You would think the former babysitter, Laurie Strode, would have had enough of being haunted and hunted by spectral serial slasher Michael Myers in the long-standing horror franchise, Halloween.

Actor Jamie Lee Curtis, who has portrayed Laurie since the first entry in 1978, is back for another hair-raising turn in Halloween Kills, with Curtis returning for another appearance in 2022 in Halloween Ends.

The first Halloween was Curtis’ movie debut, and now this new movie will be Curtis’ sixth appearance in the series. At first, Curtis was seen as Hollywood’s “scream queen,” starring in the Halloween franchise, followed by The Fog, Prom Night, and Terror Train—of course, her mother Janet Leigh was the original scream queen from Hitchcock’s slasher-thriller, Psycho.

Speaking of Jamie’s own family, they were Hollywood royalty with Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis being her parents. Then Jamie, herself, married into British “nobility” , tying the knot with Baron Haden-Guest, who’s better known as Christopher Guest. He’s actually served in the House of Lords but is better known as the actor who rocked the character Nigel Tufnel in the classic rock spoof, This is Spinal Tap, and he also directed Best in Show, the cute spoof on American dog shows.

Amiable and still beautiful Jamie Lee Curtis has had quite the life and outstanding career (A Fish Called Wanda, True Lies, Knives Out) but loves talking Halloween.

As Jamie’s character Laurie screams, “Happy Halloween, Michael!”—cue the slashing. Eeek!

Why did your character Laurie resonate with audiences way back in 1978?

She was a classic innocent, a good girl with no boyfriend experience, and a babysitter. And the producers said, let’s make a movie about babysitters who are put in peril on Halloween Night 1978. The innocence of babysitting comes into conflict with evil, and the audience was let in on Laurie’s vulnerability. She’s a survivor, even in this latest movie—as a mother and grandmother, she’s about self-reliance and resilience. Laurie Strode is every girl in every town, and Haddonfield is every town.

Why is a babysitter such an archetype character?

Well, many of us have been one or have looked after one. They’re part of our experience growing up. There’s something beautiful about babysitting. They’re local girls/teens who parents trust to watch over their kids. A lot of them couldn’t drive, and were neighborhood girls that everyone knew.

What does Michael Myers represent?

Michael represents evil, which has been present in storytelling since the beginning of time. From the ancient myths, the Greek tales, through Shakespeare, the struggles between good and evil have played out in the arts, in opera, dance, all arts.

Was that first Halloween movie shot on a shoestring budget?

That first Halloween movie had a teeny weeny budget, and a small crew. We were all so young with the oldest maybe 30. We were fresh filmmakers, running around on energy, eating together on the grass, with no fancy craft/food services, so someone would just grab some food. No trailers, nobody was fancy, just the love of filmmaking, it was thrilling and perfect.

What does this new Halloween Kills movie reflect about today’s society?

This new movie is spectacular with a bigger budget and I did have my own trailer. But it’s about community violence, and has a level of violence that’s brutal even by Halloween standards. Violence is never pretty, but there’s a rawness in this movie. And, it’s appropriate for the times we live in. The producers knew there are communities around the world that are outraged at their governments, corporations and big institutions and this movie reflects a certain “rage against the machine” that we all face. So, they’re mirroring the rage of the community today.

How did you get into acting?

I fell into acting by accident, even though both my parents were in the industry. I wasn’t very good in school and sort of crawled into College. I was good with other people and I liked law and order, so I actually thought I’d get into law enforcement—it was fun to later play a rookie cop in Kathryn Bigelow’s Blue Steel. Anyway, I went up for a part in Nancy Drew, which I didn’t get but I stuck around and acting came to me. It was so happenstance, but when the Halloween script came to me, I was amazed to see all those lines of dialogue. I felt I could work with that and create something. Of course, it didn’t hurt that my mother had previously starred in Hitchcock’s Psycho with that infamous shower slasher scene.

So, how did you end up meeting Baron Haden-Guest, aka Christopher Guest?

It’s kind of funny marrying into nobility, isn’t it? But I did see Chris’ photo in Rolling Stone magazine with the fellow members of their parody band, Spinal Tap. I thought he was cute, and I said to a girlfriend that I was going to marry him one day. And, I did. But Chris really is a baron and he actually sat in the British House of Lords as Lord Haden-Guest for about a minute. But he’s totally aware he was born into it by accident. His father Peter Haden-Guest was a British diplomat at the United Nations and became the 4th Baron Haden-Guest. Chris was born in New York, and when his father passed, Chris became the hereditary Baron Haden-Guest, by accident of birth.