Halloween Kills Ending Explained - What's Next For Michael Myers?

6. Is Karen Really Dead?

Halloween Kills Michael Myers
Universal

On the surface, yes, it very much looks like Karen Nelson (nee: Strode) died at the conclusion of Halloween Kills.

While her mother Laurie spent all of the movie laid up in hospital, and daughter Allyson was tagging along with Tommy and then the Elams, Karen was the Strode who got to shine brightest throughout this film. If this is indeed to be Karen's swansong, Judy Greer went out by stealing the show with her performance.

The grieving widow, the concerned mother, the fearful daughter, and someone who herself had already faced down Michael Myers, Greer had to balance so many different angles and emotions as Karen. To see her stabbed to death in the Myers House at Kills' close was a true gut punch, but audiences sadly saw that demise coming a mile off once Karen foolishly decided to enter the house and gaze out through the same window that Michael used to look out of.

Is Karen really dead, though? When looking at the elaborate history and various canons of the Halloween franchise, sure, we've seen The Shape forever return from many apparent deaths, but none of Michael's victims have ever returned from the dead as of yet - bar Sam Loomis after the ambiguous ending of Halloween II.

Of course, one way to get out of this is that Karen's death could've been a nightmarish hallucination of a medicated Laurie Strode. If the series went in such a direction, though, that would surely leave an even worst taste in fans' mouths.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.