Halloween: Every Franchise Easter Egg And Reference Explained

Maybe the film's most interesting reference actually comes from a completely different horror franchise.

In the new film's final moments, Laurie, Karen, and Allyson all run out from the burning house to the road and flag down a passing pick-up truck. The truck stops for them, though we never actually see the driver, and they get in the back bed of the truck and are driven off to safety.

In the final moments of Tobe Hooper's original Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Sally Hardesty runs out to the street away from Leatherface's house and flags down a passing pick-up truck. Audiences never actually see the driver, but the truck stops and Sally gets in the bed of the truck as she's driven away.

This reference actually winds up delivering an entire meta-commentary on the slasher genre as a whole and 'final girl' trope. Sally from Texas Chain Saw Massacre is widely considered one of the very first instances of the 'final girl' trope in slasher cinema, coming a full four years before Laurie Strode in the original Halloween. In Sally's film, she escapes but is clearly left deranged and traumatized, covered in blood.

In the new Halloween film, Laurie, Karen, and Allyson escape together and find comfort in one another. The final shot is of all three of them holding hands as the truck takes them to safety, as the camera slowly pushes in on Allyson's hand holding the knife. Here, these women have overcome their trauma together and ascended beyond the 'final girl' trope.