By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
There are some major Hollywood stars who want to distance themselves from past works, eternally worried that nostalgia-crazed fans will focus more on their greatest hits instead of their latest and greatest films. That’s not true of Jamie Lee Curtis, the scream queen who took home an Academy Award last year for Best Supporting Actress thanks to her performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once. She might be an Oscar winner now, but Curtis never forgot her roots and today posted a loving tribute to Halloween, the John Carpenter film that made her famous.
Paying Tribute To Halloween
Jamie Lee Curtis began her post with a hearty “HAPPY HALLOWEEN to everyone” before providing some of her memories of that first Halloween movie that came out “46 years ago” (strictly speaking, it came out on October 25, 1978, and not Halloween itself). She went on to enthusiastically describe becoming “the first FINAL GIRL” before very explicitly praising John Carpenter for his role in that film and her subsequent career success, thanking him “for choosing me to embody the every girl, Laurie Strode.”
While slashers technically existed before Carpenter’s film, the first Halloween movie created and popularized many staples of this particular horror genre. For example, we get a masked killer in the form of Michael Myers, and his tendency to brutally kill cute co-eds was a direct inspiration for the first Friday the 13th film and the subsequent Jason Voorhees character. And as Jamie Lee Curtis gleefully celebrated her character became the first Final Girl, someone destined to survive the killer and, in her case, go on to appear in several sequels and reboots.
Halloween Left Its Mark
In her Instagram post, Jamie Lee Curtis described how impactful the film was: “throughout these years, I’ve had the opportunity to meet millions and millions of people whose lives were affected by that film and the subsequent films.” She then described how Halloween effectively unified her with her fans. “That shared experience in a movie theater has bonded us all and so, on this Halloween night, I thank you for my creative life and my renewed belief that coming together as a group of people, with a common purpose, fighting for our lives together, brings out the best in us.”
At the end of her message, Jamie Lee Curtis couldn’t resist adding “Mr. Myers excluded, of course.” Certainly, the silent stalker (well, silent except for that second Rob Zombie movie, at least) isn’t somebody moviegoers would associate with bringing out the best in anyone, nor in bringing the world together. Fortunately, his first film is quite the opposite: a movie that electrified the world and quickly became a horror touchstone for future directors of spooky cinema.
She understandably saved most of her praise for John Carpenter, but Jamie Lee Curtis also gave thanks to “every creative member of the seven films and my fellow actors, without whom none of it happens.” Given how prominent she is in the franchise, it’s honestly touching that this acclaimed actor wanted to honor everyone else involved in this long-running franchise. Horror is a big tent and these films have great ensembles of talent both onscreen and off, so it’s rewarding to see Halloween’s biggest star give everyone else involved the praise they so richly deserve.
Jamie Lee Curtis may have become a household name thanks to playing a hapless teen, but she ended her Instagram message with some very parental advice for her many followers…namely, to “stay safe” and “have fun” by making “good choices” this spooky season. It would be good advice coming from anyone, but it means something special coming from this horror icon. After all, who better to help all of us survive this year’s Halloween than Hollywood’s first final girl?
