What actually happens
1963, then a very bad commute
The movie opens on Halloween night in 1963 in Haddonfield, Illinois, where six-year-old Michael Myers kills his teenage sister Judith with a kitchen knife. Fifteen years later, on October 30, the psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis and a nurse, Marion Chambers, drive out to the sanitarium to take Michael to a court hearing and find that the patients have broken out. One of them climbs onto their car and attacks Marion through the window, she runs, and he drives off in it. Loomis correctly guesses the driver was Michael. Michael heads home to Haddonfield, kills a mechanic for his coveralls, and takes a white mask, some rope and a couple of kitchen knives from a hardware store.
Reading this instead of watching it is the correct decision. Scaredy Cat makes that decision automatic, for free.
Laurie has a hunch
On Halloween morning, Laurie Strode drops off a key at the empty Myers house, which her father is trying to sell as a realtor, and Michael starts following her. She keeps catching sight of him throughout the day. Her friends Annie Brackett and Lynda Van Der Klok tell her she's imagining things. Loomis arrives in town, discovers that Judith's tombstone has been stolen from the cemetery, and teams up with Sheriff Leigh Brackett, Annie's father. They visit the old Myers house together and agree that Michael has come back.
Two babysitting jobs, one street
That night Laurie babysits Tommy Doyle, and Annie babysits Lindsey Wallace across the street, with Michael watching both houses. While he spies on Annie, he kills Lester, the Wallace family's German Shepherd. Tommy sees Michael from the window and decides he's the boogeyman, and Laurie tells him there's nothing there. Annie drops Lindsey off with Laurie so she can go pick up her boyfriend, and Michael, hiding in her car, strangles her and cuts her throat. Lynda and her boyfriend Bob show up at the Wallace house. When Bob goes down to the kitchen for a beer, Michael stabs him and leaves him pinned to the wall, then dresses up as Bob in a ghost costume. Lynda teases him and gets no reaction. She calls Laurie to ask where Annie went, and Michael chokes her with the cord of that same phone while Laurie, on the other end, has no idea what she's listening to.
The closet
Laurie walks over to the Wallace house to check, finds her friends' bodies laid out upstairs with Judith's tombstone, and Michael slashes her arm and sends her over the banister. She makes it back to the Doyle house, hides the kids, finds the phone dead, and stabs Michael in the neck with a knitting needle when he climbs in through a window. He gets up again. This is the scene people remember: Laurie draws him to a bedroom closet, drives a piece of wire hanger into his eye, and then uses his own knife on his chest. Then she sends the two kids next door to get the police.
The ending, explained
Michael gets up yet again and goes after Laurie. Loomis, who has spent the night searching the streets, sees the kids screaming outside and runs in to find Laurie pulling Michael's mask off. Michael puts it back on, and Loomis shoots him several times until he falls off the bedroom balcony. When Loomis looks over the edge, the body is gone, and he doesn't look surprised. Laurie sobs that it was the boogeyman. Laurie, Tommy and Lindsey survive the night. Annie, Lynda, Bob and Lester the dog do not, and Michael is still out there somewhere in Haddonfield.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: not fine, and it happens on screen.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Halloween scary?
Yes, Halloween (1978) is a 6 out of 10. Most of it is a slow, quiet stalk through a suburb with a handful of jump scares and very little gore, and the tension builds until a loud last stretch.
How does Halloween end?
Laurie Strode fights Michael Myers off until Dr. Loomis shoots him off a balcony. When Loomis looks down, Michael's body is gone, and Laurie and the two children she was babysitting survive.
Does the dog die in Halloween?
Yes, the dog dies in Halloween. Michael kills Lester, the Wallace family's German Shepherd, early in the evening, and it happens on screen.
Is there a post-credits scene in Halloween?
No. Halloween has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
Who is the killer in Halloween?
Michael Myers, who killed his sister Judith in Haddonfield in 1963, when he was six. In Halloween he escapes from a sanitarium fifteen years later and comes home wearing a white mask he steals on the way.
