5 Major Differences Between The Early Draft Of The Script For Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007) And The Final Film
Introduction
Recently, I decided to read and analyze an early draft of the script for Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007) film. This version of the script was written in 2006 and initially captured my interest after reading about it in Taking Shape: Developing Halloween From Script To Scream, which is a book written by Dustin McNeill and Travis Mullins. I finally decided to read the script myself after purchasing a signed copy of it from Malcom McDowell’s table at a horror convention, I also had Tyler Mane sign it as well. Upon completing my reading of the script, I noted several major differences from the early draft that did not make it to filming or did not appear in the final version of the film. For this post I thought it would be fun to list what I considered to be 5 of the biggest differences between the early draft of the script for Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007) and the final film. There are many differences in this early draft but for this post I decided to select 5 I considered to be the most notable. I also plan to discuss some of my own brief thoughts on the initial ideas from the early screenplay.
The Opening Scene
The script begin’s with the same Loomis quote featured at the beginning of the final film, however instead of cutting to an exterior shot of the house we fade into an opening credits montage which is interesting to note as the final film did not have opening credits. The script then transitions into home video footage focusing on the neighborhood, a boy and his family. The boy smiles and the title-card “Halloween” was supposed to appear, this young boy is 10 year old Michael Myers. It is noteworthy to mention this script specifies the opening takes place on October 31st, 1978, since the film itself does not specify a specific year. Rather than foreshadowing young Michael about to kill his pet rat as featured in the film, the script describes young Michael sitting under a makeshift fort in his bedroom. Michael opens a locked metal toolbox which contains a plastic clown mask, an audio cassette recorder, a scrapbook containing pages from hardcore porn magazines and polaroid photos of dead animals. The script describes viewing these contents through the POV of Michael’s clown mask. Michael then begins to play the cassette recorder, we were to hear the sounds of Michael torturing and killing one of his neighbor’s cats, he is breathing heavily through the mask as he listens. “This is Michael and this is the sound of Boom-boom. Mrs. Avery’s cat.” (Halloween 2007 early draft, page 2). The script then transitions to the breakfast scene which is mostly similar to the final film. When Judith is asked to go get Michael from upstairs, she finds him underneath his fort masturbating to his scrapbook and animal tapes. When they go down to the kitchen and sit down Judith begins to stroke a milk bottle. Judith stroking the milk bottle was in the film, however this moment has more context within the pages of this early draft.
I believe this would have been a more truly shocking and bizarre way to open the film. I liked the concept of Michael recording his early animal murders as it falls in line with how Rob Zombie aimed to portray Michael Myers. Rob made him more of an American serial killer and less of a mysterious boogeyman in the final film and aspects like the audio cassette recorder from this draft would have further reinforced this as serial killers tend to memorialize their crimes in twisted ways. However, I understand why young Michael masterbating to his scrapbook was cut out as this would have been difficult to film and would have made him seem more like a sexual predator rather than a serial killer. I also really enjoyed the inclusion of home video footage in the beginning of this early draft. Home video footage was briefly shown in the final film, but I believe incorporating it into the opening would have helped set the tone and make it feel almost like a true crime documentary. This home video footage would have also made the film more eerie as in the footage young Michael appears as a normal young boy, but behind his eyes are the evil intentions of a psychopath. Rob Zombie is no stranger to showing home video footage of his character’s in his film’s as he previously did this in House Of 1000 Corpses (2003) and The Devil’s Rejects (2005). Overall, Rob makes it clear how disturbed young Michael is right off the bat, I would have liked to see more of the home video footage and the aspect of him recording his murders in the final film.
2. Murder Of A Little Girl Instead Of The Bully
In the final film, Michael stalks and kills one of his bullies in the forest near the school. In the early script, Michael is still bullied however this occurs in the gymnasium where the entire school is watching a screening of the film Forbidden Planet (1956) whereas in the film this bullying incident occurs in the bathroom. Rather than stalking this bully and killing him in the woods after getting in trouble at school, the early script had Michael stalk one of his 9 year old class mates named Jennifer. He lures her into the woods by deceiving her and claiming there is a magic halloween candy tree that grows candy in the woods. After Michael gets her into the woods, he pulls a dead cat whose neck was snapped out of a tree trunk. Michael then says: “See my kitty? I snapped his neck and he liked it. You wanna pet him? His name is Ronnie.” (Halloween 2007 early draft, page 17). It is interesting to note Michael named this cat Ronnie as that is the name of his mother’s abusive boyfriend in this script and the final film. This obviously traumatizes the young girl, but strangely she does not run away, Michael tells her that he can take her home and that he knows of a secret Indian tunnel that will take her to the front of her house. This hole was to have a piece of wood covering it with a skull and crossbones painted on it. When Jennifer peaks into this hole after Michael uncovers it, he pushes her in and proceeds to put on his clown mask and begin recording with the tape recorder. “This is Michael and this is Jennifer out in the woods.” (Halloween 2007 early draft, page 18). As Jennifer screams and begs for help out of the hole, Michael begins to poke her with a big stick in a taunting fashion. Michael was then to begin hitting Jennifer hard over the head with the stick until she became unconscious and blood began to flow. Michael was then to jump in the hole and continue violently beating her with the large stick until she was dead. As if this moment from the script couldn’t get more depraved, young Michael was then to unzip his pants and begin urinating on Jennifer’s corpse.
I believe this kill would have been extremely depraved and difficult to film and I can imagine most Hollywood producer’s immediately pushing for a scene like this not to make it into the film. Young Michael urinating on the little girl’s corpse once again echoes a sexual predator more than a serial killer in my opinion. However, I can imagine having Michael murder this young girl would make him appear more evil. This is because he had more of a reason to kill the bully considering the bully had wronged him, however Michael had no reason to murder this little girl as she had done nothing wrong to him, which makes his pattern of killing seem more indiscriminate. This aligns well with Rob’s final interpretation of Michael in the film and is also a nice callback to The Shape’s pattern of indiscriminate killing from the original 1978 John Carpenter film. I think the murder of the little girl would have elevated Michael’s evil more in the film while him urinating on her body is just a step too far. Urinating on corpses seems more like something Rob Zombie’s Firefly family killers would have done, not so much his interpretation of Michael Myers though. In short, having Michael murder a little girl would have added nicely to the film minus urinating on the body.
3. Halloween Night Murders
In the film, Michael is already home when he decides to murder Ronnie, Steve, and Judith. However, in the earlier draft, Michael’s mother Deborah decided to drop young Michael off at school for a function to get him out of the house and away from the abusive Ronnie. Michael was to make his way back home and start the killing. One of the major differences regarding the murders in this early draft is the audience would have been seeing the killing through the POV of Michael’s mask, which is a nice callback to John Carpenter’s original film. Another difference is that Michael would have been recording the murders with his audio cassette player and the kills were originally supposed to be much more violent. In the final film Michael duck taped Ronnie to a chair and slit his throat but per the original draft Michael did not just slit his throat as he was described to be “sawing violently at Ronnie’s throat.” (Halloween 2007 early draft, page 27). After sawing at Ronnie’s throat, Michael would have plunged the knife into Ronnie’s heart. Steve’s death was mostly the same as in the film, however after beating him over the head with the baseball bat, Michael would pick up a butcher knife and begin stabbing Steve repeatedly. In the final film Michael gropes Judith’s leg upon entering her room, but per the early draft he was described to be “fondling her breasts.” (Halloween 2007 early draft, page 29). Also in the final film, Michael stabs Judith once in the stomach and then follows her into the hallway where he begins slicing violently at her back until she falls. In the early draft, Michael stabs Judith repeatedly in the chest until she falls off the bed and onto the floor which means she was not given the chance to limp into the hallway like in the film. Following the murders, Michael is sitting outside holding young Laurie and playing the audio of his killings of the night. When his mother approaches, Michael simply says: “It’s over.” (Halloween 2007 early draft, page 31). The following scene in this draft was to be a montage of various TV news reports detailing the murders and some of these news reports would have featured content such as Michael’s mother Deborah attending Judith’s funeral and even young Michael Myers appearing in court. One of these reports even described further grisly details about Judith’s death: “apparently she had been stabbed seventeen times and repeatedly sodomized with a baseball bat recovered at the scene.” (Halloween 2007 early draft, page 33).
In my opinion, whether Michael was still at home or if he was at a school function makes little difference to the story other than the fact it demonstrated Michael’s mother Deborah was trying to get Michael to go do other things to escape their rough home environment. Also, as much as the POV shots are an iconic part of the Halloween franchise, I think it’s better those shots described in the early draft did not make into into the final cut of Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007). This is because the exclusion of the POV shots makes the film more unique and specific to Rob’s own vision. Note the cinematographer for Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007), Phil Parmett, was also the cinematographer for The Devils Rejects (2005). Both films had a similar visual style and both films were also made with handheld cameras. In an interview with Phil Parmett in the book Taking Shape: Developing Halloween From Script To Scream, Parmett revealed he and Rob had no interest in copying the original film’s visual style. The final film is supposed to be voyeuristic and not seen from the perspective of any single specific character, rather the audience is supposed to view the events of the film as though they are outside observers. I do believe the extra violence and the concept of Michael recording the murders from the early draft would have fitted nicely into the film as the early 2000’s horror remakes were typically more violent and the recording concept fits into Rob’s interpretation of Michael Myers. Michael groping his sister’s breasts and sodomizing her with a baseball bat is a detail I am happy was excluded as it is just far too over the top. I also believe the inclusion of more news footage would have positively added to the prequel part of the film, as it would make the events feel more like true crime and a young Michael Myers in court would surely make for an interesting scene.
4. Doctor Loomis
In the early version of the screenplay Doctor Loomis had retired once Michael grew up and he is also married to a wife named Ellen. This strongly contrasts the film because the audience was not sure whether Loomis is currently married and Loomis did not completely retire in the film, rather he just left Smith’s Grove. In the screenplay, Loomis still writes a book regarding Michael Myers, but he is much more secluded and does not wish to be famous for being Michaels’s doctor. Loomis only goes back when he learns Michael is being transferred to a minimum security facility. Michael is being transferred in this draft because Smiths Grove is shutting down due to a lack of funding, note that this subplot was absent in the film. It is also interesting to note Loomis was not even living in Illinois during his retirement and therefore has to fly back to the state to reach Haddonfield. His wife strongly protests him going back and pleads for him not to go. I think this interpretation of Loomis would have been interesting to see on screen as he seems more haunted by the fact he failed Michael and he takes it much more personally. Loomis’s wife Ellen also adds more dramatic weight to his character as he had promised her Michael was out of their lives which wound up not truly being the case as his obsession over his patient was only repressed. Loomis genuinely seems to take full responsibility for failing Michael in this script and blames himself. On his flight back to Illinois, Loomis even has a nightmare where Michael kills his wife and two of their friends. This adds even more purpose to the Ellen character as Loomis likely fears Michael will try and kill the ones he loves the most. It’s also interesting to note in a moment when Loomis is conversing with his friend Luke, he mentions the masks Michael would wear became his only form of expression. Loomis states Michael was the biggest mystery and failure of his career, might Loomis have retired because Michael made him feel like he was a failure for failing Michael? I’m curious if this more sympathetic interpretation of Loomis would have altered his characterization in the sequel because in that film he fully embraced his celebrity status while here in this draft he seems to want nothing to do with Michael due to his own guilt. This can only be speculated as these details regarding Loomis did not make it to the final cut of Rob’s first film. Overall, I would have liked to see these extra Loomis details in the film as it makes Loomis a much more sympathetic and broken character. Smiths Grove being shut down is also an interesting detail as it represents a sociological theme that society does not care about the mentally ill. Loomis having a wife and friends also gives him something to lose, which likely makes him fear Michael more whereas in the film he felt like a lone wolf with no one to lose. I really liked the version of Loomis we received in the film, but would have fully embraced these added details as it makes the good Doctor a more complex character. Fun fact: In the script when we meet Loomis’s wife Ellen, she is having a conversation with her friend and mentions she has seen WWMD t-shirts which stands for “what would Michael do.” This is an interesting detail as the WWMD t-shirt would eventually make an appearance in Rob Zombie’s Halloween II (2009). Another fun fact: I found it interesting Loomis had a wife in this draft as another version of Doctor Loomis from Chaos Comics Halloween comic book series also had a wife.
5. Deborah Myers Demise
Theatrically, Deborah Myers commits suicide at home after witnessing the aftermath of Michael violently lashing out and murdering a nurse. At this point in the story she has given up on everything, accepts her son is gone and has lost himself in his own darkness. The film then cuts to years later when Michael is mute, an adult, and still institutionalized at Smiths Grove Sanitarium. In the early script Michael’s mother is still alive when he escapes as an adult and is living in a rundown trailer park outside of Haddonfield. Deborah waits with a gun loaded and ready when she learns of Michael’s escape from Smiths Grove. Inevitably, Michael shows up and holds up a picture of his baby sister to his mother. Deborah tells Michael she gave her up for adoption and tries to convince Michael his baby sister is dead and then places the gun in her mouth. In what would have been an undoubtedly controversial moment, tears begin to stream down Michael’s face and he mutters the word “Boo.” He says “Boo” three times in between Deborah’s dialogue. Deborah tells Michael he will never find her, shoots herself in the mouth and blood sprays onto Michael as the screen goes black. I think it was very interesting the original plan was for Deborah to commit suicide when Michael finds her when he’s an adult. One thing I do like about this scrapped moment is that it seems like Deborah is waiting with a gun to defend herself from Michael when in actuality she is waiting for him to show up so she can commit suicide in front of him. While I was okay with young Michael speaking in this film, I think it would have been a huge mistake to have a grown up Michael speak. This is not simply because it would have been controversial, but also because at this point in the story Michael decided to stop speaking so to have him speak as an adult would be a conflicting plot point. Having him simply just hold up the picture would have been more creepy, effective and would have conveyed the same point. Note that Michael holds up the same picture to Laurie in a moment that did appear in the film. Overall, I would have liked this scene in the film, just minus Michael’s dialogue. I think it’s interesting Deborah didn’t immediately give up like in the final film. Maybe she didn’t give up on her son until much later holding onto hope, which would make her a stronger character. I’m also sure Deborah’s appearance in the scene would also have reflected her years of torment and regret; in turn this would make her a more complex character. Her committing suicide in front of an escaped adult Michael would have also made for a very dramatic scene.
Conclusion
Reading this script has provided me with a more in depth understanding of how films change throughout development. It was truly fascinating to explore some of Rob’s initial ideas for the story. While I really liked some of these changes and disliked others, I am happy with the final version of Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007) that we got as the film holds a special place in my heart. This version of the screenplay can be found online, I truly encourage you to read it for yourself and let me know what you believe are the most crucial changes. I would also recommend reading the book Taking Shape: Developing Halloween From Script To Scream as it provides fascinating details regarding the development of most of the Halloween films (the book covers Halloween (1978) all the way up to Halloween (2018). The only films not covered are Halloween Kills (2021) and Halloween Ends (2022) as those films were not released at the time of the books publishing. Soon I am going to begin reading Taking Shape II: The Lost Halloween Sequels as I have heard glowing reviews for the book and am curious to learn about some of the cancelled Halloween films. Expect some posts in the near future regarding these lost scripts. Thank you for reading!