Halloween star Jamie Lee Curtis celebrates the 45th anniversary of the original movie with a nostalgic message on social media. The actress debuted as the teenage babysitter Laurie Strode who is stalked by the masked killer Michael Myers in John Carpenter’s original Halloween movie released in 1978. The horror film established Curtis as a scream queen and over the years, she starred in other horror films and returned to the Halloween franchise many times, including David Gordon Green’s divisive trilogy that recently ended in 2022.
On the 45th anniversary of the original Halloween movie’s release date, Jamie Lee Curtis took to Instagram to share a nostalgic message. Check it out below:
The post, as seen above, includes an image of Laurie Strode “taken for the 2018 promotion by @aspictures @micheleromeronyc” which “epitomizes the trauma and resilience of victims of unexpected violence and the human instinct to survive.” The full caption reads as follows:
45 years ago today, a 17 day shoot, no budget horror film, Halloween, set in Haddonfield, Illinois, where a young babysitter, Laurie Strode, met the man who would terrorize her and her community was released. It was written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill and was directed and scored by @johncarpenterofficial and a motley crew of young, independent filmmakers, who slammed together for an intense three weeks in 1978. Little did any of us know that 45 years later we would be retelling and retelling that same, simple story of good versus evil, and that it would give birth to a feminist icon, the final girl. This movie and Laurie strode, gave me my career that I continue to get to have because of her… Happy Halloween, everyone. “It WAS the boogeyman.”
The Original Halloween Movie’s Legacy Explained
As Curtis recounts in her post, the original Halloween movie was made on a shoestring budget of $300,000 and only took 17 days to shoot. Halloween was also a fairly simple story of good versus evil involving a young babysitter being terrorized by a relentless killer. In spite of this, Halloween was a massive critical and commercial success that grossed $70 million at the box office and popularized the slasher genre. Largely due to Carpenter’s direction and iconically haunting score, Halloween is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential horror movies ever made.
Halloween holds a significant legacy in the horror genre, but also the career of its star. Her performance as Laurie Strode, which was her film debut, established Curtis as a scream queen and led directly to her starring roles in 1980s horror films like The Fog, Prom Night, Terror Train, and Roadgames. She also reprised the role of Laurie Strode in seven Halloween movies, concluding with Halloween Ends in 2022, which killed off Michael Myers. However, as one of the most iconic slasher characters ever created, it’s likely he will be back in some way.
