Actress Judy Greer‘s Karen Strode became a fan favorite upon release of 2018’s Halloween. Karen broadcast her disdain for Halloween by wearing Christmas sweaters in October and struggled with her estranged relationship with mom Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). But it was that memorable “gotcha” moment in the finale that solidified Greer’s character as a standout.
Bloody Disgusting asked Greer what fans could expect heading into the sequel, with Halloween Kills picking up where Halloween left off. Greer tells us, “Definitely the stakes are higher on the second one for her because now she believes her mom, and she feels like she has to protect her mom more than anything.”
Greer’s character deals firsthand with Haddonfield’s collective trauma and panic at Michael Myers’ resurgence. Karen accompanies her injured mom to a very crowded Haddonfield hospital, where tensions are on the rise. Greer explains, “She really is trying to do the right thing, and it’s just impossible when it’s that many people and when no one will listen to reason, and they don’t when there are that many people together. As I said, the stakes get higher in this movie, but I don’t feel like she changes her personality now that she knows Michael Myers is real.”
Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Karen (Judy Greer) in Halloween Kills, directed by David Gordon Green.
This aspect of Halloween Kills meant a scene that required no acting on Greer’s part; she was genuinely terrified. “I think the scariest part was for real when we were stuck in the hallway, me and Jamie, and the mob was running after us, and they were running past us and bumping into us and shoving us and not even noticing or listening to us. It was really overwhelming and really scary. I was like, God, this is terrifying! It’s a movie, and people are acting; I can’t even imagine being in the middle of that kind of thing for real.”
Shooting that harrowing scene wasn’t the only element of this sequel that caught the actress off guard; the aggressive violence surprised her when seeing the final cut. Greer stated, “Yeah, it was so gory. I was so surprised by how gruesome it was. And I was like, ‘David! What’s wrong with you?‘ But it’s also funny because they come up with these kills- [David Gordon Green] and Chris Nelson, the special effects makeup artist, the way things are scripted are more placeholders. So, when you read the script, you don’t know how the kills are going to be done. Then, I’m not there when they’re shooting all those scenes I’m not in, so I don’t know what they shoot and how they shoot it. It’s really fun, and it’s always a shock to me, in a good way.”
Dust off those Christmas sweaters and see Greer’s Karen in action when Halloween Kills arrives in theaters and on Peacock on October 15, 2021.