The Big Picture

• Paul Rudd's performance in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers is the best part of one of the franchise's weakest films.
• The film's bizarre plot involved Michael Myers living with a cult and having a child with Jamie, leading to a messy outcome.
• Rudd's portrayal of Tommy Doyle added a unique depth to the character, grounding the film among chaotic supernatural elements.

Before he was battling super villains as Ant-Man or the supernatural in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Paul Rudd was a struggling actor trying to break out. In 1995, he hit it big with his first ever feature film, Clueless. The comedy not only made a star out of its lead, Alicia Silverstone, but Rudd as well. Although this was Rudd's first released movie, it wasn't the first one he filmed a part for. That distinction goes to Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, the sixth film in the series, and one so disastrous that it would cause the franchise to undergo a complete reboot. As bad as it was, it was saved by Paul Rudd giving an off-kilter performance as Tommy Doyle, which added some much-needed emotional heft to such a bizarre plot. This Halloween film would be the last for legendary actor Donald Pleasence, who died during filming, but it was the beginning for another soon to be Hollywood icon.

'Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers' Has the Craziest Plot in the Franchise

When John Carpenter, with the help of Debra Hill, created Halloween in 1978, they started a slasher phenomenon. As influential as the first film was, none of the sequels could match it. Michael Myers was scarier than ever in Halloween 2, but the twist of making Michael and Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) brother and sister put everything else that followed it in a bind. Michael Myers was no longer a boogeyman with no motivation, but some guy who hated his family. Both Halloween 4 and Halloween 5 had him stalking the daughter of Laurie, Jamie (Danielle Harris), and 1995's Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers looked to be more of the same, but with the bizarreness turned up to eleven.

The plot of the sixth Halloween has Michael Myers living with a cult who controls him. If that's not out there enough, somehow he and Jamie have had a baby together, because why not? The wild plot was so bizarre that an alternate Producer's Cut was made to try and clean up the mess (it failed). Firstly, Danielle Harris did not return as Jamie. She was instead recast with J.C. Brandy, then killed off in the first act. Then, tragedy struck, as horror icon Donald Pleasence, who had played the Boogeyman's nemesis, the crazed Dr. Sam Loomis, in every Michael Myers-centered Halloween film, passed away before reshoots could be completed. The final product was a mess of a movie, deemed the worst of the franchise by many fans. It has just an 8% on Rotten Tomatoes and was a major flop at the box office, making a mere $15 million. Its failure led to the end of the cult Thorn trilogy, with the next entry, 1998's Halloween H20, bringing Laurie Strode back from the dead and pretending that nothing after Halloween 2 ever happened. Still, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, shouldn't be ignored. Within the mess of a movie lies a great performance by Paul Rudd in his first ever feature role.

Paul Rudd's Portrayal of Tommy Doyle Is the Best Part of This 'Halloween' Sequel

In the first Halloween, Laurie is babysitting two children. One of them, the young Tommy Doyle, is obsessed with the idea of the Boogeyman, and has multiple scarring encounters with Michael Myers. Played by Brian Andrews, the Tommy Doyle character wasn't explored again until the sixth film, with a 26-year-old Paul Rudd, billed as Paul Stephen Rudd, now playing Tommy.

With Donald Pleasence in diminishing health and no Laurie or Jamie Strode around, Tommy is basically the lead of the film. Although Rudd doesn't speak about the role, putting him in another of a long line of future stars in bad horror sequels, like Henry Cavill in Hellraiser: Hellworld, for one example, it's not one he should be embarrassed of. While everything is head-scratching, supernatural chaos around him, Rudd's portrayal of Tommy keeps the film grounded as much as possible, and also serves as a connection to the original classic.

Tommy Doyle is not played as a badass hero, but rather a very troubled man, one whose personality and identity has been shaped by his encounters with Michael Myers. It has left him obsessed with finding Michael Myers and unable to adequately know how to act around other people. He's confident in his opinions about the Boogeyman, but he's quirky and aloof, a man shaped by his trauma. He lives across from the old Myers house, waiting and ready for Michael's return, and when it happens, he doesn't falter in protecting the family who lives there along with Jamie's baby. We see his fear when he does go face to face with the Boogeyman again, but he's also brave, beating Michael Myers to a bloody pulp with a pipe and leaving him for dead. Final girls are all the rage in slashers, but Paul Rudd's Tommy Doyle is one of the better rare final boys.

David Gordon Green Wanted Paul Rudd To Return For 'Halloween Kills'

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers may have bombed, but Clueless sure didn't, with the comedy making $56 million in cinemas and becoming an instant classic through video stores and cable TV. Paul Rudd became a comedy king in the 2000s thanks to films like Wet Hot American Summer, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and leading parts in Role Models and I Love You, Man. Just a few years ago, however, he had the chance to return to his horror roots.

In an interview with Inverse, Blumhouse executive producer Ryan Turek spoke about how they tried to land Paul Rudd for Tommy Doyle's return in Halloween Kills. Rudd had worked with director David Gordon Green before on 2013's Prince Avalanche, so there was a shot of making it happen. Turek said:

“David is friends with Paul Rudd. I know that there was a text conversation between the two of them and that was like, Make it happen! But it was Paul Rudd. He’s untouchable. He is a superstar now. Come on, he's Ant-Man.”

It's probably for the best that Rudd wasn't cast, as David Gordon Green's trilogy acts as if nothing ever happened after the first Halloween. In this world, it means there never was a Paul Rudd Tommy Doyle, which would have meant confusing audiences into thinking both timelines still existed. Instead, Anthony Michael Hall was cast as Tommy. On the Fantasm Podcast, Hall said that David Gordon Green told him, "'I got a call from Paul Rudd, and he sends his best and he gave you his blessings – he’s really excited that you’re playing the part.' I never met Paul Rudd, but I thought that was really nice."

In Halloween Kills, Tommy Doyle dies a humiliating death at the hands (and baseball bat) of Michael Myers, so Paul Rudd dodged a bullet with that one. Instead, he went on to star in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, leading the way in another big name franchise, but for horror fans, he will always be the guy who took on Michael Myers and lived to tell about it.

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers is available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.

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