Six films that explore the horror of grief and trauma
By Carla Davis
The original Halloween was a way above-average slasher flick, but Halloween (2018) took Laurie Strode’s story to a new level by addressing the grief and trauma she is still suffering forty years later. Her best friends were murdered, and she was nearly killed herself by the masked Michael Myers.
In the years since, Laurie’s life has been a disaster. She drinks too much, she is so paranoid that her house is pretty much booby trapped, and she is heavily armed. She has become estranged from her daughter Karen, who was taken away from her when she was still a child. The only family member she is even remotely close to is her granddaughter Allyson.
As she soon finds out, all of her fears are founded. Michael escapes while being transferred from the psychiatric hospital to a maximum security prison. When the prison bus crashes, Michael murders a motorist and his young son, then steals their truck to return to Haddonfield.
Of course, he falls back on his old bad habits, murdering innocent people while on his search for Laurie. During the course of the night, Laurie, Karen and Allyson work together to outwit, outrun and ultimately do away with Michael, which brings them closer as a family in a weird way.
Like them, love them, or hate them, the “final” Halloween trilogy saw Laurie working through her grief and trauma, freeing herself in the process.
Halloween (2018), Halloween Ends and Halloween Kills can be streamed and/or rented on various streaming platforms.