Recap / Film Reroll: Halloween (1978)

"... cigarette?"^note  Art by AudiovisualNonsense

We play Halloween on Halloween! Andy gets murdered! Scott can’t stop his British accent from coming out! Joz finds a sword!

Episodes 16-17 of Film Reroll. Based on the 1978 horror movie.

When the infamous killer Michael Myers escapes from the asylum the night before All Hallows Eve, Doctor Sam Loomis teams up with Danny Hodges — the former boyfriend of one of Michael's previous victims — and the rather incompetent police officer Jeff to take the murderer down. Meanwhile, Laurie Strode — a seemingly normal teenage girl — gets ready to celebrate Halloween as well as she can while babysitting two children, unaware that she is about to get a personal visit from the criminal...

Starring Jocelyn "Joz" Vammer as Laurie Strode, Andy Hoover as Danny Hodges and Annie Brackett, Scott Aiello as Sam Loomis (First Appearance), and Paulo Quiros as the Dungeon Master.

Followed by Stand By Me. For the sequel campaign, go here.

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Tropes:

• Adaptational Badass:
  • Danny Hodges did nothing particularly badass in the film. Here however, he punches the young Michael Myers in the face and throws him down the stairs in the Distant Prologue. Years later, during the main story, he manages to shoot him (albeit after many failed attempts), hit him with a car and drive him through a wall, seemingly killing Myers.
  • Arguably Dr. Loomis and Laurie Strode too. They were already pretty badass in the movie, but they have access to better weapons here.
• Adaptational Villainy: Mr. and Mrs. Doyle, Morgan Strode and Mr. (and likely Mrs.) Wallace are all members of the mysterious Shepherd cult. It's a bit more complicated than all of them just being evil, though.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Danny Hodges was originally a minor character who only appeared just long enough to sleep with Michael's sister Judith very quickly. Here he is a major character throughout the story, basically becoming the Jonathan Harker to Dr. Loomis' Van Helsing. He even makes it into the sequel.
  • Arguably Dr. Loomis too. He was already the Deuteragonist in the original film (even if his actor was given top billing), but here we get to see more of the story from his point of view, unquestionably making him The Protagonist.
• As the Good Book Says...: Reverend Doyle makes a reference to Exodus 34:7 when he's telling Loomis that Michael and Judith Myers' father blamed himself for what happened to his family, but is interrupted before getting a chance to explain. This is a bit of a Genius Bonus, as its text is never actually read out in this story. (It's the famous Bible verse about the sins of the fathers being visited upon their children, which raises the question of what sins Donald Myers felt he was being punished for through his children...)
• Black-and-White Morality: Danny Hodges calls out Dr. Loomis for describing a mental patient as "pure evil." Loomis himself feels that they have more important things to worry about at the moment, such as the big knife wound in his chest.
• Big Damn Heroes: Jeff ends up saving both Dr. Loomis' and Danny Hodges' lives by shooting Michael Myers. At that point, Danny promises to never make fun of Jeff again. Alas, it wasn't enough to keep Myers down for good.
• Call-Forward:
  • It is hinted at that Michael Myers is part of some kind of Illuminati-like conspiracy, possibly a reference to the Cult of Thorn.
  • Michael Myers' death is similar to the way he — or rather the ambulance worker disguised as him — died at the end of Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later, though more over the top.
  • After killing Michael Myers, Laurie worries that she might become so traumatized by it that she will end up in a mental institution.
• Car Fu: Used during the final confrontation. Not only does it result in part of a house collapsing, but Danny winds up getting severely injured in the process.
• The Cassandra: Dr. Loomis has a hard time convincing any authority figure that they need to help him hunt down the great evil that is Michael Myers. Granted, it is implied that some of them are part of the conspiracy.
• Comically Missing the Point: Jeff the Police Officer is prone to this.
  • While exploring the Myers house, Loomis and Jeff find a half-eaten bird:
    Jeff: Surely no man would have done that.
    Loomis: This is not a man...
    Jeff: No, it's a dead bird.
  • Loomis sends Jeff down to search the basement:
    Loomis: Yell loudly if you see anything.
    Jeff: Ah! A furnace!
  • And, of course:
    Jeff: There's a man in the basement! It's me!
• Combat, Diplomacy, Stealth: Loomis, Danny and Jeff fit the variant quite well. Danny is quickly established as a badass capable of taking on Michael Myers in a fight, Loomis at least tries to be diplomatic by begging Michael to stop and warn other people that they are in danger (not that all of them listen to him), and Jeff — despite having No Indoor Voice — proves himself to be surprisingly stealthy when he sneaks up on Michael Myers and shoots him in the back.
• Darker and Edgier: Parodied: Given the episode contained an extended philosophical conversation between Dr. Loomis and Danny on the nature of evil, and Laurie's ill-advised decision to enlist the help of a still grieving Sheriff Brackett, Scott declares Part 2 of the campaign to be "The Grief Episode".
  Scott: So far, we've just been, like... meandering to different locations, and grieving.
• Dark Messiah: Michael Myers apparently considers himself to be a Christ figure of sorts. After seemingly killing Myers, Dr. Loomis theorizes that his obsession with the number 13 was connected to the thirteenth Station of the Cross, i.e. the death of Jesus. Now what came after that station? Jesus' burial and resurrection.
• Dawson Casting: Invoked by Paulo's narration when he introduces Laurie and her "ordinary teenage friends, all of which look about 28". (The actors playing Laurie's friends Annie and Linda, Nancy Kyes and P.J. Soles, were pushing 30, though Laurie herself was played by Jamie Lee Curtis who was only 20 at the time.)
• Death by Adaptation:
  • Seemingly, Michael Myers himself. In the original movie, he was shot several times before falling out of a window, but they Never Found the Body, implying that he survived, but could still be dying. The sequels then revealed him to have supernatural powers, making him Nigh-Invulnerable. Here however, he arguably gets a more devastating death scene than he got in any of the movies, as he is hit by a car, driven through a into a building, has said building collapse on top of him, is decapitated (which at least the Halloween wiki theorized might kill him) and then has his disembodied head stepped on by Laurie. After all of that, he is definitely dead. At least for now...
  • Averted with Dr. Loomis and Danny Hodges. Both are injured while fighting Michael, yet both survive the campaign and live to see the sequel.
• Didn't Think This Through: When Michael Myers comes after Laurie while she's babysitting, she goes looking for a weapon to defend herself and Joz-as-Laurie manages to get away with acquiring an ornamental broadsword from over the fireplace. It becomes more of a liability than an asset shortly afterward, when Laurie is fleeing down the street and pounding on neighbors' doors calling for help; one neighbor almost lets her in until Paulo remembers the broadsword and decrees that on second thought the neighbor takes one look at the wild-eyed teenager with the bigass sword and closes the door again.
• Epic Fail: In between the two episodes, Scott crafted a theory that Michael Myers was trying to enact a new, thirteenth Station of the Cross. It was only after Dr. Loomis succeeded on an IQ roll that he remembered there are already fourteen stations of the cross. Especially notable in that two players were Catholic, and and Scott himself attended sixteen years of Catholic school.^note Though it should be pointed out that, while the number of Stations is firmly placed at fourteen today, it varied highly historically; according to Romanet Boffin, who visited Jerusalem in 1515, there could be nineteen, twenty-five, thirty-one or thirty-seven Stations, depending on who you asked. Not only that, the widely-circulated 1584 book Jerusalem sicut Christi tempore floruit by Adrichomius does have twelve Stations.
• Exact Words: Upon being ordered by Loomis to shoot if there is a man in the basement, Jeff says this:
  Jeff: There is a man in the basement, it's me.
• Failed a Spot Check: When Dr. Loomis is purchasing guns, Paulo decides (via a bag full of random gun brands) one of the guns he gets is the Ithaca Auto & Burglar. A minute or so later, Joz looks it up, and reveals how shit of a gun it is for Loomis to have... except Scott mistakenly thinks Joz was showing him a gun she wanted Loomis to get. No sooner does he praise Paulo for giving him the Ithaca Auto & Burglar in lieu of that gun, everyone points out what Joz was showing him was that gun.^note Luckily, Paulo quickly owns up to his mistake, and gives him a better one.
• Foreshadowing: When everyone is discussing how Laurie should name her sword after they point out it has its own seat in Loomis’ car, Joz dismisses “Highlander” as a possible name. “There can be only one.”
• Guest Star: Dr. Loomis is played by Scott Aiello, who happens to be a big fan of the Film Reroll podcast. During his introduction, he quotes his favorite lines from the show and compares the experience with being a superhero fan starring in one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.
• Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: As can be gathered fairly easily from the title. Ironically for this trope, All Hallows Eve 1978 actually was a Tuesday.
• I Thought It Meant:
  • When Dr. Loomis is buying guns, Paulo accidentally gives him an Ithaca Auto & Burglar. A little bit later, Joz looks it up, and shares it with Scott... who then proceeds to make fun of Joz for suggesting such a ridiculous gun, and praises Paulo for the better gun choice. It doesn't take long for it to be pointed out that the gun Scott was mocking was what Paulo gave him.
    Joz: (laughs) This is the gun I thought it was. It was made in 1933.
    Scott: Oh man, I hope we're a little more advanced- I'll stick with the Ithaca Auto & Burglar.
    Joz: (talking over Scott) You know what this looks like? This looks like one of those-
    Scott: You're ridiculous. You're ridiculous. For everyone who can't see it, it looks like a freaking musket, okay? She just, like, she was gonna give me a musket, thank God Paulo went into his gun bag and gave me the Ithaca Auto & Burglar-
    Andy: No, that's what that is.
    Joz: (at the same time) No, that's what you have.
    Scott: (sudden realization) Ooooooooh... Paulo...
  • When Jeff admits he's worried that he comes across as stupid due to "the way people talk to [him]", Scott asks in confusion if Jeff was actually meant to be black... because he thought Paulo said "the white people talk to [him]".
    Joz: Jeff gets really high, and suddenly thinks he's black.
• Leave the Camera Running: Variation: The scene where Jeff encounters Laurie and Lynda, and Laurie decides to get Jeff high, winds up going on longer than Paulo wanted it to because Joz and Andy weren't letting it end.
• Lethal Joke Character: Considering how incompetent Jeff is, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume that he doesn't know how to use a gun, but he manages to subvert everyone's expectations by sneaking up on Michael Myers and shooting him in the back.
• Madness Mantra: Lynda gets one after her encounter with Michael Myers.
  Lynda: Totally... Totally...
• Named by the Adaptation: Tommy Doyle's parents are now named Father Keith and Sally Doyle, while Lindsey Wallace's parents are called Jerry and Lisa Wallace.
• Narration Echo:
  Paulo: [describing Michael Myers] So, you walk up to him, and his face is slack and uninhabited—
  "Judith": Michael, your face is slack and uninhabited!
  Paulo: But you see a malice deep in his eyes that you have never seen before.
  "Judith": Except for that malice!
• O.C. Stand-in: Danny Hodges, who goes from being a Shallow Love Interest / Satellite Character to becoming one of main characters. Andy Hoover would later lampshade this, saying that he basically created the character out of nothing.
• Off with His Head!: If you needed any definitive proof how far Off the Rails the campaign became by the end, Laurie Strode decapitates Michael Myers with a sword.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. There are two characters named Jeff. One is a security guard at the Sanatorium and the other is a police officer. Neither is especially competent.
• Original Character: Jeff, a ditzy police officer with about the same level of competence and maturity as Frank Honey. He is teamed up with Dr. Loomis, as this version of Sheriff Leigh Brackett doesn't take the threat seriously enough to go himself.
• The Other Darrin / Promoted to Playable: invoked Zig-zagged: The character of Danny Hodges winds up getting traded between three players: Scott Aiello during the 1963 prologue, Paulo Quiros for a majority of Part 1 (as he's turned into an NPC), and finally Andy Hoover for the remainder of the campaign onward.
• Point of Divergence: While attempting to have sex with Judith during the prologue, Danny (due to a bad roll on Scott's end) "arrives too early"... but, instead of leaving, Danny tries again (and fails again). What this means is that he's still in her room when Michael shows up to stab his sister, and this incident results in him being more prominently involved in the plot when Dr. Loomis comes to town.
• Running Gag:
  • People asking Dr. Loomis if he is British.
  • Also, people asking each other if they have/want a cigarette.
• Sequel Hook: Michael Myers is (probably) dead, but we still don't know exactly what he was or where his powers came from, and there are hints of a larger conspiracy going on in Haddonfield. A sequel addressing most of these plot threads was eventually made.
• Shout-Out:
  • When Scott is gushing about how excited he is to be on the podcast, he openly compares Joz to Tigger.
  • The Jimmy Stewart impression returns from the The Wizard Of Oz campaign, now as the voice of the Sheriff. Also, during the sex scene in the opening, Danny suggests that Judith could put on her Cowardly Lion costume to spice things up.
  • When Paulo Quiros tries to do a scary voice at the beginning of the second episode, Jocelyn tells him to "Bela Lugosi it up."
  • At one point when Danny is off on his own, Scott offers him advice on how he should proceed, and Andy-as-Danny jokingly remarks that it's like he can hear Loomis in his head. Scott replies, "Use the Force, Danny."
• Spared by the Adaptation:
  • The unnamed nurse Myers killed in the film lives through her attack here.
  • As does Lynda. While she is still seriously injured, the sequel confirms that she survived and made a full recovery.
• Speed Sex: The players joke about the fact that in the movie Judith and her boyfriend go upstairs to have sex and then the boyfriend comes back down only a few minutes of unbroken tracking shot later. In the game's re-enactment, the player doing the boyfriend has to roll for endurance, and fails dramatically.
  Danny Hodges: Have I tried "The Jackrabbit" yet? Do you know what "The Jackrabbit" is, babe? I go really really fast, and then I cum.
• The Stoner: As in the film, our girl protagonists are this. They even manage to get Jeff to join in.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: One of the first things Dr. Loomis does after Michael escapes is going to a gun store and buying two pistols and a shotgun, (correctly) figuring that the six shooter he had in the film won't be enough to kill him.
• This Is Gonna Suck:
  • Once Dr. Loomis meets Jeff for the first time, it doesn't take much to make the rerollers to decide they're fucked:
    Dr. Loomis: I'm afraid I've frightened your boss, the sheriff, and I don't want to do the same to you-
    Jeff: Well, it's very appropriate, (spooky voice) it's Halloween...
    (Scott breaks down in laughter)
    Joz: We're fucked.
    Scott: (high-pitched) I can't handle it!
    Joz: We're fucked. We're all dying.
    Scott: (high-pitched) I can't handle this, we're gonna die! We're all gonna fuckin' die!
  • When Jeff approaches Laurie and Lynda when they get caught spying on Loomis and Danny's investigation, Laurie decides to get Jeff stoned. Scott is the most upset about this development:
    Jeff: Smoooooking...
    Scott: We're gonna die, we're gonna die!
• Waking Up at the Morgue: Dr. Loomis fears that Michael Myers might do this, and wants to destroy his remains before that happens. Unfortunately, Myers is one step ahead of them. He came back to life and left before he was even found or brought to the morgue.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Downplayed: Everyone, including Joz, calls into question Laurie's decision to team up with Sheriff Brackett in order to find his wife, since he's still clearly grieving his daughter.
  Sheriff Brackett: (in regards to Laurie's sword) I wish... (voice breaks) Annie had had a giant sword on her...
  Laurie: (uncomfortable) I'm sorry... Oh, Mr. Brackett-
  Andy: This is so awful! Why'd y- Why are you teaming up with this grieving father?!
• Whatever Happened to the Mouse?: Paulo fully acknowledges this at the end of the campaign, pointing out how there were some plot threads going on in the background that the characters never fully answered (in particular, the business going on with the mayor)... as a means of justifying a sequel.
• Workplace-Acquired Abilities: Danny Hodges being a construction worker initially just seems like a segue to a story about an event in his past where something seemingly supernatural turned out to have a perfectly normal explanation. However, it becomes important later on, when he uses his knowledge of house construction to drive Michael Myers into the hardest parts of a building.
• The Worm That Walks: After Danny tells a story where something thought to be demonic sounds turned out to simply be a beehive in the wall, the players start theorizing that maybe Michael Myers is just a bee swarm in a trench coat. (This is — in all likelihood — not actually true.)
• Younger Than They Look: The other players keep deferring to Scott about certain logistics of 1978, prompting him to point out that he was four at the time.

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