Almost 50 years after it was spoken, the final line by Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) in Halloween is just as spine-tingling as ever. Indeed, while all-time scary horror movie quotes like “Here’s Johnny,” “We all go a little mad sometimes,” or “They’re Here!” continue to mortify moviegoers, Laurie’s haunting realization that the Boogeyman is all too real not only catalyzed but also perpetuated her iconic Final Girl status for generations to come.
Of course, debate still rages about whether Laurie asks Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance) a question or makes a declarative statement when uttering in sheer terror, “It was the Boogeyman,” in reference to the murderous Michael Myers. In defending the latter, Laurie’s callous dismissal of the Boogeyman early on ends with the terrifying realization that Michael Myers is no mortal man but a supernatural scourge that must be dealt with for years to come.
What Is the Boogeyman in John Carpenter’s ‘Halloween’?
In John Carpenter’s seminal slasher film Halloween, Laurie Strode (Curtis) is a headstrong teenager who is suddenly stalked by Michael Myers (Nick Castle), a psychopathic murderer who killed his little sister 15 years earlier. Upon escaping a sanitarium and heading for his hometown in Haddonfield, Illinois, on October 30, 1978, Michael begins following Laurie after spotting her by his childhood house.
On Halloween night, Michael stalks Laurie and her friend Annie (Nancy Kyes) to their respective babysitting jobs with the intent to viciously butcher them as he did his own sister. While lurking through the neighborhood, the boy Laurie babysits, Tommy Doyle (Brian Andrews), spots Michael through the window and tells Laurie he thinks it’s the Boogeyman. Laurie flippantly dismisses Tommy’s concerns, indicating that she does not believe in such childhood myths.
Remember, a Boogeyman is a long-held mythical figure that deliberately preys on childhood fears to make them behave better. The creature has no defined shape and can be amorphous. In the Halloween script, Michael Myers is referred to as The Shape to reinforce the killer’s indistinct physiology and underscore how the nonhuman entity is the “Pure evil in human form.“
For adolescent Tommy, the Boogeyman is real and something to fear gravely. Yet, for the teenage Laurie, who has outgrown such childhood myths, she does not believe in the Boogeyman or its persistent evil. However, all that changes forever with Laurie’s bone-chilling final quote.
What Does Laurie Really Say at the End of ‘Halloween’?
After surviving repeated attacks by Michael Myers and witnessing her friends suffer grisly deaths at his hands, Laurie fends him off by stabbing him in the neck with a knitting needle. Undeterred, Michael continues his pursuit like a phantom of the night. When Laurie finds Tommy, she tells him that she killed the Boogeyman and implies that they are safe.
Seconds later, Michael appears from the shadows with a knife in tow and begins stalking Laurie once more. Laurie heroically distracts Michael away from the children hiding in the bathroom, lures him into a closet, and stabs him in the eye with a coat hanger and impales his chest with his butcher knife. Despite the damage incurred, Michael hardly flinches and calmly continues his attacks.
Face to face with Michael, Laurie rips off his mask and is mortified to see a mangled visage beneath. In her moment of hesitation, Loomis arrives and puts six bullets into Michael, who flies off the two-storey balcony and seemingly plummets to his demise below. As the gunsmoke lingers in the air, a severely traumatized Laurie turns to Loomis and says, “Twas the Boogeyman” in a moment of “ah-ha” realization.
While many have debated about whether Laurie says “It was the Boogeyman” or asks “Was it the Boogeyman?” Loomis’s telling response holds either way. “As a matter of fact, it was,” Loomis states with surety. Moments later, Michael’s apparent corpse disappears from the ground, perpetuating 45 years of cinematic terror across 12 sequels/reboots. Frankly, without the all-time iconic quote ending the original, there might never be a Halloween franchise to celebrate annually.
How “It Was the Boogeyman” Set Up the Entire ‘Halloween’ Franchise
On the page and on its own accord, “It was the Boogeyman” isn’t terribly frightening. Yet, contextually, Laurie’s sobering realization that the Boogeyman does indeed exist at the end of Halloween is deeply unnerving. After assuring Tommy that the Boogeyman is not something to be afraid of, her punishing physical confrontations with Michael force her to believe that evil exists and the Boogeyman is real.
Consider what transpires immediately after Laurie recites the line. Carpenter presents a montage of Haddonfield and the places Michael stalked during the movie. In the background, Michael’s heavy breathing is heard over the petrifying piano score. The implication is clear. Michael has truly become the Boogeyman, a supernatural menace that transcends the tangible, physical realm, manifesting the (dis)embodiment of abject fear. Six bullets and multiple stabbings are not enough to stop his sinister spirit.
By reaffirming “It was the Boogeyman” to Loomis, Laurie finally accepts that Michael was not a mere mortal man, but instead a haunting personification of pure evil in human form that will not go away. Her lost teenage innocence gives way to a wizened survival instinct that will carry her as the definitive Final Girl for the next 40-odd years within the Halloween franchise.
Without recognizing Michael as a bona fide boogeyman, a shapeless figure who will continue to prey on the fears of children, Laurie would not have found the strength to fend him off and protect her loved ones repeatedly. By acknowledging the immortal supernatural threat Michael poses, Laurie begins to understand what makes the unstoppable monster tick and slowly evolves her role from prey to predator by Halloween 2018.
Almost 50 years after Halloween was released, Laurie’s unforgettable realization remains a crucially poignant turning point for her character. Her naive skepticism turns to hardened survival, marking a crucial character development while validating Michael’s mortifying Boogeyman mythology. The quote helped solidify Jamie Lee Curtis as the definitive Scream Queen of a generation, setting Laurie up as the intelligent Final Girl who, knowing Michael’s true nature, ably outwits the baleful Boogeyman for the next 44 years.
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