Halloween (1978) — The *perfect* final girl, and her anxiety boogeyman

This special Halloween episode explores the absolute classic Halloween (1978) and its portrayal of Laurie Strode’s over-functioning anxiety in her pursuit to uphold the mantle of the perfect final girl. 

As a psychotherapist for final girls, this episode is a love letter to all of you.

Mental Health is Horrifying is hosted by Candis Green, Registered Psychotherapist and owner of Many Moons Therapy.

Instagram: @mentalhealthishorrifying

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Show Notes:

Want to work together? I offer 1:1 psychotherapy (Ontario), along with tarot, horror, and dreamwork services, but individually and through my group program, the Final Girls Club. This month's feature is Your Hallowed Halloween Kit.

Send me some Ghoul Mail!

I love hearing from you spooky ghouls! Want a chance to have your story read on a future episode of Mental Health is Horrifying? If you’d like to share what horror movies mean to you, how they have helped you with your mental health, or about a particular horror movie that you have thoughts and feelings about, send me some Ghoul Mail.

Podcast artwork by Chloe Hurst at Contempomint.

The Story Behind the Original Halloween By Jason Bailey

Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film by Carol J. Clover

Generalized Anxiety Disorder in Women by Heather B. Howell, Olga Brawman-Mintzer, Jeannine Monnier, Kimberly A. Yonkers, Psychiatric Clinics of North America, Volume 24, Issue 1, 2001

Transcript

Welcome ghouls to today’s special Halloween episode of Mental Health is Horrifying. I’m your Horror Barbie host of darkness — Candis Green— Psychotherapist and all around spooky bitch podcasting from my bat-filled cave in Toronto, Canada. 

It’s the best time of the whole year! A time when the world gets a little bit spookier, a little bit more pumpkin-spiced, and when we bust out classic horror movies that have been scary us for generations.

It’s Halloween! Happy Halloween, you spooky ghouls! And it’s not just Halloween season – we’re actually talking about the absolute classic movie, John Carpenter’s Halloween on today’s episode! 

When I was deciding which movie to choose for this special Halloween episode, I really took a second look at Laurie Strode in Halloween and thought… wait a second. She looks familiar. And not just because she’s played by our lord and savior Jamie Lee Curtis. But as a therapist to final girls, she looks like a lot of the people that I work with. 

The good girl-ism. The perfectionism. The over-functioning anxiety. The expectations.

Carrying the mantle of the ultimate final girl is SO MUCH PRESSURE. It’s so stressful that it kinda feels like a relentless anxiety boogeyman is stalking you, lurking around every corner, making it impossible to let your guard down, waiting for you to slip up, and be anything less than perfect.

Okay — so let’s get right into it. Let’s talk about Halloween (1978) and its portrayal of Laurie Strode’s over-functioning anxiety in her pursuit to uphold the mantle of the perfect final girl. 

Movie synopsis:

On the night of Halloween 1963 in the suburban Illinois town of Haddonfield, six-year-old Michael Myers stabs his teenage sister Judith to death while she brushes her hair with her yabos out. He seems unfazed. 

Fast forward to15 years later, and Michael Myers has been in a sanitarium all this time. Except he breaks out! His psychiatrist, Dr Samuel Loomis, is going to have A LOT of paperwork to fill out. 

On Michael’s way back to his beloved hometown of Haddonfield, he kills a mechanic and steals his coveralls, and then steals a white mask from the hardware store. Gotta get the look right! He begins stalking teenager Laurie Strode, whom he saw drop off a key at his long-abandoned childhood home that Laurie’s father is trying to sell. Laurie notices Michael throughout the day — lurking behind bushes, in the clothesline, outside her class — but her friends Annie and Lynda dismiss her concerns to talk about boys and drugs. Loomis arrives in Haddonfield and discovers that Michael has stolen Judith's tombstone from the local cemetery which… can’t be good. 

That night, Michael follows Annie and Laurie to their babysitting jobs. Laurie watches Tommy, while Annie watches Lindsay across the street. Throughout the night, Michael lurks around and kills random people. He kills Annie, he kills Lynda, he kills a poor sweet innocent dog, and he kills Lynda’s boyfriend Bob after they had sex because sex is bad. 

Laurie goes to check on the scene across the street, only to find all her friends super dead and Judith Myer’s tombstone upstairs which means… something. Michael then begins terrorizing Laurie and the the kids she is watching. But Laurie fights back! She stabs him with a knitting needle! And a knife! And a coat hanger! But this guy just won’t die… like is he doing cold plunges, or cryo or something? What’s his secret? 

Loomis arrives as Michael is strangling Laurie and shoots him shoots him SIX TIMES, and then he falls of the balcony – but do you think he dies? Of course not! He’s indestructible! When Loomis looks over the balcony railing, Michael has vanished. 

Laurie sobs anxiety tears. She’ll never be able to relax will she…

Movie background info:

As you can see, Halloween’s plot is very simple. So why is it considered one of the most influential and important horror films ever made, having sprawled a franchise of 13 films and like… 5 somewhat competing storylines? Like what ever happened to Josh Hartnett okay that’s all I”m asking? Like what ever happened to him and where is he now?

For one, it’s the score by John Carpenter, who also produced the film with Debra Hill. The music is so iconic and effective, looming, relentless, harkening back to the menacing simplicity of Jaws. And although we had already gotten to know a few final girls throughout the years by this point, Laurie Strode – I think – really exemplifies the archetype as the quintessential final girl, which we’ll get into a bit more later. 

Another reason why this movie has become so iconic over the years is because it stars the supreme Scream Queen, Jamie Lee Curtis. She is supreme not only due to her portrayal of final girls in horror movies throughout, like, literally 5 decades, in movies like Prom Night, Terror Train, the TV show Scream Queens, and the Halloween franchise, but she is also the daughter of Janet Leigh – arguably the OG Scream Queen for her portrayal of Marion Crane in what I believe is the most influential (not only horror) but movie ever made — Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. 

Halloween was made on a miniscule budget of around $300,000, but grossed $70 million upon its initial release and God knows how much this franchise has made over the years. Michael Myers probably lives in a nice penthouse right about now instead of that shack in Haddonfield. 

Michael Myers, initially referred to as The Shape, has become a household name and a relentless, undying menace that everyone has somehow come to love. It just goes to show that when it comes to scaring people, it doesn’t take a big budget or a particularly complex plot. Just strike on something simple, universal, that everyone can identify with, like an anxiety that just won’t go away and stalks you forever until you throw him in a trash compactor 44 years later in the finale. 

The Final Girl:

The term “final girl” was first coined by Carol J. Clover in her 1992 book Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Which is an interesting fact, because Final Girls existed long before 1992, but I guess we just didn't have a clear name or definition for them. And that’s interesting too — because it’s like they just evolved naturally out of the collective unconscious; our own understanding of what it means to be a “good girl”, and our capacity to endure.

Clover defines the Final Girl as the sole survivor among a group of people who are being terrorized by a villain. The Final Girl is deemed worthy of survival  (by the horror gods? God herself?) because of some moral high ground she has over the other characters. And in this context, morality is defined as being virgin, not doing drugs or drinking alcohol, being kind, and doing the right thing. The Final Girl often saves others and most of the time, she is the one who survives to tell the tale, and who survives for a final showdown with the villain. 

In her book, Clover references horror and mystery suspense films that came out in the 70s and 80s, where the Final Girl trope was rooted in sexist beliefs about gender roles and what it meant to perform femininity well. Whereas the virgin, chaste, moral Final Girl survives due to her correct portrayal of femininity under the male gaze, the women in these films who have sex, do drugs, forget their chemistry books, talk loudly, or brush their hair with their yabos out were always killed off. 

Since the 90s, the Final Girl trope has evolved significantly, with Final Girls no longer needing to be purely virginal or even necessarily female. Think of Sidney Prescott’s meta Final Girl in Scream, or Grace Le Domas in Ready or Not, or Emerald Hayward in Nope. Or how about someone like Chris Washington in Get Out? Is he a Final Dude?

So what exactly is it like to be a Final Girl? In Halloween, Laurie Strode tries so hard to be the prefect Final Girl that she looks like she’s going to pull a muscle. We first meet Laurie as she leaves her house for school, carrying a bunch of books, and her dad is asking her to drop off a key for a house he is selling because she is responsible. She greets little Tommy on the street, who she is babysitting that Halloween night, and she has found way to somehow keep her white stockings impeccably clean. 

And we immediately get that POV shot of Michael Myers watching, lurking, breathing – like an externalized manifestation of Laurie’s final girl anxiety. But what if you forget to drop off the key? What if you’re late for babysitting? What if you get your perfect white stockings dirty and then everyone knows what a big stupid idiot you are? 

Michael Myers does seem to appear in the movie whenever Laurie might slip, or when there is “sin”. 

Tommy asks “what’s the Boogeyman?” and it’s a good question, Tommy. What does Michel Myers represent? 

There is a scene where Laurie is sitting in English class and ponders her teacher’s question about both Costaine and Samuels ideas on fate, and as she gazes out the window she sees Michael Myers standing there. For a Final Girl, emphasis on the word girl, what is the terrifying fate that Michael represents that is so awful for her to contemplate? Looming adulthood? Sex? The loss of innocence? 

For a Final Girl, these are really scary things. So she must always be vigilant. 

Laurie is hyper-attuned to her surroundings and perceived threats. She sees Michael Myers behind the bush, but her friend – less concerned with being moral or good – simply doesn’t. She sees him chilling in the clothesline outside – but was he really there? He is gone in an instant. Laurie tells herself “calm down, this is ridiculous” – but she literally can’t! Laurie appears to be what’s called over-functioning. 

Over-Functioning: 

If we think about someone who has an anxiety disorder, you might imagine someone who is debilitated. They struggle to function in day to day life, performing habitual tasks can be a challenge, they might struggle in their job, relationships.

But there is a subset of generalized anxiety disorder, called high functioning anxiety. While not recognized on its own in the DSM, it is an important distinction to make when understanding and helping those who over-function in their lives. 

To an outside observer, people with high-functioning anxiety may appear to excel and be in control. They don't appear to be struggling, to be avoidant, or to be retreating from life such as we may expect someone with anxiety to do. They may have successful careers, participate in many many different activities and hobbies, and have strong relationships. 

Yet behind this facade, over-functioners have persistent thoughts of worry, self-doubt, and a fear of not being good enough. They are perfectionists, and appearing to be perfect and put together is incredibly important to them so OBVIOUSLY every i is dotted, and every t is crossed, and they remembered their grade 10 best friend’s birthday and sent her a cake, and volunteered to join the committee to save the bees, and joined that 30-day whole food reset challenge, and stress cleaned their house at 2am. The notion of relaxing is often ludicrous to them because that state of nervous system — called parasympathetic — well, that feels very unsafe because that’s literally when Micahel Myers will pop out from behind the bush again and murder you so better to create a filing system for all your tax returns from the past 14 years. 

This type of anxiety is persistent, often nonspecific on unnamable, but it feels kind of like there’s a masked serial killer constantly after you, except you don’t know where he is or when he’s going to show up, and your only defense is to try to continue being absolutely perfect, keep being the good girl, be moral, and responsible, and then you won’t get into trouble.

So how does someone end up overfunctioning? Everyone’s experience is unique, and there are a lot of potential reasons, but as a trauma therapist I tend to look at events or relationships that resulted in individuals walking away with a nervous system that is stuck in a perpetual state of hyperarousal. This can include specific traumatic events, but also dynamics where caregivers had high or unreasonable expectations of them. Not shockingly, women are more than twice as likely as men to be affected by generalized anxiety disorder in their lifetimes. I’ll let you fill in the reasons why you think this might be the case.

The impossible weight of being the perfect Final Girl:

Halloween’s original title was The Babysitter Murders, and there is something uniquely female about that, and about the whole idea of female teenagers babysitting. Think about the fact that this is Halloween night — Halloween! — the most joyous, fun night of the whole year, where kids get to dress up as whatever they can dream up, go around the neighborhood and collect candy, goof around with your friends, watch spooky stuff on tv, and really indulge in their childhoods. 

But not teenage girls asked to babysit on Halloween night. Not Laurie Strode. Laurie strode wears a matronly apron and carves a pumpkin for the kids while they enjoy their Halloween night. She is responsible and seems so much like an adult. But the thing is — Laurie is a kid too. She is a teenage girl in high school. But we place such lofty expectations on girls, don’t we? To grow up fast, to be responsible, and to take care of others, and to put the needs of others before their own. To not complain, and do as you’re told, and perform emotional labour, and household labour, and keep the kids safe and happy, and fight off all the evils of the world too. Laurie is just a kid, but she has to bear the impossible weight of being a Final Girl – this miniature adult who had to fastrack her own fun, childhood years, her own innocent Halloween night.

I went trick or treating until I was 17 years old. Some people might think that’s funny, but like I said – I was still a kid. I was in high school and most of my female friends had already learned that their time was through, it was time to grow up, and we were too old to go trick or treating. It was immature at this point, because we were supposed to be mature young ladies, and childish and embarrassing. I had my costumeless friends over that year to watch scary movies and last minute I said you know what – screw this. We’re going trick or treating. I don’t care. Halloween is my favourite thing in the world, next year I’m going away to university, but this year I’m still a kid so let’s do this. So we scowered the house for whatever costumes we could throw together, and I found a Goofy hat from a childhood trip to Disney World, put on some silly clothes – and I was Goofy. I was 6 feet tall by the time I was 17, and I was a very responsible girl, but on that Halloween night, I was still a kid and I was Goofy. I’ll remember that last trick or treat forever. 

Laurie Strode through the years:

Many Final Girls fly under the radar. People often don’t notice that they need help because they over-function and they appear to be TOTALLY FINE! They may have even convinced themselves that they are totally fine too and that they don’t need help, or couldn’t benefit from pulling back, slowing down, or teaching their nervous systems how to relax and feel safe. It’s like – who has time for that anyway? 

But we have had the benefit of watching Laurie grow up throughout the Halloween franchise. And revisiting her final girl origin story in 1978 through the lens of trauma and how her nervous system got absolutely mangled, it brings a new level of insight and understanding into Laurie and how living in total anxiety and survival mode for like… 30 years… takes a massive toll on you.

I wonder what Laurie’s life would have been like if she had been allowed to be a kid. If she had gone trick or treating that night, and hadn’t had this intense pressure to be the perfect Final Girl. I mean, it was supposed to be called The Babysitter Murders, right? I wonder why, deep down, producer Irwin Yablans chose that name and was drawn to that idea? Of these tiny, responsible girls on the precipice of adulthood, and the terror of that being taken away. It wasn’t going to be called the Trick or Treaters Murders now was it? 

Conclusion

As a therapist to final girls, this episode is a love letter to all of you.

Final Girls have faced down monsters, ghosts, and demons and she has fought like hell to survive. Her fight has made her tough, resilient, and fiercely independent — but on the inside, there are battle scars and shadows.

Final girls are revered for their strength and ability to take on even the scariest of battles, but there is so much more to the Final Girl; and her life, than what lies on the surface.

I work with other therapists on business strategy and marketing for their own private practices. And one once asked me how I make content that seems to be so on the nose – that seems to just really nail the issues that over-functioners and Final Girls face. And I told her my secret. When I’m talking about what it’s like to be a Final Girl – to be so tough on the outside, and self-sufficient, and independent, and like you’ve got everything in order, but feel so tired on the inside, like you don’t know how to relax because if you stop that’s when the nameless, shapeless monster catches up to you – I know about all this because I am that Final Girl. I’m writing about myself. 

So from one Final Girl to another, I know that you don’t know how to stop running and fighting – yet. I acknowledge that you’re not there yet, and that’s okay. But I hope there are glimmers. Glimmers of time when you can start to relax, practice safety with people who are good and that you trust, and know that you don’t have to be perfect. You can dress up as Goofy for Halloween – that’s a glimmer into this other part of you that I know is in there – and the world will keep on turning. 

Ghoul Mail: 

Let’s read some Ghoul Mail, shall we?

This is the portion of the episode where listeners are invited to share what horror movies mean to you, how they have helped you with your mental health, or about a particular horror movie that you have thoughts and feelings about.

I received some Ghoul Mail from my Shannon Knight, who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. I’ve been there once – it’s really hot. Shannon is actually a huge inspiration and ghoulfriend of mine. She is the host of the incredible Tarot Diagnosis Podcast. The Tarot Diagnosis is a weekly podcast that highlights the intersection of mental health and the practice of Tarot and self-inquiry. The podcast is hosted by Shannon King, who is a licensed psychotherapist. Join her as she pulls cards and talks psychology and healing to help listeners better understand themselves and those around them.

Shannon shared a little bit about her relationship with horror through the years with me:

My relationship to horror has drastically changed over the years. As a teenager I was obsessed with all of the original scary movies like Amityville Horror and The Exorcist, along with all of the newer films at that time - all of the Final Destinations, Scream, I know What You Did Last Summer, the Saw franchise… the list goes on. Once I turned 18, everything changed and I stopped watching anything scary. Looking back, as a therapist I now realized I was coping with my chaotic, unpredictable childhood with horror because it was an outlet that mimicked my internal fear but in a way I felt somewhat in control of. At 18 I moved out and everything became calm, so I didn’t want to watch anything that felt scary. Fast forward to today and my new partner is a big time horror fan - think Terrifier franchise and The Strangers - speaking of The Strangers I’ll never watch a home invasion movie ever again. I was wrecked for months after that, lol!

However, I’m opening up to other scary movies now and it was actually with your help that I realized my partner has become such a beacon of safety and authenticity for me that I feel like I have the capacity and curiosity to explore it with her. She also got me into true crime, which feels equally as spooky as horror.

Anyway, thanks for all of your creativity and the fun work you’re doing in the sphere of mental health and horror. You’re awesome!

Thank you so much for sharing, Shannon. And let me just say — I am probably the biggest fan in the whole world of yours. It can sometimes feel lonely to be a spooky, tarot-slinging psychotherapist who understands and appreciates the tarot’s ability to unveil deeper layers of the human psyche and help clients to understand themselves and their feelings more deeply — so knowing someone like you makes me feel a little less alone in this world. You’re such a huge inspiration to me, and I am so glad that you exist. And that you are feeling safe and adventurous to explore horror with your partner. I truly believe that horror is a genre for everybody, and that there’s a level of accessibility that everyone can explore. From the spookier end of things where things aren’t too scary. To things that are very scary and gory. Like Terrifier! I mean like Shannon that’s even too scary for me so props to you.

Be sure to give Shannon’s podcast a listen, and you can find him on Instagram at thetarotdiagnosis.

Do you want the chance to have your story read on a future episode of Mental Health is Horrifying? If you’d like to share what horror movies mean to you, how they have helped you with your mental health, or about a particular horror movie that you have thoughts and feelings about, send me some Ghoul Mail by visiting manymoonstherapy.com/mentalhealthishorrifying. 

Outro:

And that my ghouls is the story of Halloween. Can someone out there please create an alternative storyline for sensitive angels like me where Laurie Strode actually just goes trick or treating, and she’s dressed as a lobster or something, and she has a really cute time with her friends? I would totally watch that version.

Mental Health is Horrifying is entirely researched, written, edited, and produced by me, Candis Green, Registered (and spooky) Psychotherapist, with artwork by the ghoulishly talented Chloe Hurst. If you like this podcast, please consider rating and reviewing on your preferred listening platform. It really helps the show to reach all the other spooky ghouls out there and I will be eternally grateful – and an eternity is a very long time for a vampire, okay? 

If you live in Ontario and are interested in psychotherapy with me, I offer therapy for Final Girls. My work is talk therapy mixed with the magic of tarot. I offer other services too around tarot, horror, and dreamwork including through my group program, the Final Girls Club – including this month’s feature, Your Hallowed Halloween Kit. You can follow me on Instagram at @mentalhealthishorrifying and you can also learn more about me and my services through my website manymoonstherapy.com.

OR you can also howl at the moon and I will hear your call.

Happy Halloween!