MovieChat Forums > Halloween II (2009) Discussion > It's about a girl with DID (Dissociative...

It's about a girl with DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder)


I know I'm going to get flamed because some will say I'm looking too deep into a "slasher", oh well.

Halloween 2 is about Laurie coping and living with D.I.D. (Dissociative Personality Disorder). This is a disorder where a person possesses two or more personalities. There are many instances in the movie, and deleted scenes, where it hints at Laurie having D.I.D.

I want to start off by stating the obvious -- Michael Myers died. He died at the end of the remake. Rob Zombie intended to make Michael Myers human, so how can he survive a shot to the face with a revolver? I know, I know, "he just got grazed". There's no way in hell a little graze can cause that much blood to splatter all over someone. You can say it's "movie magic" or it's just a movie, but he intended it to be realistic. Besides, if he got grazed, why did he just lay there? Why not finish her off? Grazes don't kill you temporarily.

In the mid-way point of the remake, the janitor tells [young] Michael Myers to live in his head. He tells him the only way he can survive is to essentially create an alternate reality to escape, and that it's okay to do so. At this point, we've already seen him brutally murder his bully and go home as if nothing happened. Then he kills his entire family and later on has no recollection of that ever taking place. With D.I.D. one personality is never aware of what the other personality is doing or has done. It's almost as if it's a completely different person living in your body as a vessel. With that being said, it kind of seems to be implied that the disorder is already in the family bloodline, so it could've been passed onto Laurie.

The question comes up: "If Laurie had D.I.D., then why didn't she show any signs of it in the remake?" Simple, it doesn't always come to fruition from birth. Anything could trigger that in anyone, and tack on to the fact that it may have been hereditary, it was bound to happen eventually. What could trigger D.I.D.? Sexual, emotional, physical, and/or mental abuse. What could've happened to Laurie to trigger the disorder? Seeing her friends on the brink of death, seeing her other friend's cold, dead, naked body in front of her, being kidnapped by this seven foot tall giant with a moldy mask, being thrown off a balcony after falling through the ceiling, and shooting someone straight in the face would probably do it.

Let's jump into the sequel.

We see Laurie going through hell on Earth, even before "Michael" come back into town. It could be argued that it's just PTSD but I feel like that doesn't explain everything, especially the more "supernatural" aspects of this movie. This entry has way more hints at the chance that she suffers from PTSD.

One of the many things is Michael and Laurie sharing the same daydreams/visions/hallucinations. How can Laurie see young Michael Myers? How can she see her dead mom? Why is it whenever Michael Myers eats something or kills someone Laurie reacts to it? That seems more supernatural than realistic and something based on reality, doesn't it? Especially someone she doesn't know. I don't think PTSD causes someone to feel what someone else is doing. Neither does D.I.D., but when you have two or more personalities you don't realize what's going on and you could have little tidbits of memory relapses that you don't recall because technically it wasn't you, it was the other you.

Another example, maybe the biggest, was from a deleted scene. The scene where Laurie is in therapy and her therapist tells her about the folklore about the Native American and wolves. She explains how there are two wolves, the good one and the bad one. She explains that these two entities in everyone, even her. She also explains how these "wolves" are constantly fighting each other, kind of like how people with D.I.D. constantly struggle with one personality wanting to be more dominant than the other. So that was a pretty obvious hint at duality, two persons, two souls, two personalities, etc.

The therapist also says this one line that really stuck, "the wolf that wins, is the wolf you feed." So essentially, the more bad stuff you do, the more the bad side (in this case personality) becomes more dominant. We see Laurie high a lot through the movie and drunk/drinking alcohol. Substance abuse can't cause these disorders, but they don't help either.

Throughout the entire movie (and in a couple of deleted scenes) we see Laurie daydreaming/hallucinating about Michael killing her or her being dead. This could symbolize the death of the old, good Laurie, which correlates to what her therapist said about one or the other wolf trying to essentially become alpha. The bad personality is trying to take over. Also take note that the closer Michael gets to Haddenfield, the more violent and out of control Laurie gets. I don't need to expand upon that.

Laurie experiences terrible seizures, which can happen when you suffer from D.I.D. Laurie constantly snaps at people throughout the film. She can go from nice and easy going to harsh and aggressive in less than 30 seconds. People with D.I.D. do this very often as well when they transition from Personality A to personality B, C, D, etc.

So where does this leave Michael? Well, if you haven't guessed by now... he doesn't exist anymore, he died in the remake. Which begs the question, "then who killed the farmers, the strippers, the cop, etc". That's also easy, nobody. I feel like Rob Zombie knew that many horror fans wouldn't appreciate a Halloween film with minimal violence and psychological overtones, because you know, god forbid a horror fan uses their brain. Those deaths are just there to serve the gore hounds and the fans who want to see someone get offed. Or they could also just be another hallucination by Laurie.

Yes, Laurie killed everyone.

I know it's weird and unusual, but look at it. REALLY LOOK at the movie, pay attention to the dialogue, look at the set pieces, the music, the editing, the cinematography. You'll eventually see what I see. I could go on and on, but I think I said enough. If you have any questions or want me to explain something or whatever, just tell me and I will.


"You're entitled to your wrong opinion. That's fine."

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I thought it was in her head as well...
But damn. What an interesting read.

A bit of the old ultraviolence...

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Interesting thoughts.

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I'm just going to go ahead and bump this to the top for Halloween.


I`m sorry for my lack of manners, but I`m not used to escorting men.

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Xen11 does not get this movie. His entire theory devalues the film.

Xen11, you are completely wrong and I wish you'd stop trying to convince people of your theory. Zombie did not set out to make some generic sequel baited entry with some contrived twist to set up H3(One of the most obvious, overused and lame twist in the horror genre I'll add.)It's not even supernatural. It's a movie about a girls downward spiral and battle against PTSD. If you want to see Michael as allegorical/Metaphorical "Survivors with trauma never get over what happened to them." fine... But quit trying to attach some generic horror spin on a great movie. You're cheapening it.


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I thought about this some and I think if Michael is really dead that he was killed by Loomis in the pool. He was shot in the back at close range three times with a powerful gun, that should've taken him out if Michael was a human being and not supernatural. I think Laurie's 'visions' started from there. She was still terrified and so had the vision of the entire chase seen in the house and her 'killing' him at the end. She wasn't entirely sure that he was dead so her subconscious created that scenario and Michael continuing to 'return' showed that she wasn't able to deal with his memory or her psychotic issues. I realize that this may not make much sense but this isn't exactly my specialty, lol. Just my thoughts on a movie :)

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I agree with your theory 100%! I just finished rewatching this and noticed a few other things which corroborate your in depth analysis.

In a deleted scene on the director's cut, there's a scene at Laurie's job when the store owner is talking to Laurie, Maya, and Harley about records. He actually says "Each one of these has its own personality."

There's also another deleted scene where we see adult Michael, his mother, and the boy Michael staring at the Myers' Gravestone and talking about reuniting the family, which is intercut with Laurie smiling and cocking her head, as if she's also a part of the conversation.

But there's another deleted scene which definitively proves that Laurie hallucinated the strip joint murders (and probably all the other pre-Michael's arrival at Haddonfield kills). This scene shows the beer delivery guy arriving at the Rabbit in Red and discovering the three dead bodies. When he picks up the phone to call the police, Michael jumps out and slits his throat. But when Michael picks up the guy's phone, we hear Laurie's voice on the other end of the phone and not the cops, and then we actually see Laurie at home, holding the phone. She's saying things like "Sir do you need assistance? I need to know who you are if I'm going to help you," as if she's a 911 operator. Then Michael jumps out and slices her throat the exact same way he did the beer guy. And then Laurie "wakes up." There's just NO way Laurie could have known the details of the Rabbit in Red murders unless her other personality conjured them up.

In addition to the deleted scenes, I noticed a few things in the actual movie itself. Maya drives Laurie home after the Phantom Jam and leaves her car parked in front of the house. But you never see the car again, even when you see the police cars arrive at the Brackett home. You also never see Maya's body when the police enter the home, and there's no mention of any other murders. I believe this is because of what you said, Harley and Maya are alternate personalities of Laurie. It's also interesting to note that you never see any scenes with Maya and Harley interacting with anyone else in Laurie's life, like Annie, etc.

As far as the guy who helps Laurie into his car and then gets killed by Michael, one of the Sheriff's men tells him that an eyewitness said they saw a large man at the scene carry a girl away into the deserted farm house. What's interesting is that this eyewitness is never shown and is referred to as a "she." And don't you think it's odd this mysterious "she" was just standing around, undetected by Michael, and saw him kill a man, and where he took Laurie in this remote area? More than likely, a crazed Laurie herself called the cops (just like she imagined herself to be a 911 operator in the deleted scene) and told the cops where she would be in her delusion.

I find this additional layer to the film definitely elevates it above a typical slasher movie and makes it much more interesting to watch!

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The problem is that if so much of the argument is based on "deleted scenes", another way of saying it is that there weren't really clear indications in the actual movie. As such, it could hardly give an "additional layer" to the film. As I said in may earlier post, there were indications that Zombie had toyed with certain ideas that were not actually followed through in the film.

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I just saw this, and at one point the cops get a call that a witness saw a girl (Laura) being pulled out of a car and carried away by a huge man. That would be Mike Myers. Which would definitely indicate that he's real.

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[deleted]

Ok, sorry, didn't read that response. Seems like a stretch though. If the movie wanted to hint at the fact that Michael doesn't really exist, and that she herself is the killer, you'd think they'd play that out a bit more, poke some holes in the statement, or at least give some more definitive clues.

Maybe someone discussed this as well, but at the Halloween party her friend was killed in the van, and it seems like she was with her other friend drinking and dancing the whole time, totally wasted and not out killing people.

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It is a stretch. And the stretch goes further every time someone points out Laurie couldn't logically be the killer. She was no where near the rednecks who beat up on Michael. It's just one person's poor attempt to shove their theory, no matter how flawed it is, on people and calling it fact, when Zombie himself stated true facts in the commentary of the film. I liken it to people who try to validate 4-6 fitting into the H20 timeline and beyond. Not possible.


"He came home." - Dr. Sam Loomis from the original HalloweeN

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[deleted]

You're inferring that she was dreaming, but the movie doesn't come out and say so. In High Tension (spoiler if you haven't seen it), the protagonist was the killer all along, which they made clear in the end. It was a ridiculous twist, as the whole first 90% of the movie doesn't support it, but at least the director/writer made sure the audience understood.

This movie doesn't have any such reveal, plus there are plenty of scenes that do not support the theory that Laurie "is" Michael. It's a great idea, and would make for a compelling movie for sure, but I'm not seeing it.

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[deleted]

Hmm, I saw it on demand, free movies from Charter. Probably the director's cut.

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[deleted]

Oh, interesting. That would change things, I imagine. In the version I saw, she was in a hospital and Sheri Moon Zombie was slowly walking towards her with a white horse. No mask at ll.

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While I do agree that Laurie has DID, I can't agree that Michael is not in the movie. The whole ending with Annie doesn't add up, nor does the actual ending with Michael in the shed with loomis talking to Michael. Michael is there but ya also a story of Laurie breaking down. I could see a case being made that she's in a psych ward the entire film by that's it. Too much happens that can't be explained with Michael not being there.

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[deleted]

But loomis DOES talk to Michael and Michael kills him prior to Laurie coming out of the shed on her own. I don't deny that she's suffering a full break, but I just can't see how Michael is not actually in this movie. I think zombie was stressing that they are linked, not that he's in her mind.

"The world is indeed comic, but the joke is on mankind" - Lovecraft

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You didn't bother listening to the commentary track, did you? Rob Zombie makes it very clear that it's Michael. He said Michael lived at the end of part one because Laurie was a "bad shot." He says Laurie and Michael are having the same visions because they're siblings and are almost having a "mind meld." He makes it clear Michael is hallucinating his child self and his mother and that Laurie, Michael and Loomis all die at the end of part two in a "triangle of death." Anyway, your theory is interesting enough, but Rob Zombie shoots about 3,000,000 holes in it from beginning to end in the commentary and he did, you know, write and direct the thing.

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