Here is something that has bothered me for many, many years. In Halloween 1978 there seems to be a major continuity problem and it all revolves around the theft of Michael’s Mask. I laid out the events of October 31st in a practical time line and here is what I came up with:
Oct 30th 9:00p.m. Michael escapes from Smiths Grove
Oct 31st 12:00a.m.-4:00a.m. Michael makes his 1st kill (the truck driver)
Oct 31st 4:00a.m-6:00a.m Michael steals the tombstone (night was the best time to do this)
Oct 31st 7:30a.m. Michael watches his sister Lorie walk up to the house (has mask on)
Oct 31st 11:00a.m. Michael is outside the classroom (has mask on)
Oct 31st 2:15-2:40p.m. Michael follows all the girls (speed Kills) (has mask on)
Oct 31st 3:10p.m Michael is outside Lorie’s window (prank phone call) (has mask on)
Oct 31st 3:20p.m. watches Tommy drop his pumpkin at school
Oct 31st 4:30p.m. Brackett is in front of the Hardware Store and says “a mask, 2 knives, and some rope was stolen”
This is where I can stop. You see Michael had his mask since 7:30am, but the hardware store wasn’t robbed until 4:00pm-4:20pm. So that means one of the two happened: Michael stole the mask before 7:00am, but the alarm didn’t go off until 4ish, or Haddonfield has the worst response time to an alarm in the history of all police forces. I doubt either are the case, but I would like to believe the first. Let us know what you think. I know I can’t be the only person to ever ponder this.
nice timeline just didnt no in the 1978 version he killed a truck driver? maybe i just missed that, but my thoughts is he stole one mask at 7 then went back at 4 for another mask and some supplies and wanted all the attention to be on the hardware store…just a thought
Ethan
He means the Phelps garage pickup truck driver,Interesting stuff for sure
Thanks anth0777,that’s what I was talking about. I should have labeled that one more clearly, I just couldn’t remember the name on the truck.
I never understood this either… But it just wasnt something they put alot of “thought” into while filming.. I would probably make several mistakes too if I had the pressure to film in such short time with limited crew.
This always bugged me too, but what I thought is that the Hardware Store didn’t open until then, and when the owner came to open the store, his saw he was robbed and hit an alarm or something.
Its just a screw up. As much as we wish, Halloween is not above having faults.
That is interesting and I have heard this brought up previously somewhere at some point.I figure it was probably placed improperly after editing and was overlooked simply because of budget limits.After slicing,chopping and situating,you could see where that scene may have been intended to be the previous day.I wonder if the people involved in the production of the film,including John Carpenter ever noticed that.Might have to ask him that at the next Monster-Mania.
I brought this up a few times. Not only is it a timeline goof but why would a hardware store that sells Halloween masks be closed on a weekday halloween?
Another continuity problem is the location of Tommy Doyle’s house. Early in the film Jaime walks to the Strode house and then walks to the Myers house. It’s not far. Later she has to be driven across town to the Doyle house. Loomis is hanging around the Myers house and walks a very short distance to the Doyle house…that Laurie had to be driven across town to get to.
None of these mistakes are noticeable the first few dozen times you watch the film and it certainly doesn’t take away from its enjoyment. How Loomis missed the missing sedan with a Smith’s Grove logo on it’s door parked across from the myers house is another argument…
Ramonesome….damn your right. I never noticed any of that and I didn’t catch the hardware goof until 2005-2006.
I also think it’s pretty funny that Lindsey will let herself into the Wallace house, have sex in the parents bedroom and even answer the phone at their house. They act like the adults will ever come home. I would have loved a scene in H2 that showed the wild party that the Strode’s, Doyle’s and Wallace’s were at till the break of dawn.
Halloween 2 has even more continuity problems. Michael is shot 7 times from a 6 shooter, clearly walks backwards off a card table, falls off a completely different house onto a crash pad that shows him bouncing. The lawn he fell on suddenly has grass on it and a human shaped imprint that wasn’t there at the end of H1.
Within 30 seconds of Myers leaving the Doyle house he’s at the Elrod house where the media is suddenly reporting on all the bodies found in the Wallace house. It’s been 30 seconds since the end of the last movie…how does the media know all this? The Sheriff of the town won’t find out for another 20 minutes.
Where the hell are Laurie’s parents? Their blasting her name out of every television in town and her parents aren’t concerned or even looking for her? The secret of Myers being her brother would have been better delivered by them then by a super secret file that the nurse knew about but not Myers own doctor.
In the operating room scene when Loomis and Laurie are opening up all sorts of gas tanks…how are they able to breathe in that room? They would have knocked themselves out. And yes, Laurie is a surprisingly good shot with a pistol…
I love these movies but if you hold any films up to scrutiny you will find some logic problems. Great article by the way, well researched.
-Jason
Also in the beginning of Halloween Laurie drops a key off for a prospective buyer to look at the Myers house. That buyer, presumably, never shows up.
I’ll stop nitpicking now.
Yea….she is quite good at hitting the eyes with straighten meatal hangers and bullets,I always found that humorous.
There is no continuity problem.
You are making the assumption that Michael stole the mask from the hardware store. There is no proof hat he did.
All very good points that I have pondered as well but when I watch my Halloween I don’t look for the flaws I just watch my favorite movie for what it is my favorite movie.
It's even later. Annie talks to Laurie on the phone, says she's gonna pick Laurie up at 6:30… and after that comes the scene where they are driving to the hardware store
There’s no way that Mike had the chance to put the mask under the floor board before he was sent to the nut house