tossing up her breakfast.
When queried, Lussier said of the pages to HalloweenMovies.com, “That’s an interesting scene, but never one that I read or encountered in the footage. As far as I know, there was never a scene like (above) that (was) shot. There was a big rewrite shortly before production where several things changed, including the (removal of the) whole character Charles S. Dutton had been hired to play (which included a death scene in the middle of the film) although the (scripted) scene as described was never shot, or if it was, it never came through editorial (which would be highly unlikely).”
Lussier concluded, “So, there was never any cult reference in H20 shot, or in the scripts that I read for the film.”
So there you have it?