halloween michael myers references easter eggs
[Photos via YouTube]

12 times the new ‘Halloween’ makes a nod to the series

The latest installment in the Halloween series officially hit theaters today. Earlier this year, it was revealed only the first film exists in this world. The rest of the timeline is erased, and the new film picks up in Haddonfield 40 years after the original. While there isn’t any continuation to the seven previous films (nine if you count Rob Zombie’s remakes), that’s not to say the writers didn’t pay homage. Head below for a handful of references to the past films in the series.

Warning: The following article contains major spoilers for the new Halloween film (and other films within the series).

Read more: Find out which horror villain matches your zodiac sign

1. Opening credits


The original Halloween begins with slow opening credits. Each name flashes across the screen one by one as the camera slowly zooms in on a jack-o’-lantern. In the new Halloween, the same orange lettering flashes across the screen one by one. However, this time, the pumpkin is positioned in the same place but starts out decomposed. It slowly reanimates back into a jack-o’-lantern as each name goes by.

2. Not family


In Halloween II, Chambers tells Dr. Loomis that Strode is Myers’ sister. The court sealed one of Myers’ files after his parents death, but the Illinois governor authorized them to open it. It states Strode was born two years prior to Myers killing their other sister, Judith. Two years after Myers is committed to Smith’s Grove Sanitarium, their parents die, and she’s adopted by the Strodes.

In the new film, Strode’s granddaughter Allyson’s friends ask if it was Strode’s brother “who murdered all those babysitters.” Allyson responds by stating “that’s something that people made up.” The line erases the belief the duo are related, which creator John Carpenter admits may have been the result of some late-night drinking.

3. Classroom daydreaming


Laurie Strode sits in the back of class in the first Halloween, daydreaming out the window as one does during a boring lecture. She locks eyes with Michael Myers as she peers outside. The teacher calls her attention back to class, but when she looks out again, Myers is gone. In the new Halloween, Strode’s granddaughter Allyson also takes a seat in the back of the class. She too stares out the window, but instead of Myers, she’s sees Strode appear and disappear.

4. Escaped patients


In the original film, Dr. Loomis heads to Smith’s Grove Sanitarium to meet with Myers, who is his patient. As he approaches the facility with Chambers, they see that the patients are wandering down the road in the rain.

The same scenario happens in the new film where a father and son are driving home late at night. They round a corner and witness Smith’s Grove patients who are now loose after Myers crashes the bus transporting them.

5. Laurie Strode’s song


In the original movie, Strode’s father is a realtor who asks her to drop a key off at the old Myers house. Strode runs into the kid she babysits, Tommy Doyle, on the way. After dropping the key and parting ways, she begins singing to herself: “I wish I had you all alone/Just the two of us.” Over her shoulder, Myers appears and begins his menacing heavy breathing. Allegedly, the reason actress Jamie Lee Curtis sang this song was because with a famously low-budget production, the crew didn’t want to spend money on buying the rights to music. In the new film’s aforementioned father-son scene, just before they stumble across the escaped patients, they’re talking and listening to the radio. Director David Gordon Green had a band write a version of Curtis’ tune, which can be heard in their car.

6. The gas station massacre


Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers picks up 10 years after Halloween II (ignoring the attempted spinoff Halloween III: Season Of The Witch) with Myers still recovering from a fire that burned him. He’s sent back to Smith’s Grove Sanitarium, but once he overhears Strode died in a car crash and has a daughter, Jamie, he breaks loose and crashes the ambulance. Loomis hears of his release and heads back to Haddonfield, stopping at a gas station along the way. There, he discovers Myers murdered the mechanic to replace his iconic navy jumpsuit as well as other employees. Loomis faces off with Myers for their first showdown since the hospital 10 years prior.

In the new Halloween, an investigative journalist duo set out to make a podcast about Myers. Once he escapes, he heads to a gas station where he once again kills employees including a mechanic for his jumpsuit. He faces off with the duo, eventually reclaiming his iconic mask, which they borrowed from the attorney general.

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7. Mrs. Elrod


At the end of the original Halloween, Myers gets shot and is presumed dead. However, as you can assume by the plethora of sequels, Myers wasn’t actually killed. Halloween II picks up where the first left off as he wanders away from Strode and Dr. Loomis to continue his reign of terror. Myers enters a neighbor’s house, credited as Mrs. Elrod, and takes a knife from her cutting board as she talks to her sleeping husband. While Myers leaves a blood trail in the Elrod’s home, the elderly couple aren’t harmed.

In the new film, Myers leaves the gas station after obtaining his new jumpsuit and reclaiming his mask. He grabs a hammer from a shed before entering a house. Inside, a woman in a pink robe with curlers is preparing a sandwich on a cutting board. While the woman is credited as “Sandwich Woman” on IMDb, her attire and actions mimic that of Halloween II’s Mrs. Elrod. However, unfortunately for Sandwich Woman, she’s not nearly as lucky as Elrod.

Later in the film, Allyson is walking home with a friend, Oscar. They decide to take a shortcut through her neighbors’ backyards. They eventually split up, and Oscar sees a figure behind him. He assumes that figure is Mr. Elrod, and apologizes for being in his yard. But, as you can imagine, it was definitely not Mr. Elrod.

8. Season Of The Witch masks

halloween easter eggs references season of the witch masks
[Photo via YouTube

Halloween III: Season Of The Witch is the only film in the series that Michael Myers doesn’t appear in (outside of a trailer cameo). The 1982 movie was an attempt to branch out into an anthology series centered around Halloween night, which was a flop given 1988’s The Return Of Michael Myers. The third film’s big bad is Silver Shamrock Novelties, a company that produces three latex masks: a witch, pumpkin and skeleton. While seemingly harmless, it’s revealed the masks are able to be detonated as a ritual to sacrifice children.

halloween easter eggs references season of the witch masks
[Photo via YouTube

In the new film, Myers returns to terrorize the town of Haddonfield. Strode warns local trick-or-treaters of the terror, and they set off running. For a brief moment, viewers can see three children are wearing the infamous Season Of The Witch masks.

9. The sheet ghost prank


In the original film, Strode and her friend Annie are both babysitting neighborhood children. Their mutual friend Linda is out on a date with Bob, and they head to the house Annie is at to hook up. Once finished, Bob wanders off to get them both more beer—the prime example of breaking the horror movies “rules” that inspires Scream’s recitation of them. This is of course when Myers strikes, offing Bob by impaling him on the wall with his knife.

Myers then heads upstairs where Linda is waiting, covering himself with a sheet and Bob’s glasses. Linda thinks Bob is pranking her by dressing up as a ghost, which clearly is not the case.

halloween easter eggs references bob vicky ghost
[Photo via YouTube

In the new film, Allyson has two friends, Vicky and Dave, who are dating. Vicky is babysitting, but Dave shows up once the kid, Julian, goes to bed. In the midst of them hooking up, Julian runs downstairs and claims he saw something. Vicky looks around his room to reassure him but is soon attacked by Myers. The masked maniac covers Vicky’s body with a ghost-inspired sheet much like he did to himself in the original. Dave is also impaled on the wall in a similar fashion as Bob.

10. Laurie Strode’s bedroom wall hat


In the first film, Strode returns home after school. She heads up to her room, reaches to close a window and sees Myers lurking behind hung laundry in her yard. Behind her on the wall is a wide-brim, straw hat—seemingly insignificant.


However, the same hat makes its way into the new film as Strode hugs her daughter, Karen. The hat once again hangs on Strode’s bedroom wall.

11. The final showdown


In the original film, Strode hides from Myers in a paneled closet. He finds her, but she fends him off and escapes from the room. Dr. Loomis appears and shoots Myers who falls out of the second-story window. However, the duo look outside and Myers is gone.

This showdown is mimicked again in Halloween: Resurrection as they fight on the roof of a hospital. Myers stabs Strode, throwing her off a roof, but this time, it seals her death (at least in the original timeline).

In the new movie, Laurie searches her home for Myers, eventually leading to a room with a paneled closet. Myers is nowhere to be found after she throws open the door. He appears from behind her, and they tussle, eventually ending up with her thrown out the second-story window. Myers peers below, but Strode is gone.

12. An explosive ending


Halloween II picks up where the first leaves off, with Strode being transported to the hospital. Myers obviously tracks her down, and it leads to another final showdown. Dr. Loomis appears, getting in the middle of their tussle. He stabs Loomis and then Laurie shoots him. As everyone is struggling, Loomis begins turning on oxygen tanks in the room they’re in. Strode helps open valves before making her way out of the room. Loomis strikes his lighter, setting off an explosion. Myers runs out engulfed in flames and collapses.

In the new film, Strode recovers from her roof tumble and corners Myers in her panic room. There, and throughout the rest of the house, she turns on gas. She explains to Allyson that her safehouse wasn’t a cage but rather a trap before tossing a flame into the room and igniting the house with Myers in it.