Recap / Film Reroll Halloween III

Halloween returns! Andy drinks beer! Joz learns a new language! Scott gets punched in the nuts!

One more day ‘til Halloween...^note with credit to Tumblr user fishfingersandscarves

Episode 103-109 of Film Reroll. The third part of the trilogy started by Halloween and Halloween 2.

Three years have passed since the events of the last installment. Clara Bridge is looking forward to spend the evening with her new boyfriend, Sean. Meanwhile, Danny Hodges has — in an attempt to get away from his traumatic memories of the place — left Haddonfield behind and moved to Illinois, and is hoping to spend some quality time with his workmate, Joshua Orsino.

However, it seems as though trouble just can't stay away from the survivors of the Myers killings. Out of nowhere, Clara is attacked by her knife-wielding little brother, while Danny and Joshua are confronted by a paranoid stranger who is soon murdered. What is the cause of these attacks? Are they connected to Michael Myers?

And just what is up with the Silver Shamrock Novelty Company and their Halloween masks?

Starring Jocelyn "Joz" Vammer as Clara Bridge, Laurie Strode and Ariana “Darkhorse” Valverde, Andy Hoover as Danny Hodges, Lynda van der Klok and Joshua Orsino, Scott Aiello as Joshua Orsino, Sasha Varnaskaya and Sam Loomis, and Paulo Quiros as the Dungeon Master.

Followed by Last Action Hero.

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Tropes:

• Achievements in Ignorance: Darkhorse takes possession of Loomis’s sword after he drops it. He points out that she really has no idea what a powerful artifact she’s just gotten her hands on. She never even gets to use it, as it’s soon back in the hands of our protagonists.
• Acting in the Dark: invoked Variation: It soon comes to light that, in a repeat of the "Summerspell" incident, Paulo was obscuring the fact the campaign was in reality a partial adaptation of Halloween III: Season of the Witch^note Technically; as Paulo admits during Part 4, he came to realize during the start of the campaign that none of the players knew about the movie, and had no idea what Paulo was doing. But, by the time the episodes of the campaign started being uploaded, the others soon were clued in. Likewise, when Paulo pulls up a video of one of the Silver Shamrock commercials from the movie, everyone else had assumed Paulo made it himself.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed: In the original film, Dan Challis' introduction was him visiting his ex-wife to drop off masks for his kids before getting called in. Here, in one of his only two scenes of the campaign, he's called in while he's at the Blarney Stone, and makes a point of getting two more beers "for the road".^note Although, granted, his scene in the movie took place eight days before Halloween; here, it's three.
• Admiring the Abomination: Darkhorse — already established as a Nightmare Fetishist — is fascinated by death and genuinely impressed by the brutality of Cochran’s operation, basically offering herself to become his apprentice. DM Paulo Quiros praises this characterization on Joz’s part, as seeing his hostage as a kindred spirit gives Cochran an understandable reason to keep them alive, show them his whole factory and tell them his entire plan, which he really didn’t have in the film.
• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: After Danny decides to head back to Haddonfield with Jeff, Sasha and Darkhorse continue with the investigation of the Silver Shamrock along with Joshua... and all three wind up at various stages of shitfaced:
  • Prior to picking up Joshua, Sasha and Darkhorse make a stop by a liquor store in order to "malt liquor [themselves] up as fast as possible". When they arrive at Trish's place to grab him, Darkhorse breaks down the door, and Sasha (not knowing who Joshua is yet) aims his gun at his face demanding to know where he is.
  • After attracting the attention of the cops while speeding out of town^note and yes, Darkhorse makes a point of flooring it instead of pulling over, Sasha ultimately decides to try and shoot their tires out (and this is after being talked down from killing the cops outright).
  • When the cops are ultimately subdued, the trio decide to kidnap the cops, and steal their cop car. This development prompts Joz to remark in out-of-character shock how many felonies the three of them managed to rack up in such a short period of time. And then Darkhorse decides to use a Molotov cocktail to burn Sasha's car.
  • While attempting to distract Cochran's guards, Sasha decides to sing into his billyclub, before switching to hit shotgun (with Scott's intention being to do a sneak attack and shoot one of the robots in the face)... but due to a crit fail, Sasha winds up being too drunk to remember which item is the one he needs to be firing, and promptly shoots himself in the face.
• The Alleged Car: Sasha’s car — Nadja — is said to be rusty and have a broken windshield, but he’s very proud of it nonetheless.
• Anachronism Stew: Sasha and his crew listen to the song "Living on a Prayer" four years before it was released. Hand Waved by Paulo Quiros, who simply attributes this to the story being set in an Alternate Universe.
• And the Adventure Continues: The epilogue shows Darkhorse— now once more on her own — exploring the Underworld, likely on the hunt for some new great power. Meanwhile, Loomis and Austin are on the hunt for a "new" Fomórach, who might just be Michael Myers Back from the Dead.
• Ascended Extra: Clara Bridge, who has been Promoted to Playable.
• The Atoner: Laurie ends up talking to the spirit of one of the cultists who opened the portal last time, who urges her to not repeat that mistake.
• Bait-and-Switch: The first tree Laurie and "Austin" come across in the Underworld makes Scott think they're about to revive Dr. Loomis. In reality, they came across Lynda.
• Our Banshees Are Different: Laurie suggests returning to Earth as a banshee. “Austin Cunningham” admits to not actually knowing exactly what would happen if she and her companions went through a portal in their present state.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: Happens when both Laurie and the Fomórach fight over the control of the rats, with Laurie having to use rather underhanded methods to stand a chance.
• Bavarian Fire Drill:
  • Cody somehow manages to talk the police officer he encounters at the hospital into deputizing him.
  • Happens literally when Sasha and Joshua disguise themselves as cops and try to get the Silver Shamrock factory evacuated by having Darkhorse activate the fire alarm.
• Behind the Black: Charlie manages to leave his hospital bed when nobody is looking at him, and takes the opportunity to murder another patient in his bed.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Danny Hodges (and the still sleeping Jeff) drive up to the police station just in time to rescue Clara.
  • Later, Danny and Clara jump into Darkhorse’s fire circle — armed to the teeth — which convinces Darkhorse to not only release Loomis but join him as well.
  • After taking control of Michael Myers’s rat swarm, Laurie uses them to attack the snakes closing in on Clara and Darkhorse.
• Bittersweet Ending: Laurie is unable to drown Michael Myers and end him forever, and Cochran's ritual does go off successfully, causing the world to be ripped asunder, and Darkhorse has lost all will to live. However, Danny, Clara and Charlie manage to find a new life as a family, Jeff begins to oversee the rebuilding of society, Loomis and Austin are intent on hunting Michael down, and Laurie finally passes peacefully into the afterlife.
• Blaming the Victim: Molly Bridges does not believe her daughter's story, and assumes that she must have done something to make her brother Charlie stab her.
• Broad Strokes: DM Paulo Quiros takes this approach to the canonicity of Halloween III: Season of the Witch. He pretty much has to, given that the original Halloween exists within it as an in-universe film.
• Broken Ace: The events of the previous Halloweens have given Danny Hodges several deep-rooted phobias as well as general trauma. He also broke up with Molly and moved to California to get away from Haddonfield.
• Brought Down to Normal: Upon entering our world, Austin Cunningham becomes a human dark-skinned blonde, while the Aes Sidhe turns into a Noble Wolf. The Millipedes also turn into snakes as they come through.
• Call-Back:
  • Much like the first Halloween campaign, this one starts with a young boy attacking his sister and her boyfriend while wearing a Halloween mask.
    • Scott referring to his skateboarding move as "The Jackrabbit" was an unintentional example, however, because Scott took a minute to realize Paulo was redoing the opening of the first campaign.
    • Also defied: While in the middle of fending off Charlie, Scott briefly considers having Sean punch him in the face (like he did with Michael), only to walk it back and instead decide to choke him out.
  • Paulo opens the campaign by accidentally stating the present year is 1972, instead of 1982, much like how he accidentally opened the previous installment by stating it was 1969 instead of 1979.
  • Danny mentions that he used to date a lady calling herself Baby Destruction in the past.
• The Call Knows Where You Live: Downplayed: After Charlie attacked Clara, Jeff made a point of driving all the way out to California to confront Danny and bring him back to Haddonfield so they can deal with what's going on (which he agrees to do after Jeff reveals that Silver Shamrock is involved).
• Came Back Wrong: Being stuck as a tree for three years has made Lynda go a bit loopy, making it harder for her to comprehend human motivations. She also keeps forgetting that she doesn’t have roots anymore.
• Cannot Cross Running Water: Michael Myers in his rat swarm form. This is also Cochran’s reason for not personally participating in the ceremony. However, his Mecha-Mooks do not have this handicap.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: While at the Blarney Stone, Joshua manages to get drunk enough that he decides to climb onto a table and belt out the Silver Shamrock commercial jingle. However, according to Danny, he's doing this after "half a beer".
• Casanova Wannabe: Joshua seems to flirt with every beautiful woman he encounters, and Danny indicates that he’s not nearly as good at it as he thinks he is.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • An unintentional example. Laurie grabs a thorny vine and uses it to climb down to who she thinks is Dr. Loomis. DM Paulo Quiros feels like he has to allow this, as he already established the existence of such vines in the previous Halloween campaign.
  • Also in the Underworld, Loomis finds the Headless Horseman’s horse bound at a campsite. Said horse ends up becoming quite a useful distraction which takes the giant worm’s attention away from him.
• Chekhov's Skill: Tragically Subverted. Cody tries to use his lockpicking skills to get out of his cell, but it takes too long, leading to him and Adam Condan being devoured by rats.
• Cliffhanger:
  • The second episode ends with Sean getting ambushed by Charlie on the hospital roof and stabbed in the neck with a syringe.
  • The fourth episode ends with Sasha, Arianna and Joshua being taken captive by Cochran’s guards, while Clara comes face to face with her possessed little brother, who is currently crawling around on the ceiling.
  • By the end of the fifth episode, Sasha and Joshua have been taken to be executed, Darkhorse has joined forces with Cochran, Clara, Adam and Cody have been arrested, Laurie has fallen off a cliff in the underworld and Danny has armed himself with a gun he may or may not have to use against his Ambiguously Evil ex.
• The Cloud Cuckoolander Was Right: It’s implied that Cormac was assigned to the hospital basement due to being seen as a crazy, paranoid old man. However, by the time of the campaign most of his predictions have come true.
• Continuity Nod: When Paulo has Joz roll IQ to avoid surprise (since Charlie is about to attack Clara, but she doesn't know yet), she remarks that "this feels like the dock all over again".
• Contrived Coincidence:
  • As it turns out, Darkhorse did in fact minor in electrical engineering, but became a bartender because that actually pays better. This becomes very convenient for Danny Hodges when he needs help investigating some strange circuit technology.
  • Happens again when Darkhorse also turns out to keep a magnifying glass at home, as her elderly grandmother needs it to read the newspaper.
• Cool Old Guy: Sasha, a university professor who loves drinking, is into S&M and is perfectly on board with breaking into a dangerous factory in the middle of the night.
• Crazy Enough to Work:
  • What winds up convincing Sasha that Joshua is needed on their team in order to investigate Silver Shamrock? Darkhose calling him a maverick, and stating that two loose cannons are better than one.
  • Upon realizing her mom is about to sacrifice a child in order to "unmark" her, and after failing to grab the ceremonial dagger before she can, Clara decides to throw herself on top of Lily... and then proceeds to eat the various herbs and powders surrounding them. And after two failed rolls to grab her, Moll gives up and hears her out.
• Crossover Cosmology: Celtic Mythology is obviously the main inspiration, but there is quite a bit of Ragnarök inspiration too, not to mention an implicit appearance by Charon.
• Death of Personality: Cormac claims that this is essentially what happened to Michael Myers and now Charlie Bridge. Fortunately, it turns out to be reversible at least in Charlie’s case.
• Decoy Damsel: After getting pulled over by cops, Sasha pretends to be a hostage whom his fellow passengers kidnapped. The ruse works and helps him getting the upper hand.
• Demonic Possession: Michael Myers is confirmed to be a Fomhórach, a member of a race from Celtic Mythology which waged wars against the Tuatha Dé Danann, and have been portrayed as possessed humans in some modern iterations.
• Demoted to Extra: Dr. Dan Challis goes from being the protagonist of the film to a minor side character who only appears in two scenes, which helps with the ruse that he was named after a Patreon supporter.
• Destroyer Deity: Danu of Celtic Mythology is portrayed as such, with Laurie Strode comparing her to the Hindu goddess Kali.
• Didn't See That Coming: When discussing how the trilogy has been home to a lot of bad rolls, Paulo admits that the group going into the Underworld wasn't supposed to happen:
  Paulo: You guys jumping into the Underworld required, like, a Crit Success in Halloween 2, you shouldn't have been here... But, y-you hit that roll!
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: invoked Deliberately invoked by Jeff when he chews Danny out in Part 2, informing him of how Charlie had attacked his sister and her boyfriend with a knife while wearing a Halloween mask.
  Jeff: Yesterday, Charlie Bridge tried to kill his sister.
  Danny: Um... I'm sorry, Jeff, give me a second... what? W- how? Was it... how?
  Jeff: With a knife. Wearing a mask. Remind you of something?
• Do Not Try This at Home:
  • As Joz describes the drink Darkhorse makes in the second episode, the Backdraft,^note which, point of order, involves lighting one of the components on fire, and then pouring it at one point Paulo states his fear that a listener is going to sue the podcast after they try this.
    Paulo: We are getting- we are getting sued by some listener who attempts that, and burns their house down.
    Andy: Yeah, do not attempt. Do not attempt.
    Scott: Do not blow your eyebrows off by making- what the fuck is this thing called?
    • Joz even makes a point of refusing to finish reading the instructions, inviting the listener to look it up themselves, "and don't sue [them]".
  • Joz outright namedrops the trope after it's decided to let Darkhorse, the least drunk of her group, drive them to the Silver Shamrock factory. Almost immediately after this, the group runs afoul of the cops.
• Dramatic Irony: When it becomes clear that Darkhorse and Sasha will be having their own storyline in Part 3, Scott starts claiming that the campaign is going to take so long, it's going to be released next year... in 2021.^note The first three episodes were recorded in 2020.
• Dressing as the Enemy: Sasha and Joshua steal and don the uniforms of the cops they kidnap to get into the Silver Shamrock factory.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Cormac suddenly dies of a heart attack while Clara and her companions are busy fighting her brother Charlie.
• Dumbass No More: Jeff is far more serious than he was for most of the first two campaigns, treating the situation with absolute gravitas.
• Enemy Mine: Cochran is genuinely concerned about the presence of a Fomórach, and willingly helps Loomis take it down.
• Excalibur in the Rust: While exploring the Underworld, Loomis finds a campsite where what appears to be just a sword hilt is stuck in the clay. He later learns that this is a very powerful, enchanted sword, which requires a blood sacrifice to be usable.
• Evil Versus Evil: The snakes attack other beings indiscriminately, whether they are humans, demons, robots, possessed rats or an Aes-Sidhe transformed into a wolf.
• The Ferryman: The very end of the campaign has Laurie’s spirit join him, finally at peace.
• Food as Bribe: After Danny's group accidentally kidnap a trick-or-treater, the kid (upset and panicking) offers his candy if they let him leave. Danny opts to have Jeff throw him out of the (slow-moving) car... while also choosing to keep the candy.
• Foreshadowing:
  • When narrating Clara and Sean's fight against Charlie at the start of the campaign, Paulo accidentally refers to Joz as "Laurie". Fast forward several scenes, and it turns out that Paulo wasn't just making a flub.
  • During Danny and Joshua's first scene, where they're doing work at the gas station, the woman they're working for ("Old Lady Preston") yells at them to finish their job:
    Paulo!Preston: There's a half-a-ton of metal underground, and you have to pick up every stitch!
• Forced Transformation: After some rats fall into the portal to the Underworld, they turn into creatures with more legs than they should have.
• Fountain of Youth: Sam Loomis Came Back Strong from the Underworld, having regressed about twenty years in age. Scott Aiello is very disappointed that this has no effect on his stats.
• Gender-Blender Name: The name Sasha Varnavskaya is actually in feminine form according to Russian grammar. The masculine equivalent would be Sasha Varnavskiy. This was acknowledged as an error, but the Rerollers fully embraced the explanation that he was trans and declared it canon.
• Get Out!: After Sasha lets it slip that he and Darkhorse are friends of Danny (and that Danny had called her a bitch), Trish demands that the two of them and Joshua leave her house.
• Good All Along:
  • The demon Laurie meets in the underworld turns out to be just another lost soul who is almost as confused about the situation as she is.
  • The Shepherds are revealed to actually be a Benevolent Conspiracy — albeit one funded by organized crime — fighting against the forces of evil.
• Good Cop/Bad Cop: Sasha and Josh manage to pull this on both a pair of actual cops (leading to some Stockholm Syndrome) and then on Cochran while infiltrating his factory.
• Good Luck Charm: Cormac gives Clara a small golden necklace ”for protection.”
• Gotta Catch Them All: During the Final Battle, Austin tells his companions that he needs Charlie, the Aes-Sidhe and a local flower to cast his spell. The players lampshade that he’s pretty much sending them on a Fetch Quest.
• Grand Finale:
  • Of the Halloween trilogy. It is a seven-part mega campaign with a large cast and a Going Cosmic plot involving the apocalypse.
  • More generally, the final episode, which is pretty much a feature-length battle royale fight scene.
• The Great Wall: The epilogue shows Jeff leading the construction of one around “New Haddonfield”, all with his usual optimism.
• Gun Nut: Sasha has a large collection of guns, and a rather worrying tendency to point them in other people’s faces.
• Happy Ending Override: Downplayed: Although the Halloween II campaign ended with Danny deciding to be the best father possible for Charlie and Clara, the trauma of dealing with Laurie and Dr. Loomis being dead eventually drove him to move to California at some point during the following three years. Jeff has to go and get him to come back.
• He Had a Name: Invoked upon discovering that her mom is willing to sacrifice a child in order to save her life, Clara demands that Moll tell her what the child's name is. After a brief attempt at stating it didn't matter, she reveals the kid's name is Lily.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Clara, Adam and Cody are arrested by police officers after Cormac is found dead in their presence. The silver lining is that the actually murderous Charlie is taken in as well. It is however indicated that they might not be real cops, but rather more of Cochran’s Mooks.
• History Repeats: The campaign starts with Clara babysitting her little brother, while her boyfriend Sean is over, and wishes to demonstrate a (skateboarding) move called "The Jackrabbit", before her brother comes at her with a knife. For the record, Scott didn't realize what Paulo was doing at first with the opening, and as such unknowingly did a Call-Back with "The Jackrabbit".
• Holy Burns Evil: The necklace Clara received from Cormac ended up burning Charlie, rendering him unconscious. All she can do is hope that it also got rid of the evil possessing his body.
• Hospital Hottie: Joshua unsuccessfully tries to flirt with Jessica Travino, a rather attractive nurse.
• Human Ladder: Cochran’s Mecha-Mooks form “stepping stones” with their hands for Darkhorse and two technicians to cross. Arianna and one of her companions make it over, but the other falls into the river.
• Hypothetical Casting: invoked Due to the voice he chose to use for the character, Scott decides apropos of nothing that Sean is being portrayed by Keanu Reeves.
• I Choose to Stay: At the end of the campaign, Loomis decides to return to the Underworld with Austin, hoping there’s still some way to rescue Laurie. Darkhorse also joins the duo, but has parted ways with them by the time of the epilogue.
• I Hate Past Me: Discussed: When talking about the episodes of the campaign they had recorded back in 2020 at the top of Part 4, the players (in particular Joz) admit they agree with the audience with not understanding the decisions they themselves made in the campaign.
• Immune to Bullets: The Men In Suits. Shooting them buys Clara some time as they fall over, but they tend to get back up again.
• I'm Standing Right Here: Upon breaking into Trish's apartment, Sasha points a shotgun at Joshua and demands to know where he can find "Joshua Orsino".
• Interrupted Suicide: At the end of the campaign, Darkhorse — feeling abandoned by everyone — attempts to steal Danny’s sword and stab herself with it. She’s stopped by Loomis, who chews her out thoroughly.
• Legacy Character: Charlie Bridge has essentially replaced the young Michael Myers as the emotionless, masked child killer.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!:
  • Danny insists that he and Jeff go after Charlie while Sasha and Darkhorse investigate the Silver Shamrock factory. Justified in that these things are happening in different cities and they have a very tight deadline to work with.
  • A less thought-out example happens when Loomis angrily storms off to explore the Underworld further on his own, while Laurie talks to a lost soul in the blood river.
  • Later justified when Cochran doesn’t personally participate in the ceremony. He explains that he has been magically banned from the Haddonfield holy ground.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Hearing Joz casually call herself a witch causes Scott to be caught off guard... only for Paulo to ask if he listened to the Practical Magic campaign^note which he admits he had yet to.
• Long Runner: invoked Not only is this one of the longer campaigns at seven episodes, but the first three were recorded back in 2020, which is revealed at the start of episode 4 (which they admit to recording on December 1st, 2021).
  • In terms of both recording^note Paulo tried to get the campaign finished in time for release in 2020, but there was a snag and release^note The first three episodes came out in November 2021, Part 4 came out December 17th, and the rest were released from New Years 2021 to January 31st 2022, this campaign took the better part of a year to get done and dusted. Scott parodies this in his intro in Part 6, when he adopts an old man voice and claims to have "been here for 57 years".
• Magitek: Silver Shamrock’s Evil Plan involves powering (presumably magical) rocks with microchips giving them an electric charge.
• Medical Horror: The first episode is largely set at two hospitals located in different states, both of which end up becoming the target of murderers.
• Medium Awareness: Discussed: When Lynda asks Laurie if she ever became a tree, Joz (unnerved) asks Paulo if the question was directed to Laurie, or towards herself.
  Andy: (to Joz) She's been in the World Tree, man, she knows all of your forms.
• The Men in Black: Cochran’s guards are men in identical black suits and Sinister Shades who are almost inhumanly stoic.
• Meta Twist: Halloween 3 turns out to be a partial adaptation of Halloween III: Season of the Witch. This would be the opposite of surprising if that film wasn't infamous for its lack of connection to the rest of the Halloween series, and if the earlier Film Reroll campaign hadn't taken said series quite Off the Rails already.
• Mind Screw: Laurie Strode’s fighting to avoid her own Loss of Identity is described in a surreal, dreamlike way, with the mental equivalent of Body Horror.
• Mistaken Identity: Danny Hodges and his crew pick up a boy in a pumpkin mask they confuse for Charlie. When he turns out to be just some other kid, Danny pushes him out of the car and speeds away, understandably not letting him keep his mask or — less understandably — even his candy.
• Molotov Cocktail: Arianna uses one to burn down Sasha’s abandoned car to make them harder to track. This just makes him love her even more.
• Morphic Resonance: Michael’s true form still has his distinctive pale face and bluish body. ^note  The actual costume was greenish-grey — as can be seen when he confronts Tommy Doyle — but the dark lighting often made it look blue. In hindsight, this might imply that Myers’s Iconic Outfit was an attempt at recreating said form.
• Mugged for Disguise: Upon arriving at the Silver Shamrock factory, as Darkhorse begins her own infiltration, Sasha and Joshua take advantage of the fact they had kidnapped two cops early into their journey, and take their uniforms so they could pass off as cops investigating the factory.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Played for laughs: When Joshua decides to swing by Trish's place in Part 2, Danny decides to rant about how she's a bitch. This winds up biting Andy in the ass in the next episode, when Paulo has him play Trish during the scene at her place.
• Never Found the Body: The man who murdered Harry Grimbridge is presumed to have died in an act of self-immolation, but no body is found when the wreck of his car is examined.
• Neighbourhood-Friendly Gangsters: Sasha, when not being outright Affably Evil.
• Nightmare Fetishist: The bartender at the hospital bar — nicknamed Darkhorse — is a literal example, having quite a thing for blood and gore. This eventually leads to her making a Face–Heel Turn and joining forces with the Big Bad.
• Nightmare Fuel: invoked In-Universe, Scott and Andy were openly creeped out by the Silver Shamrock commercial Paulo played, with Scott in particular openly calling him sick for making it.
• Noble Wolf: The Aes-Sidhe at first seems to be a Savage Wolf, but is really just lashing out after suddenly being transported into a warzone in a strange, unfamiliar world. After finding it licking its wounds, Loomis manages to tame and even ride it. This makes it all the more heartbreaking when Austin has to sacrifice it to complete his spell.
• Noodle Incident: While any listener who has followed the show knows what went down, Danny’s vague allusions to what happened those previous Halloweens come across like this In-Universe.
• No-Sell: Cody attempts to use hypnotism on Charlie Bridge, to no avail whatsoever.
• No Social Skills: Cody Peyton — a friend of Clara who works as a hospital cleaner — is characterized as a well-meaning but annoying nerd, and The Rival to Sean.
• Not Quite Dead:
  • To the surprise of everyone — including her player, Joz Vammer — Laurie Strode is still alive, more or less. At the very least, she’s still present enough in the underworld to influence the story.
  • Also happens to Lynda van der Klok, who is brought back to her true form after being stuck in the underworld.
• Not What It Looks Like: The cops Sasha's group winds up kidnapping assume they are in the middle of a nefarious Communist plot.
• "Open!" Says Me: Fueled by the power of karate and Alcohol-Induced Stupidity, when Sasha and Darkhorse arrive at Trish's apartment to pick up Joshua, Darkhorse kicks down the front door.
• Our Demons Are Different: They are the Tuatha Dé Danann. Or rather, Horned Humanoid “Austin Cunningham” is a Tuatha Dé Danann who is initially identified as a demon by our heroes.
• Overt Operative:
  • Sasha’s “Reorganizer” outfit includes a white tracksuit, earmuffs and Cool Shades which are just about the least stealthy combination imaginable. Danny suggests he waits in the car while the others carry out the actual break-in.
  • Clara and Cormac soon learn that smuggling out an old man in a laundry basket is harder than one might think.
• Point of Divergence:
  • Right before the campaign starts, Scott acknowledges that the reason why Danny Hodges wound up becoming ostensibly the protagonist of the "Halloween" trilogy was because his go as Danny at the start of the trilogy had him stick around the Meyer's house longer "due to sexual frustration".
  • Although it can be chalked up to the fact that this campaign is actually a partial adaptation, the inciting incident of Harry Grimbridge showing up at the gas station, collapsing and spouting vague warnings of doom, originally occurred eight days before Halloween (October 23rd). Here, it's explicitly stated Danny and Joshua encounter him three days before Halloween.
• Police Are Useless: Several examples, but the officer manning the emergency line (played by Andy Hoover) really stands out. He flirts with a caller who mentions having a boyfriend, outright admits to not knowing standard procedure, and throws in a free firetruck in the vehicle dispatchment as a “special offer.” It’s acknowledged that he’s well on his way of getting fired.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Jeff has some very choice words for Danny after reuniting with the man, as the young boy he once promised to care for has now attacked his own sister.
• Reckless Gun Usage: Sasha tries in vain to seduce Cochran’s guards by singing into his shotgun, only to accidentally shoot himself and disfigure his own face.
• Redemption Equals Death: After joining forces with our heroes, Maude meets her end at the cemetery, getting eaten by a giant snake.
• Resigned to the Call: Downplayed: After Jeff confronts him for abandoning Clara and Charlie, Danny snaps back about how he couldn't stand to stay in Haddonfield anymore following Loomis and Laurie's demise. But after Jeff reveals exactly what caused Charlie to attack his sister (the same kind of Silver Shamrock mask Danny was previously investigating), Danny's immediate response is to quietly (but calmly) ask that, if they have to drive back to Haddonfield, Jeff drives while he sleeps.
• Ridiculously Human Robot:
  • Sasha finds one in the basement of the Silver Shamrock Factory, designed to look like a knitting old lady. As realistic as she is, she’s also quite fragile and quickly loses her head when touched.
  • The Men in Black employed by Cochran also turns out to be this.
• Ring of Fire: Created by Darkhorse as part of her ceremony. It ends up coming in handy when the party is unexpectedly crashed by a small army of giant snakes, with plenty of characters leaping in and out of the circle.
• Schizo Tech: Before the Santa Mira team begins their infiltration of the Silver Shamrock factory, Joshua abruptly realizes the necessity of finding a camera to record shit. As a result of Joz hitting Darkhorse's Scrounge roll by 7, Paulo (almost reluctantly) narrates that one of the cops they had kidnapped has an extremely early prototype of a body cam on his person.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • Upon discovering Charlie at the police station, Danny tries to talk to him, apologizing for abandoning him and wanting to get him help for what he's been through... but the second the rat swarm appears in front of him, taking on the form of a man, Danny decides to instead get back in his car and bail.
    Danny: (cheerful) Hey Charlie, you know, I think we can, uh, pick this talk up later, good talk, I'm gonna get in the car and drive, and get the hell out of here! That's what I'm gonna do! See ya, man!
  • After being confronted by the rat swarm, Lund throws herself right back into the portal to the Underworld, where she is then confronted by millipedes-turned-snakes and pushed right out again.
• Secret-Keeper: In-between episodes, Joz Vammer would state on Twitter that while Sasha was not very open about his past, Arianna knew about his transition, having been acquainted with him since before and supported him throughout it.
• Self-Immolation: While not shown, we are told that Harry Grimbridge was murdered by a stranger who then committed suicide by lighting both himself and his car on fire.
• Sequel Gap: Three years have passed since the last Halloween campaign, both in and out of universe. ^note Going by the date of recording, that is. It actually took four years for the campaign to be finished and uploaded. It also matches up with when Halloween III: Season of the Witch was released.
• Sex God: While also somewhat of a Casanova Wannabe, by all accounts Josh genuinely is a stallion in bed, and Trish is said to be quite enthusiastic about spending the night with him.
• Shout-Out:
  • When Arianna masterfully sneaks into the Silver Shamrock factory (which Sasha describes as “so fucking hot”) the Rerollers joke that Darkhorse has basically become Catwoman.
  • The presence of giant worms under the mud in the Underworld naturally leads to a few Dune shoutouts.
• Sixth Ranger: Downplayed: Clara and Cody wind up enlisting the help of an orderly, Adam Condan, in attempting to sneak Cormac out of the hospital.
• Slipping a Mickey: Danny finds Jeff asleep on Molly’s couch after the latter drugs his tea.
• Soul Jar: It’s eventually revealed that upon his previous defeat, the spirit of Michael Myers was split into many pieces, two of which are currently laying dormant within Sam and Laurie. To fight him, they would have to return to the world of the living, but that would also allow him to reform.
• Spirit Advisor: After dying in the Underworld and losing even her Non-Corporeal form, Laurie basically just becomes a spirit who can only communicate with Loomis through Telepathy.
• Stable Time Loop: Laurie’s nightmare in Halloween 2 turns out to have been caused by her future self mind-melding with the God Tree in the Underworld. She was actually seeing it being feasted upon by a parasitic creature from the perspective of the tree.
• Swarm of Rats: Charlie leads one which ambushes Clara, Cody and Adam, ultimately killing his sister’s friends. It’s indicated that both Charlie and the rats are inhabited by the same spirit which possessed Michael Myers.
• Symbiotic Possession: Being a Naïve Newcomer to being a spirit, Laurie doesn’t quite know how to possess people. She tries to pull this off with Loomis, Charlie, the Aes-Sidhe and one of Cochran’s doctors, to no avail. Finally, she manages to possess a rat... which allows her to engage in a direct fight against the spirit of Michael Myers.
• Take Me Instead: Laurie tries to invoke this when she finds Loomis being feasted on by a parasitic creature. However, it’s not intelligent enough to understand her, so she has to Attack Its Weak Point instead.
• Take Me to Your Leader: Inverted when the receptionist at the Silver Shamrock Factory insists that the ”cops” talk to her boss Cochran before the building is evacuated, which puts a dent in their plan.
• Taking You with Me: Laurie’s Battle in the Center of the Mind against Michael ends with her dragging him into the deep sea below even the Underworld. It doesn’t quite become a Mutual Kill, as Myers seemingly survives. But the Fomórach is still trapped there with no apparent way back to our world.
• Teacher/Student Romance: Downplayed. Sasha used to be Arianna’s University professor, and the two have stayed in touch and maintained a close friendship and a mutual crush, but they never have an outright Relationship Upgrade.
• That Came Out Wrong: Right before going into the instructions on how to make a Backdraft, Joz says the following:
  Joz: Listeners, if you'd like to... shoot along with- That sounds bad. (everyone else laughs) If you want to do a shot along with us...
  Scott: Wow. Wow.
• Three Lines, Some Waiting: At one point, we have Danny Hodges investigating the Halloween masks, Clara Bridge trying to deal with her now murderous younger brother, and Laurie Strode exploring the underworld, all with their own supporting casts of characters.
  Joz: We have like nine storylines!
• Tomato in the Mirror: Cormac revealed to Clara Bridge that she’s actually a Cochran on her father’s side, and that said father was part of another Ancient Conspiracy who were driven out by the Shepherds.
• Transflormation: Seems to happen a fair amount in The Underworld.
  • Near the god tree, Laurie and Austin find a bleeding tree which used to be a person. After returning it to its normal form, said person turns out to be... Lynda Van Der Klok.
  • Loomis later turns out to have undergone the same fate, forcing Laurie to turn him back as well.
  • Austin also says that the god tree is itself the body of a god. It is still considered alive, and the consequences would apparently be apocalyptic if it were to ever die.
• Took a Level in Badass: Last time, Clara Bridge was just an NPC who seemed to be quite weak willed (though it was the day of her father's funeral) and was easily frightened. By the end of this campaign, she shoots several of Cochran's minions and plays an active role in the climax.
• Translator Microbes: The Demonic Preacher burns a plant and has Laurie (and later Lynda) stuff the ashes into their ears, allowing them to understand his language.
• Tuckerization:
  • Subverted with Dr. Daniel Challis, who is actually a character from Halloween III: Season of the Witch, but Paulo pretends that he’s named after a Patreon supporter to keep the ruse up.
  • Laurie randomly decides to name the demon preacher she encounters in the underworld Austin Cunningham a name which — out of universe — actually was taken from a Patreon supporter.
  • Officer Chris Brown was also a case of this, and not a reference to the more famous musician.
• The Unpronounceable: “Austin Cunningham’s” real name is said to be unpronounceable to human tongues.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Loomis gets ahold of an extremely powerful sword, but has no real fighting skills and later hands it over to Danny for this reason.
• Vagueness Is Coming: Danny and his coworker Joshua are accosted by a panicked stranger who claims that “they” will kill them all. The construction workers agree to take him to the hospital.
• Weak to Fire:
  • The snakes are killed as they touch Darkhorse’s fire circle. They do however also start extinguishing it, making it clear that it won’t be keeping them out forever.
  • Later, when our heroes set out on their Fetch Quest, they make torches to ward off the snakes.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Molly Bridge drugs a police officer and kidnaps a little girl to use her as a Human Sacrifice in a cermony which only might save the life of her own daughter. Once said daughter convinces her that their must be another way, she agrees to abort her plan and join forces with the heroes.
• We Need a Distraction: Arianna and Sasha’s plan hinges on the former creating disturbances in the Silver Shamrock Factory, giving the latter and Joshua an excuse to impersonate cops and investigate the factory, while also occupying the attention of the boss. It doesn’t quite go so smoothly.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Lampshaded: After stopping Moll from killing Lily, Clara takes her outside and, upon reconvening with Danny and Jeff, starts to plan out what to do next... only for Jeff to point out that they left Lily inside.
• Wham Line:
  • Excluding the Patreon supporter-named character Dr. Daniel Challis, there are two clues in the first half of the first episode towards the Meta Twist nature of this campaign:
    • The Halloween commercial Danny and Joshua keep hearing, with Paulo stating it goes:
      Three more days 'til Halloween, Halloween, Halloween!
    • After the second time it plays, Andy and Scott roll an IQ check to learn more about it, and when Scott passes, Paulo explains:
      Paulo: So, it's this commercial that's been on for a mask company that's selling these special rubber masks for Halloween, and it's called the Silver Shamrock Company.
  • After Charlie escapes the hospital room, Paulo decides it’s time to cut away again:
    Paulo: And now there is chaos and commotion, and we are going to cut... to... Laurie Strode.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Jeff pulls no punches in calling out Danny for abandoning Clara and Charlie, especially in light of Charlie attacking his sister.
  • Trish chews Josh out thoroughly after his "friends" break down her door, insult her and threaten her with a gun.
• Worf Had the Flu: Given how it's later revealed that Charlie was possessed by the same thing that possessed Michael, the prologue counts as Paulo keeps rolling poorly for his attacks, allowing Sean and Clara to actively fend him off, with Clara knocking the knife out of his hand and Sean successfully choking him out.
• The Worm That Walks: The rat swarm — already possessed by the Fomhórach previously known as Michael — eventually take on a humanoid form, which is enough for Danny to have a Screw This, I'm Out of Here! moment and leave Charlie behind.
• You Didn't Ask: Lynda’s response to Laurie, after the latter realizes that the spirit she has been chasing after is Major Simms and not Dr. Loomis.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!:
  • Once Paulo makes it clear in Part 3 that, due to Danny leaving with Jeff back to Haddonfield, Darkhorse and Sasha now have their own separate plotline, Scott practically loses his shit with laughter.
  • This is basically Danny's reaction when it turns out that, when his group finds Charlie on the side of a road and pull him into the car... and it turns out they had actually kidnapped an unknown child.
    Danny: (annoyed) Well, well, well, we're just racking them up!

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