John Carpenter is actively denying that a version of 1978’s Halloween exists where Michael Myers definitively dies.
Perhaps nobody has a greater tie to the Halloween franchise than John Carpenter (that especially means you, David Gordon Green). So when someone challenges him with a question or historical “fact”, he can’t help but lay it all out. And he’s going to do it in the most John Carpenter way possible.
It all started when the social media account for the Hollywood Horror Museum claimed that footage exists that shows that Michael Myers definitively died at the end of 1978’s Halloween, writing, in part: “A friend who worked on the Blu-ray restoration told us about it with 95% different footage, and original ending where Michael dies. Due to copyright issues, it’s not available.” Getting wind of the apparent nonsense the nonprofit group was throwing around about Halloween, John Carpenter bluntly wrote, “There is no different version of HALLOWEEN where Michael dies. This is total bullshit!”
Below their original post, the Hollywood Horror Museum added the following details: “There was a storage bin filled with outtakes, somehow the producers lost control of it, and a person bought it at auction. The producers would love to release this cut and extra footage, but can’t work out a deal with the person who owns the footage, but not the rights to exhibit.”
Word of this alternate ending has been floating around for years, with it apparently being in the hands of Billy Kirkus, who holds over six hours of unused footage such as outtakes and bloopers. Whether any of this finds Michael Myers being killed off in Halloween – something many, and not just John Carpenter, actively dispute – has yet to be truly confirmed.
Aside from John Carpenter’s refuting of the Halloween ending debate, one only has to take a look at the screenplay, which ends with the following: “The backyard, the neighboring yards, the street, all are empty, quiet, dark. There is only the SOUND of the wind swelling in the trees. Michael is gone. FADE TO BLACK.” However, others counter this by saying something else was going on, with Synapse Films rep Don May Jr. citing a sitdown with Halloween editor/production designer Tommy Lee Wallace. “He told me Michael died…and the supposed script that people get on-line or at conventions is not what they originally used. They didn’t decide to let Michael live until after they finished principal photography and went back for some reshoots. We’ll have to look and see what we have in regards to this.”
As it stands, we should probably take John Carpenter’s word on it, as he really has no reason to deny there being an alternate ending to Halloween. But as for what is truly contained in the entirety of the six hours of unused footage, that may forever remain a mystery…