Warning: Major Spoilers Ahead for Halloween EndsThe Halloween ends trailer promised that the sequel could feature numerous callbacks to its predecessors, but many scenes from the movie’s promos were cut from the final cut. The much-hyped last outing in the Halloween reboot trilogy focuses on a new villain, Corey Cunningham, rather than the legendary Michael Myers for much of its running time. That was surprising, because Halloween ends‘ trailer praised the film as a showdown between Laurie Strode and Michael Myers rather than a new character’s story.
Halloween ends could also be charged with a more straightforward case of misleading advertising, as numerous scenes in the trailer for the slasher sequel didn’t make it to the finished film on release. These missing scenes feature Michael recreating a famous moment from the 1978 original Halloween (twice), a version of Dr. Mathis, and another fate for Corey’s mother Joan. Below is a full list of scenes from the Halloween ends trailer cut from the movie.
Michael Myers’ Original Halloween Reference
Halloween ends references Halloween in the opening scene, but the movie’s trailer featured a more obvious nod to the 1978 original that isn’t seen anywhere in the finished movie. In the trailer, Michael Myers stands over Laurie’s shoulder in the background, recreating the iconic, disturbing moment when the seemingly dead killer returns for more in the original slasher movie. However, this moment does not happen in Halloween ends and from the trailer alone, it’s hard to tell when it would have happened. Two masked men end up at the bottom of Laurie Strode’s stairs Halloween endsmeaning it might not even be Michael at all.
Halloween ends has two killers, Michael Myers and Corey Cunningham, and both villains stand by Laurie’s stairs during the film’s end. Corey is shot by Laurie and falls from the top floor of her house to the first floor, breaking his back. He’s still alive, conscious, and able to talk to Laurie, eventually stabbing himself in the neck afterwards. As such, in an earlier version of this scene, Corey could have Corey standing up before slitting his throat. Since he wears Michael’s mask during his killing spree, it is unknown whether Corey or Michael is standing up in the missing clip from the trailer.
Doctor Mathis’s Original Halloween Ends Death
While there’s no apparent reason for the sequel to make up for the missing moment of Michael standing up behind Laurie, it’s easier to see why the trailer for Halloween ends contains an alternate version of the death of Dr. Mathis. The biggest twist in Halloween ends is the fact that there are two killers, and the trailer does everything it can to cover up this fact. To that end, the trailer reframes Corey’s first introduction with Michael so that it appears as if the franchise’s villain immediately kills Corey when he encounters the character. Likewise, the corpse of Dr. Mathis seen in his pool in the… Halloween ends trailer to deliberately mislead viewers.
In the actual movie, Corey kills Dr. Mathis while wearing a clown mask. However, showing this scene in the trailer would have betrayed that Corey is one of the main villains of Halloween ends, not to mention that death may have been too gory and explicit for a trailer. So the trailer cut the role of Corey Cunningham Halloween ends so that the real villain of the film would remain a surprise when the sequel was released. While it’s always annoying when promotional material promises content that doesn’t make it into the movie, the creators of Halloween ends made the right decision here.
Corey’s mom has another death
While the death of Dr. Mathis was bloodier and more creative in the finished version of Halloween ends, the death of Corey’s mother, Joan, was also altered between the film’s trailer and the final edit. It’s only a small moment that’s missing from the film, but since Joan’s death in… Halloween ends been strangely coy, it’s interesting to see that the trailer proves that a longer version of the scene was shot. Almost the end of Halloween endsCorey stabs his mother out of the picture after selecting a knife from the kitchen drawer in a scene that is clearly a nod to Halloweenthe opening scene.
In the trailer for Halloween ends, the camera follows Corey’s shoulder as he wears Michael’s mask as he stalks his mother. In the finished film, Joan is sitting watching television and the camera angle instead reveals “Michael” – really Corey – standing behind her before cutting away while she screams. Whether these additional images mean there was originally a more explicit recurrence of Joan’s death is not clear, although it is striking that her fate is treated so subdued as the moment occurs between Halloween ends‘ Christine-inspired junkyard carnage and radio DJ Willy the Kid’s gruesome, over-the-top death scene.
Allyson sees Michael in the mirror
In another case of marketing for Halloween ends promising references to the original Halloween that the film failed to deliver, the final trailer for the sequel featured a moment when Micheal Myers appears in a mirror next to Allyson, who screams in terror. This scene cannot be found in the finished version of Halloween ends, although it looks like it would have happened during the fight at Laurie Strode’s house when, with Corey Cunningham dead, Michael finally tracks down the heroine and goes up against her. The trailer for Halloween ends Laurie also promised to shoot Michael, a scene that technically does appear in the sequel, but with a frustrating twist.
The trailer for Halloween ends showed Laurie shooting someone wearing Michael’s mask, which happens in the movie. However, the ad didn’t explain that it’s Corey, wearing Michael’s mask, who shoots Laurie, rather than the real franchise villain. Michael Myers doesn’t get shot Halloween ends since Laurie has run out of bullets from the final battle, a detail that doesn’t quite add up with her hardened survival person. However, this Halloween ends scene was presented only misleadingly, while the rest of the moments mentioned here were downright absent from the finished Halloween continuation.
