HALLOWEEN: H2K David Dunwoody 10/28/00 In the Hollywood office of a small film studio, producer Carla Hill is barking into her cell phone as she waits for a limo to arrive and take her (late) to a movie premiere. Night has fallen over the lot and the only other person around is the guard at the gate. Carla shrieks when she’s cornered in a dark hallway by The Shape – but yanking off the mask, she reveals her assistant, Freddie Harris, and demands to know if he’s finished his work for the day. She’s not going to let him anywhere near the set of the planned Michael Myers film if he can’t stop fucking around. Freddie tells her that he forgot to get a list from her, which she fishes from her purse. The limo pulls up to the gate. There’s no response from the guard shack; the exasperated driver, already in for a bitching-out, stomps up to the shack and finds the guard slaughtered inside. A butcher knife slices across the driver’s throat. In the office, Carla sees the limo pulling up and heads out to it. A shield between the front and back seats obscures the driver; she begins pounding on it as the limo sits idle. The shield lowers, but we don’t see who’s behind the wheel – we only see Carla’s horrified expression. In the office, Freddie sets the list down on his desk and logs onto the Internet to check out his fledgling website, Dangertainment.com. We now see that the list contains the names & numbers of several people, including Tommy Doyle. A shadow figure enters the room, standing behind Freddie as he surfs the Web, oblivious. When he glances over his shoulder, the list is gone. 10/29/00 John Tate visits the Grace Anderson Sanitarium where his mother, Laurie Strode, has been incarcerated following the inadvertent murder of an EMT. Meeting her in a visitors’ room, John spies a rotund man with a sick grin watching them. JOHN You got a fan? LAURIE Not mine. (beat) That's Harold. He's been in here since 1980. Knows all about your uncle. JOHN Why's he smiling like that? LAURIE Harold hasn't been allowed to keep up on Michael's exploits. He was real happy to see me put in here. JOHN Why? LAURIE Because Michael's going to come for me. Before John can try and counter her paranoia, she asks him what he’s been doing. He says that he’s still in college, living off of a trust fund from his father. John’s father lives in Haddonfield, and he’s thinking of paying him a visit. Laurie becomes livid and forbids it. John assures her that his dad, a former addict, has cleaned up, but that isn’t Laurie’s problem – she tells John that HE will find him there. Her son can’t take any more. He walks out. Tommy Doyle gets a phone call as he’s dealing with the latest preteen bullshit from 11-year-old Danny Strode. Danny, Kara, Tommy and Stephen have become a solid family unit, but all that is shattered when Tommy hears Lindsey Wallace on the other end of the line. She asks if a Freddie Harris contacted him. Tommy says no; she replies that she was, in connection with a planned Myers movie, and she wrangled Tommy’s contact info out of Freddie. Lindsey suggests a reunion in Haddonfield. Tommy is up for it, and wants to take 6-year-old Stephen, but Kara flat-out refuses. Tommy pushes and pushes and ultimately says that he and Stephen will go alone; Kara caves. 10/30/00 Haddonfield, Illinois. The sun rises over picturesque Main Street as Leigh Brackett, 62, pulls into town. He surveys the community where he used to be the law, and is surprised to see the new law approaching him – Sheriff Ben Meeker. Meeker was a deputy when Brackett retired, and their friendship picks up right where it left off. John arrives in town and goes straight to the cemetery. Passing several headstones – Ted Hollister, Gary Hunt, Terrence Wynn – he comes upon the grave of Laurie Strode. He can’t believe that it’s still here, despite the fact that her being alive is public knowledge. Someone else is surprised to see it too – Lindsey Wallace offers John her hand and explains who she is. John says he’s looking for his father, Jake Garrett; Lindsey knows Jake from the country club and offers to take John there. Jake, a smartly dressed white-collar businessman, meets John with an awkward smile in the clubhouse. He was anticipating John’s birthday on Halloween, but didn’t expect to see him. Jake gives John a passkey so that he can come onto the club grounds any time. He wants John to attend the Halloween cotillion the next night. Jake excuses himself to confer with the teenagers who are organizing the event. Tommy, Kara and the kids have dinner at a Haddonfield restaurant. Lindsey spots him and weaves through the tables with John in tow. After tense introductions (a twinge of jealousy on Kara’s part), Tommy makes a sympathetic remark about Jamie Lloyd. “Who?” John asks. John doesn’t know that he had a half-sister. Tommy immediately becomes apprehensive & he isn’t about to explain who Stephen is. John starts pressing him for details; Doyle refuses to revisit the subject, and they continue arguing until John throws a punch. He storms out alone. At a local tavern, Meeker and Brackett drink to better days. MEEKER Listen, Leigh...I know why you came back. BRACKETT Do you? MEEKER It's why I stayed, even after Kelly... (pause) Myers is long gone from Haddonfield. He's not our problem anymore. BRACKETT How can you say that, Ben? MEEKER It's not easy to say, but I say it because I'll lose my goddamn mind if I don't. They leave the bar, passing a drunken John Tate. Outside, Meeker gives his old friend one last gentle warning to leave town. Once Brackett is out of sight, Meeker walks to his car – finding a dark figure standing beside it. Before we see who it is, a knife plunges into the sheriff’s gut. 10/31/00 Any and all birthday fanfare goes out the window as John storms the country club, walking straight into the ballroom which is being decorated by the cotillion committee. He confronts Jake about Jamie Lloyd. Jake reveals that Laurie was married to another man when they fell for one another. Jake was responsible for the breakup between Laurie and Jamie’s father…and Jamie’s father is now deceased. Jake explains that Laurie continued to be a presence in the lives of both children, but they never knew about one another. Confused and betrayed, John leaves, ignoring his dad’s pleas. Tommy and Kara are arguing in their motel room. She wants to leave but he won’t go - and he won’t let her take Stephen, either. She wants to be a mother to both children, but if forced to choose, Danny is her priority. Kara takes her son and leaves. John runs into Tommy at C.W. Lampkin Park. They exchange apologies, and John asks what his sister was like. Tommy doesn’t know, but he is able to answer John’s next question: JOHN What was my mom like...before Michael? TOMMY I don't remember much. But she was...I remember she smiled a lot. Tommy then reveals that Stephen is Jamie’s son – and Michael Myers is the father. He briefly outlines the Thorn cult, a Celtic tribe who cursed young Michael in order to sacrifice his entire bloodline. Unable to control the Shape to their liking, they impregnated Jamie in an attempt to reproduce Michael’s evil. John asks why Laurie would have faked her death and taken John away from town, while leaving Jamie behind to die. Tommy doesn’t know. Lindsey runs into Brackett on the street. They reminisce about Halloween 1978. Brackett expresses his fear that they aren’t the only ones who have “come home” this year…just then John pulls up, and Lindsey excuses herself. She takes John on a tour of Haddonfield, ending at the condemned Myers house. Unable even to leave the car, John begins trembling with terror, then anger, then grief. Lindsey comforts him and they end up making love back at her motel. At Grace Anderson, Laurie is penning a letter to John. It details her divorce from Jamie’s father, and a visit from Terrence Wynn in 1988 when John was 7. Wynn explained that she had been artificially inseminated. Jake Garrett is not John’s dad – MICHAEL IS. Wynn demanded the child. Laurie slammed the door in his face and attempted suicide. Young John found her, and she was rushed to the hospital. En route to see her, Jamie’s father was killed in a car accident. Sam Loomis visited Laurie at her bedside, and she told him that John was Michael’s son. She didn’t dare abandon her son to the cult, but she was now AFRAID of him. And she was afraid for her daughter’s safety. So Loomis agreed to help her disappear with John, promising to watch over Jamie in her stead. Brackett goes to the Haddonfield Cemetery at sunset. Laurie Strode’s headstone is gone. The Halloween cotillion is underway. John and Lindsey show up, meeting Tommy. Jake tries to talk with John, but there’s still too much anger there. Meanwhile, the teenage organizers make off to the indoor pool with a few bottles of champagne. Brackett breaks onto the club grounds, fearing he may be too late… Lindsey dances with John, hinting for him to stay in town with her. She then dances with Tommy (assuring him that Stephen is safe while being babysat by a friend). She says that Stephen’s home is here in Haddonfield; Tommy’s too. Taking the comment the wrong way, he kisses her. Lindsey runs off in embarrassment. A couple of the teens go into the locker room to fool around. The Shape appears to throttle the boy, leaving the girl to try and escape in a tense chase sequence that ends with her hiding in a bathroom stall, where she is ultimately cornered and strangled. The Shape picks off a couple more in the sauna, then heads out to the pool to stain the waters red. At the cotillion, Tommy is working on getting drunk and wanders into the hall. He sees pink water dripping from an elaborate arrangement of curtains: a teen’s body has been strung up there. Tommy spins – running right into Leigh Brackett. They rush into the ballroom and inform John, Lindsey and Jake of what’s happening. Jake says he’ll get Lindsey & John out through the kitchen. Tommy and Brackett clear out the other guests. Neither feels like calling the cops; they’ll handle it themselves. In the kitchen, Lindsey is panicking over Michael’s presence. LINDSEY Could never control him. That's why you're so important, John. JOHN What? LINDSEY John, his blood runs through you... Jake moves to hurry them along – Lindsey grabs a butcher knife and stabs him. “You’re not his father.” She snaps. Brackett and Tommy are wandering the halls, startled by every shadow and sound. They spot the Shape at the top of a grand staircase. Brackett starts to draw his pistol…collapses from a massive heart attack. As he dies, he stares through Tommy and gasps, “Annie…”. The Shape descends the stairs. Tommy doesn’t bother with the gun. He grabs a fire extinguisher off the wall and hoses the Shape down, then lays into him with a desperate, fear-driven fury, beating the shit out of Myers with the extinguisher, every blow snapping Michael’s head to one side until he finally goes down. In the kitchen, John is putting anything he can between himself and Lindsey. She tries to “reason” with him, telling him that this is his purpose, his birthright…he belongs here with her. She took over for Dr. Wynn after his death, intent on bringing John and Stephen home. She swears that she truly cares about them both. At that moment, Tommy steps out of the shadows. He heard everything. He demands to know where Stephen is. She’s not about to give up any information; she killed Carla Hill to find Tommy and if he tries anything, she’ll have to kill him too. Tommy pulls out Brackett’s gun. John attacks Tommy! As they wrestle over the gun, fire blooms from the barrel – and Lindsey doubles over in agony. She tries to raise the butcher knife. The Shape grabs her wrist and spins her around to face him. As Lindsey’s life ebbs away in gulps, Michael takes the knife and sets after John. Tommy leaps to his defense, emptying the gun into the Shape. As expected, it’s no use. Tommy and John both batter the Shape, using every implement within their reach. He throws them over tables and counters. They bury knives in his torso. In the end, it is the Shape’s blade that finds purchase, skewering Tommy through the heart. John attacks Michael with an inhuman rage – the rage of his cursed pedigree – snapping The Shape’s arm, his back, his neck. The masked head caves in under blow after blow from a fire axe. At long last, Michael Myers is dead. John drags the body out to his car and drives out to a barren field. There, he buries the Shape, pulling off his mask at the last moment (face unseen). John contemplates the mask with a blank stare. Then he opens his trunk and lays it down reverently – beside his mother’s headstone. Days later, at Grace Anderson, Laurie reads the headline declaring that a mad Leigh Brackett was responsible for the “Myers-like” killings of Ben Meeker and the cotillion guests. She knows it’s bullshit – but more troubling is that there’s no mention of her son. 10/29/02 Standing outside of the sanitarium, John pulls on the Shape mask and walks through the open gate…the curse is reborn. Worse yet, the Thorn cult still has Stephen…the child’s fate is left unknown. THE END