[To celebrate the release of their new book, Taking Shape II: The Lost Halloween Sequels, authors Dustin McNeill & Travis Mullins share the top 10 craziest cameos from lost Halloween sequels that were never filmed in this special guest article!]
As is, the Halloween franchise isn’t much known for its cameos. Sure, you’ve got Weird Al and Chris Hardwick in Rob Zombie’s Halloween II, but otherwise they’re more subtle—like PJ Soles as the voice of the teacher in 2018’s Halloween. Not that the filmmakers haven’t tried for more ambitious guest appearances over the years. From Howard Stern to Mike Myers, they definitely have! It’s just that these ideas—and sometimes, even their respective films—haven’t all panned out. (On that note, at least one of us still wants to see Danielle Harris and Jamie Lee Curtis share some screen time!)
In writing our newest book—Taking Shape II: The Lost Halloween Sequels—we’ve discovered a handful of surprising cameo suggestions tossed around. In honor of the book’s release, gathered here are the ten wildest “lost sequel” cameo ideas from the Halloween films that never were. If you’d like to learn more about the projects discussed here, you can check out Taking Shape II via Amazon. It’s a 600-page dive into twenty-four “lost sequels,” some of which we’ll name here.
1. HELEN HUNT (Dennis Etchison’s Halloween 4)
Okay, so this one isn’t technically a cameo per se, but we need to tell you something. Apparently, Helen Hunt was very nearly cast in Halloween 4! Not the Halloween 4 that came out in October 1988, mind you, but the one written by Dennis Etchison two year prior. (This was the only iteration of Halloween 4 that received the blessing of John Carpenter.) Writer Michael Ryan Assip revealed this factoid after having interviewed the late Etchison about his involvement in the sequel. It isn’t clear which role Hunt had been considered for, perhaps one of Lindsey Wallace’s friends or even the lead girl herself. And before you automatically assume that Hunt would’ve declined a part in a slasher movie sequel, remember that she was also appearing in Full Moon’s Trancers series around this same time!
2. JASON VOORHEES (Dennis Etchison’s Halloween 4)
Prior to the development of Halloween 4, you might argue that the Shape’s bloody reign over Hollywood had been surpassed by the likes of Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. That in mind, our next cameo would’ve been a most interesting one as Dennis Etchison actually injected rival slasher Jason into his script. With the finale unfolding at the Lost River Drive-In, the Shape goes from car to car, slaughtering the entire viewing audience. Why doesn’t anyone react to all the death screams? Because they’re lost among the screams coming from the movie—a non-descript Friday the 13th sequel! Just picture it – two iconic slashers killing side-by-side; Jason on the giant drive-in screen, and Michael in the audience below. (Script: “A shadow falls across Jason Voorhees as something passes in front of the projector – a shape. The Shape. Now superimposed over Jason, the Shape cocks its head in curiosity. Then the film burns through and the screen goes white.”)
3. SAMMY HAGAR (Daniel Kenney & Marc Allyn Medina’s Halloween 4)
There’s just something about slasher films and rock ‘n’ roll that seem to go hand-in-hand. Jason had Alice Cooper, Freddy had Dokken, and for the briefest moment in time, Michael Myers might’ve had the chance to rock out with Sammy Hagar! How, you ask? Before Alan B. McElroy was brought on to write the final draft of Halloween 4, another version was penned by scribes Daniel Kenney and Marc Allyn Medina. Now a wife and mother, we would find Laurie Strode living in Chicago and working as a photographer for a lifestyle magazine. Her latest subject is an unnamed rocker, whom the Shape murders for his duds and Porsche 928s sportscar. This role was left blank in the script so that producers could fill it with someone later on. In his Taking Shape II interview, co-writer Medina reveals that he had envisioned Van Halen’s Sammy Hagar as the rocker in question! What’s more, the rocker’s vanity plate was to read “1MANIAC,” the title of his latest MTV hit – an even more apt title for when the Shape steals his ride. Might we have seen a promotional tie-in music video? (Sammy Hagar’s “Number One Maniac” feat. Michael Myers? Sounds good to us!)
4. JANET LEIGH (Daniel Kenney & Marc Allyn Medina’s Halloween 4)
Long before she appeared as Keri Tate’s secretary Norma in Halloween H20, the original queen of scream herself Janet Leigh very nearly appeared in Halloween 4. Not with newly filmed footage but through her most famous silver screen performance. Screenwriters Daniel Kenney and Marc Allyn Medina wrote that Laurie Strode and her husband would be taking in a movie in bed. The film in question? None other than Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. The infamous shower scene would play, intercut with the shower murder of one of the aforementioned rocker’s groupies. Having Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie watch her real-life mother’s death as Marion Crane would’ve been pretty trippy, to say the least.
5. REVEREND JACKSON P. SAYER (Shem Bitterman’s Halloween 5: The Killer Inside Me)
By far, one of the most interesting unmade Halloweens would undoubtedly be Shem Bitterman’s Halloween 5: The Killer Inside Me. This story sought to continue the terror of young Jamie Lloyd having just stabbed her foster mother, now paralyzed with fear and tormented with a dark urge to strike again. While still credited on the final film, relatively little from Bitterman’s original script made it to the screen. (Most of the surviving material was conceptual in nature rather than specific dialogue or situations.) One of the writer’s quashed ideas was to bring back the raving Reverend Jackson P. Sayer from Halloween 4. Per these early drafts, the Reverend would appear twice, once in the dead hermit’s shack and again as police apprehend the Shape just before the end. No longer crooning gospel tunes, he’s a bit more sinister here while still monologuing about damnation. (Script: “This is HIS doing! The demon! The dark one! The bringer of Armageddon! I’ve been hunting him. But he cannot be killed! For he is within us all! Run! Run!! But you cannot run away from yourselves!”)
6. TONYA HARDING (Phil Rosenberg’s Halloween 666: The Origin)
In January 1994, figure skater Tonya Harding became world-infamous when her ex-husband orchestrated a violent attack on fellow skater Nancy Kerrigan. Publicly shamed and expelled from the sport, Harding was suddenly in need of a new career. Not long after the incident, she briefly considered becoming an actress and was soon cast in a low-budget heist movie titled Breakaway. It was during the ensuing media scandal that Halloween 666: The Origin screenwriter Phil Rosenberg received a call asking him to write a part for Harding. Hoping it would be forgotten, Rosenberg never created the requested part and – sure enough – it was never mentioned again.
7. VARIOUS HORROR HEROES (Josh Stolberg & Bobby Florsheim’s Michael vs. Pinhead)
Here’s a multi-cameo doozy from a treatment titled Halloween in Hell: Michael vs. Pinhead. Pitched to Moustapha Akkad just prior to the release of Freddy vs. Jason, screenwriters Josh Stolberg and Bobby Florsheim sought to unite Halloween’s Jamie Lloyd with Hellraiser’s Kirsty Cotton. (This would, of course, retcon Jamie’s death from Halloween 6.) The two final girls would meet in the opening scene at a support group for horror film survivors. Also in attendance would be characters from franchises such as Critters, The Prophecy, Leprechaun, and Phantasm. The Shape soon attacks the group in search of Jamie, who band together to defend her in a sprawling melee. (Can’t you just picture Phantasm’s Regman pointing his four-barrel at the Shape’s white visage?)
8. JOHN CARPENTER (Tim Day’s Halloween H25)
Now, we know what you’re thinking – but let’s backtrack. Tim Day’s Halloween H25 would have found Busta Rhymes’ Freddie Harris debuting a new documentary on the Shape a year after the Dangertainment fiasco. The premiere screening is held in Haddonfield and well attended by survivors from the previous films – an opportunity to reunite with familiar faces from the distant past. The most surprising attendee here isn’t someone we’ve seen escape the Shape before, but the Master of Horror himself! (Script: “John Carpenter is here, rumored to be developing a movie based on Myers.”) How incredibly meta is that? Whether Carpenter would’ve agreed to such a cameo is anyone’s guess, though we know that producers requested the documentary angle be scrapped, thus eliminating this cameo before the treatment was developed further.
9. JIMMY THE PARAMEDIC (Tim Day’s Halloween H25)
Franchise fans will remember Jimmy as Haddonfield Memorial Hospital’s resident paramedic – one that developed something of a crush on Laurie Strode. With some last-minute editing, his fate was ultimately left up in the air, though we’d like to believe the hapless dope survived his slip on the blood and lived happily ever after. (While the character never appeared in any follow-up films, he did return in Stef Hutchinson’s yet unfinished comic The First Death of Laurie Strode. There, he continues to suffer from head trauma before facing the Shape for the first – and last – time.) Now, there’s nothing particularly noteworthy about Jimmy’s limited role in Halloween H25, as he’s only briefly featured. It’s actually how the screenwriter refers to him that’s rather interesting, as writer Day calls him “Jimmy Lloyd.” Yes, that’s right – Halloween H25 would’ve confirmed fans’ long-held suspicion that Jimmy was actually Jamie Lloyd’s father! (Oddly enough, John Tate also appears in this treatment. If you really want to confuse yourself, try figuring out how John and Jamie can possibly exist in the same timeline given their ages.)
10. HARRY GRIMBRIDGE (Marcus Dunstan & Patrick Melton’s Halloween Returns)
Multiple “lost sequels” make reference to the cult classic Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Some of these are quite subtle, while others are much more overt. Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton’s Halloween Returns featured what might’ve been the coolest reference, one that almost serves to unite the two universes. Recall that Halloween III’s plot was set in motion when novelty store owner Harry Grimbridge incoherently stumbled into a gas station clutching a rubber mask. Returns features its own take on the character, who now runs a mask shop in Haddonfield named Silver Shamrock Novelties! Grimbridge is chastised for offering replicas of the Shape’s white mask, which he blames on his boss. (“Don’t get on me. Take it up with Cochran and his golden rule. ‘Sell what the kids want.’ And today, that’s what they want. (with a shrug) Happy Halloween.”) Just as in Halloween III, Grimbridge meets a grisly end. (In a wonderful touch, Halloween Returns suggests that the Shape’s mask is actually a Silver Shamrock mask. We wonder what might happen during the big giveaway?)
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To learn more about Taking Shape II: The Lost Halloween Sequels, visit:
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