WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Halloween Kills, now playing in theaters and available through Peacock.
Halloween Kills sees Michael Myers escape death yet again, and this time he goes on an almost unparalleled rampage in response. Over a hundred lives have been lost to Michael throughout the Halloween franchise and its two reimaginings -- and it turns out, there was one character who nearly prevented most of them. A flashback in Halloween Kills reveals that Doctor Loomis almost killed Michael Myers in the immediate aftermath of the original Halloween, but his life was saved by an unlikely source.
The shadow of Doctor Loomis has lingered over the most recent Halloween films. By the events of 2018's Halloween, Loomis is implied to have passed away -- although audio recordings of his pleas to kill Michael remain as part of the attempted true-crime podcast that ends up inspiring Michael to kill again. Dr. Ranbir Sartain (Haluk Bilginer) appears throughout the 2018 film, first trying to help apprehend Michael and then turning on Frank (Will Patton) when he tries to kill Michael. Loomis' obsession with Michael begets a more twisted one that takes root in Sartain, who ends up even briefly donning Michael's mask before being murdered by the killer.
A flashback to the night of the original Halloween allows Loomis to reappear. Chasing Michael across the town of Haddonfield, a young Frank and his partner end up discovering Michael in his childhood home. Frank attempts to shoot Michael while he strangles his partner and instead strikes his fellow officer in the throat, fatally wounding him. Michael takes the opportunity to escape but is quickly surrounded by more officers. It proves enough to force Michael to surrender. Loomis promptly arrives on the scene and prepares to execute Michael on the spot with a pistol. But Frank rushes out and, in an act of mercy he'd come to deeply regret, saves Michael by moving Loomis' arm away as he fires the gun.
Decades later, Frank reveals this to Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) while they're both in the hospital. While the rest of the town is on the hunt for Michael, the pair spend Halloween Kills recovering from the serious injuries they suffered in the previous film. Laurie doesn't reject Frank for this revelation and instead empathizes with his pain and regret. It's also revealed that this is why Frank has seemingly dedicated himself to being the one to put Michael down once and for all. But it also radically alters Doctor Loomis. In the original film, Loomis was Michael's psychiatrist, and the only person to seem to truly understand what a pure monster the killer was. Although he shot Michael, he did so in an attempt to protect the life of a young Laurie.
But this revelation suggests that Loomis -- in full view of multiple officers -- was willing to execute what amounted to an unarmed man who'd surrendered. It's a major breach of his oath as a doctor and serves as proof of just how fearful he was of the evil innately within Michael. But as Michael has proven more and more unstoppable with each life he claims, it's clear that Loomis was on to something. As Halloween Kills proves, there's little anyone can do to actually slay the "boogeyman," as even seemingly fatal injuries no longer truly bother him. Loomis was the closest anyone has come to truly killing Michael, and that window might be closed forever now.
To see Frank's revelation about Dr. Loomis, Halloween Kills is now in theaters and on Peacock.