Partway through John Carpenter's original "Halloween," Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance) is looking for Judith Myers' grave when a Graveyard Keeper (Arthur Malet) relays to the doctor the story of one Charlie Bowles, a man who used to live in a nearby town with a wife and two children until one day when old Charlie "went out to the garage and got himself a hacksaw" before going back into his house and greeting his family. Neither Dr. Loomis nor we the audience get to hear exactly what Charlie did next, but we can infer quite a bit.

Especially as "Halloween" is the story of one Michael Myers, a Haddonfield resident who, as a young boy of six, brutally murdered his sister on October 31st of 1963. Like Charlie, Michael's actions were similarly unexpected and unprovoked, leading Loomis to conclude that Myers was "purely and simply ... evil." Carpenter insisted that the...