10 Movie Cliffhangers That Were Ignored In The Sequel

5. Jamie Lloyd Kills Her Foster Mother - Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers

Much like the aforementioned Friday the 13th sequel, Halloween 4 attempted to shift the franchise away from its iconic mainstay Michael Myers, by concluding with a jaw-dropper of a twist ending in which Myers' niece Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris) stabs her foster mother Darlene (Karen Alston) to death, inheriting her uncle's evil, murderous ways.

This was a bold and genuinely surprising cliffhanger which left many fans excited for the fifth film, with Jamie Lloyd presumably taking up Michael's mantle.

And though the first draft of Halloween 5 indeed featured an evil, killer Jamie Lloyd, executive producer Moustapha Akkad swiftly vetoed the idea and had the script rewritten to more-or-less retcon that cliffhanger.

Despite the very clear implication that Jamie Lloyd had killed her foster mother just as Michael had killed his sister Judith years earlier, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers opens by revealing that Darlene survived the attack.

More to the point, Jamie Lloyd doesn't go evil, she's rendered mute as a result of her trauma, and develops a psychic link with Michael. Yup.

The fifth film can't even begin to hide how sharply it changed tack from the previous film's compelling cliffhanger.