Since this is the first edition of my “Character Spotlight” series and Halloween is growing near, I figured Michael Myers would make a great first subject to highlight. There’s going to be some spoilers ahead, so if you haven’t seen the flick please watch it first. I don’t ask much, people, I’m just trying to do you a favor. “Halloween” is my favorite horror franchise and I’ve been watching the man do his thing through many many sequels, so I feel I’m up to the task of looking underneath the mask a bit. This spotlight will undoubtedly not feature any back-story Rob Zombie created for his miserable remake of the classic original film. According to Mr. Zombie, the only cause for criminal insanity is having a bad childhood, complete with abusive red-neck parents (or was it abusive red-neck guards in the insane asylum? Either way, red-necks in Illinois doesn’t work for me…and I’m not watching it again to find out!).
But, while we’re on the subject of childhood, let’s do a little assuming and try to figure some things out. The first shot of the original film we see a nice two-story suburban home. They’ve got the white-picket fence and everything; the American dream, except no dog (hang on to that, kids). Two children, nice house in suburbia, seemingly well-off parents. How could a maniac-in-waiting fester in this kind of wholesome environment? I’ll tell you how: lack of identity. This kid walks out his front-door every morning and sees the same thing: parents going to work, kids walking to school, people walking their dogs, a monotonous routine that happens day-after-day. The suburban lifestyle strips anyone of their identity, it makes conformity the norm or else you won’t fit in. So what night does young Michael Myers choose to act out on his maniacal impulse? Why, Halloween, of course. And why? Because he puts on a costume and assumes another identity. He ceases being the same kid that every other kid in the neighborhood is. Notice how his first killing is done with a mask on, and that he barely watches the victim, his poor half-naked sister who just got done with the quickest sexual encounter in the history of cinema. During the killing he spends half the time watching his own hand as it thrusts the knife downward into his defenseless sibling. He’s a different person underneath that clown mask, and he’s so bewildered by the change that he even watches himself perform the heinous act while he’s doing it. I mean, the kid is 8-years-old when he kills for the first time. Isn’t that just about the age when you become slightly aware that you’re able to act-out? This is the age when little boys start wrestling with their brother or friends of a similar age. So Michael had been nurturing this homicidal tendency all through his youth until two things magically coincided on the same night: his new-found ability to act-out his
impulses and his change in identity through a Halloween costume. Only, he was sloppy. Kids act on impulse, they feel like doing something and they just do it. Hence, the reason he got caught. He runs out the FRONT DOOR with a bloody knife in his hand! Clearly, he didn’t have much of an exit strategy, as the murder was, undoubtedly, poorly planned. Older Michael would learn from this costly mistake in the years to come.
So, Michael sits in an asylum for fifteen years. You know what’s going through his head? “Why the fuck did I walk out the front door holding the murder weapon??” That’s right. Imagine sitting in one place for fifteen years thinking about a mistake like that. I can’t sit and think about a mistake for more than fifteen minutes before I get aggravated, and he had a full fifteen YEARS to ponder his bonehead move. But, eventually, like everyone does, he comes to grips with it. Then it becomes all about the escape. At a certain point he feels prepared to rectify the mistake he made and do it right. But, he has to get out of the asylum first, because he’s back in the same environment he was in as a child: everybody is the same, wears the same clothes, same routine-oriented life, and is constantly watched over by parent figures. It’s the same string of circumstances that caused him to lose his mind in the first place. So, before he is to be taken back to court and sentenced to an even longer term in the nut house, he makes a run for it. And what night is it on? You guessed it, the night before Halloween. The man has impeccable timing. He’s somehow learned how to drive a car and he makes a clean getaway.
He’s free!! Now, what’s his first objective once he gets back to his hometown? A change of clothes (courtesy of a dead mechanic he leaves in the bushes by the train tracks) and a new mask. However, this mask is a far cry from the clown get-up he had during his first murder. The mask is featureless. Just a plain white mask with fuzzy brown hair and two eye holes. Of all the masks in the store he picks the simplest one he could find, not a monster or an alien that might look scarier. But, examine that mask a little closer, it’s exactly what he feels he is: faceless. The nondescript mask could be anyone, and no one. There’s no discernable identity associated with that mask. It’s the mask he’ll don the rest of the series, going so far as to seek out another one at the beginning of the “Halloween 4”. That mask defines him, who he thinks he is. Once he gets suited up he gets right back to work: tracking down sister number two. Now, we don’t find out Laurie is his sister until that little wrinkle gets uncovered in “Halloween 2”, but having that knowledge while watching the first one gives him motive. He’s going to kill his other sister, this time without getting caught. It’s all about righting a wrong. I hate the argument people give when the killer has an actual motive: “It’s much scarier when there’s no motive. It’s just random killing.” I don’t buy it. If he was just randomly killing in the first movie, why did he single out Laurie? He sees her approach his old house early in the movie and follows her around the rest of the day, creeping her out the whole time. Maybe he was angry that she approached his house? Sounds like motive to me. So, for all those people who think having a motive demystifies the psychotic killer, think up a reason for why such a “random” killer keeps his eyes set on Laurie the entire movie. I mean, staring at her through the window at school, why waste the time?? Wouldn’t he just be bumping off anybody that came near him if he was a mindless killer? Just imagine him casually stabbing joggers as they run past him down the sidewalk. Doesn’t sound so scary anymore, does it?
Day becomes night, and the real fun begins. Michael isn’t as much of a serial killer, more of a serial stalker who also kills. He’s patient this time around, he’s learned from his hasty first kill. You’ve got to pick your moments just right. He’s become a master of quietly sneaking around without being seen or heard by anyone, except Tommy Doyle, but he’s a kid so that doesn’t count. Now, he’s stalking his sister, Laurie, and her two friends, Linda and Annie, but who does he kill first? A dog. That’s right. He kills the dog of the family Annie is babysitting for with his bare hands as he stalks Annie from the bushes outside the house. On top of that, Michael is only said to have eaten a meal once in the entire movie. Know what that meal was? A dog. It’s the dog Dr. Loomis and Sheriff Bracket find mutilated at the Myers’ house. Think maybe he’s got a little resentment over not having a canine friend to play with when he was a kid? I would venture to think so. After the dog gets it, he starts picking off the friends. He strangles Annie in her car, jams a knife through Linda’s boyfriend in the kitchen, and strangles Linda with a phone cord while Laurie listens. Two of those murders are crimes of passion. And, not coincidentally, it’s the two girls who get strangled. His first murder was quick, stabbing his sister with a knife multiple times. See, that’s messy. It sprays blood everywhere and it leaves evidence in the form of a murder weapon. Using your bare hands or a phone cord is an act of will, of patience. He’s willing to literally drain the life out of them with his own two hands. Anyone can pull a trigger or puncture flesh with a sharp object, but it takes a ruthless killer to strangle a person to death. And that’s what he’s become: a smart, patient, ruthless killer. In the later sequels he became that guy that just pops out of nowhere and kills with reckless impunity. But, in this one, he’s a force, an unstoppable force that even his own doctor describes as “purely and simply evil”.
Have we learned a lesson from Mr. Myers? I think so. Conformity has a downside. Don’t waste away in some crap life that feels stale and stagnant. Live a real life. Defy the norm, rebel a bit. Because if you don’t, there’s a chance you wind up throwing on a creepy mask and a jumpsuit and wrapping your hands around the throats of your nearest and dearest until your life’s main goal is to kill your entire family. I’m sure some people have thought about it, and if you decide to do it, please, take a few notes from the man: Michael Myers.
But, while we’re on the subject of childhood, let’s do a little assuming and try to figure some things out. The first shot of the original film we see a nice two-story suburban home. They’ve got the white-picket fence and everything; the American dream, except no dog (hang on to that, kids). Two children, nice house in suburbia, seemingly well-off parents. How could a maniac-in-waiting fester in this kind of wholesome environment? I’ll tell you how: lack of identity. This kid walks out his front-door every morning and sees the same thing: parents going to work, kids walking to school, people walking their dogs, a monotonous routine that happens day-after-day. The suburban lifestyle strips anyone of their identity, it makes conformity the norm or else you won’t fit in. So what night does young Michael Myers choose to act out on his maniacal impulse? Why, Halloween, of course. And why? Because he puts on a costume and assumes another identity. He ceases being the same kid that every other kid in the neighborhood is. Notice how his first killing is done with a mask on, and that he barely watches the victim, his poor half-naked sister who just got done with the quickest sexual encounter in the history of cinema. During the killing he spends half the time watching his own hand as it thrusts the knife downward into his defenseless sibling. He’s a different person underneath that clown mask, and he’s so bewildered by the change that he even watches himself perform the heinous act while he’s doing it. I mean, the kid is 8-years-old when he kills for the first time. Isn’t that just about the age when you become slightly aware that you’re able to act-out? This is the age when little boys start wrestling with their brother or friends of a similar age. So Michael had been nurturing this homicidal tendency all through his youth until two things magically coincided on the same night: his new-found ability to act-out his
impulses and his change in identity through a Halloween costume. Only, he was sloppy. Kids act on impulse, they feel like doing something and they just do it. Hence, the reason he got caught. He runs out the FRONT DOOR with a bloody knife in his hand! Clearly, he didn’t have much of an exit strategy, as the murder was, undoubtedly, poorly planned. Older Michael would learn from this costly mistake in the years to come.So, Michael sits in an asylum for fifteen years. You know what’s going through his head? “Why the fuck did I walk out the front door holding the murder weapon??” That’s right. Imagine sitting in one place for fifteen years thinking about a mistake like that. I can’t sit and think about a mistake for more than fifteen minutes before I get aggravated, and he had a full fifteen YEARS to ponder his bonehead move. But, eventually, like everyone does, he comes to grips with it. Then it becomes all about the escape. At a certain point he feels prepared to rectify the mistake he made and do it right. But, he has to get out of the asylum first, because he’s back in the same environment he was in as a child: everybody is the same, wears the same clothes, same routine-oriented life, and is constantly watched over by parent figures. It’s the same string of circumstances that caused him to lose his mind in the first place. So, before he is to be taken back to court and sentenced to an even longer term in the nut house, he makes a run for it. And what night is it on? You guessed it, the night before Halloween. The man has impeccable timing. He’s somehow learned how to drive a car and he makes a clean getaway.
He’s free!! Now, what’s his first objective once he gets back to his hometown? A change of clothes (courtesy of a dead mechanic he leaves in the bushes by the train tracks) and a new mask. However, this mask is a far cry from the clown get-up he had during his first murder. The mask is featureless. Just a plain white mask with fuzzy brown hair and two eye holes. Of all the masks in the store he picks the simplest one he could find, not a monster or an alien that might look scarier. But, examine that mask a little closer, it’s exactly what he feels he is: faceless. The nondescript mask could be anyone, and no one. There’s no discernable identity associated with that mask. It’s the mask he’ll don the rest of the series, going so far as to seek out another one at the beginning of the “Halloween 4”. That mask defines him, who he thinks he is. Once he gets suited up he gets right back to work: tracking down sister number two. Now, we don’t find out Laurie is his sister until that little wrinkle gets uncovered in “Halloween 2”, but having that knowledge while watching the first one gives him motive. He’s going to kill his other sister, this time without getting caught. It’s all about righting a wrong. I hate the argument people give when the killer has an actual motive: “It’s much scarier when there’s no motive. It’s just random killing.” I don’t buy it. If he was just randomly killing in the first movie, why did he single out Laurie? He sees her approach his old house early in the movie and follows her around the rest of the day, creeping her out the whole time. Maybe he was angry that she approached his house? Sounds like motive to me. So, for all those people who think having a motive demystifies the psychotic killer, think up a reason for why such a “random” killer keeps his eyes set on Laurie the entire movie. I mean, staring at her through the window at school, why waste the time?? Wouldn’t he just be bumping off anybody that came near him if he was a mindless killer? Just imagine him casually stabbing joggers as they run past him down the sidewalk. Doesn’t sound so scary anymore, does it?
Day becomes night, and the real fun begins. Michael isn’t as much of a serial killer, more of a serial stalker who also kills. He’s patient this time around, he’s learned from his hasty first kill. You’ve got to pick your moments just right. He’s become a master of quietly sneaking around without being seen or heard by anyone, except Tommy Doyle, but he’s a kid so that doesn’t count. Now, he’s stalking his sister, Laurie, and her two friends, Linda and Annie, but who does he kill first? A dog. That’s right. He kills the dog of the family Annie is babysitting for with his bare hands as he stalks Annie from the bushes outside the house. On top of that, Michael is only said to have eaten a meal once in the entire movie. Know what that meal was? A dog. It’s the dog Dr. Loomis and Sheriff Bracket find mutilated at the Myers’ house. Think maybe he’s got a little resentment over not having a canine friend to play with when he was a kid? I would venture to think so. After the dog gets it, he starts picking off the friends. He strangles Annie in her car, jams a knife through Linda’s boyfriend in the kitchen, and strangles Linda with a phone cord while Laurie listens. Two of those murders are crimes of passion. And, not coincidentally, it’s the two girls who get strangled. His first murder was quick, stabbing his sister with a knife multiple times. See, that’s messy. It sprays blood everywhere and it leaves evidence in the form of a murder weapon. Using your bare hands or a phone cord is an act of will, of patience. He’s willing to literally drain the life out of them with his own two hands. Anyone can pull a trigger or puncture flesh with a sharp object, but it takes a ruthless killer to strangle a person to death. And that’s what he’s become: a smart, patient, ruthless killer. In the later sequels he became that guy that just pops out of nowhere and kills with reckless impunity. But, in this one, he’s a force, an unstoppable force that even his own doctor describes as “purely and simply evil”.
Have we learned a lesson from Mr. Myers? I think so. Conformity has a downside. Don’t waste away in some crap life that feels stale and stagnant. Live a real life. Defy the norm, rebel a bit. Because if you don’t, there’s a chance you wind up throwing on a creepy mask and a jumpsuit and wrapping your hands around the throats of your nearest and dearest until your life’s main goal is to kill your entire family. I’m sure some people have thought about it, and if you decide to do it, please, take a few notes from the man: Michael Myers.
I’m not going to end most of my character profiles with an adherence to murderous violence like that, so read it as a joke and move along with your day.
