The Michael Myers Fan Theory That Changes Everything About Halloween
Michael Myers is one of the most iconic horror movie slashers of all time thanks to his initial reign of terror over the town of Haddonfield and his constant hunt for Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). What makes him so terrifying is that although he's completely silent — aside from the heavy breathing occasionally heard from underneath the unforgettable white mask — he only starts stalking Laurie in the 1978 film because he sees her briefly visit his old house, and from there his obsession only gets more violent.
Michael rampages through Haddonfield and murders some of Laurie's friends before hunting her while she babysits Tommy Doyle (Brian Andrews). He seemingly has no real motivation for murder, which makes the killer even scarier. Although director John Carpenter retroactively created a connection between Michael and Laurie, turning them into siblings, in 2019, Carpenter told ComicBook.com that this was only done so that the film would run longer on TV when NBC had bought the rights.
Carpenter said that "our movie was too short for them. So we needed to add some time. I think we had to add, what was it, eight minutes or something like that." The legendary director confessed that he struggled with adding more in because "The first movie was just what I wanted to make. I don't have anything to add. So I came up with this brother thing. It was awful, just awful. But, I did it." Thankfully, this plot point is essentially erased in 2018's "Halloween" and its sequel "Halloween Kills."
But a new fan theory suggests that Michael's urge to kill comes from something completely different than anything ever mentioned in the franchise.
Michael Myers might have an undiagnosed mental illness
A surprising new theory on Reddit suggests that Michael Myers has an undiagnosed mental illness which causes him to question his own place in reality. The theory from Redditor Bargoblen suggests that Michael has solipsism, a disorder "which means he doesn't think reality exits [sic] outside his own mind and could be linked to his violent behavior." It's an interesting idea, and if Michael is under the impression that everyone around him isn't real, it could explain why he feels no remorse in brutally murdering anyone he gets his hands on.
The theory goes on to suggest that this is why Michael doesn't talk, because solipsism syndrome may cause Michael to "justify his murders by considering his victims figments of his imagination. He doesn't speak to them because they're not real." This would also explain why Michael kills people so brutally, because to him it doesn't matter what he does to them.
The post then points out that the killer is possibly testing the boundaries of his reality, using a moment from "Halloween Kills" to build on the theory. "In 'Halloween Kills' it is mentioned he always staired [sic] out of his sister's window and it's suggested he was looking inward," with the theory's creator saying that Michael was possibly "testing himself to see if he thinks this world is real or if he is stuck in an imaginary situation."
This makes sense, especially looking at the recent sequels. The theory notes that Michael spends plenty of time isolated in the mental institution, so it's not a stretch to imagine that he'd question his own reality. Maybe solipsism syndrome will be addressed when "Halloween Ends" arrives on October 14, 2022.