It’s been forty years since Laurie Strode had her terrifying encounter with Michael. Forty years since she escaped with a small scratch on the outside but undeniably horrific trauma on the inside. Forty years of waiting for him to come back…

And boy did he make a comeback today in Hall H at San Diego Comic Con, knife in hand.

But the real star of the show was none other than Jamie Lee Curtis who made such an impactful statement that it had fans screaming not in fear but in support.

Hinting at todays world events and climate, Curtis was emphatic about her character taking back her identity and refusing to let her trauma define her. As Hall H sat in darkness on the edge of their seats while watching the trailer for “Halloween” it wasn’t all about the scare and the gore. It was Laurie’s triumphant return to kick some ass and take back what was stolen from her so long ago…her innocence and sanity.

Universal Pictures has really hit the mark with this “Halloween.” Frightening enough to send chills up my spine. Scary enough that attendees gasped and weren’t able to hold back their shrieks. And exciting enough to elicit rousing applause and cheers of support when Laurie appeared on the screen ready to kill Michael once and for all.

Jason Blum (producer) eluded that there will be little nods to the past Halloween movies but that this movie is what happens forty years after that fateful night.

Today’s panel was undoubtedly one of the best that I have seen in over ten years at San Diego Comic Con. To say that the trailer was everything horror should be is indisputable. It was more than the trailer, more than one of the most iconic knife wielding characters in horror, and more than howls from a dark theater. If you were lucky enough to be in Hall H today then you were privileged to see what a class act that Curtis is. When an audience member shared his own random act of violence, it turned emotional as he said, “What would Jamie Lee Curtis do?” He credits Laurie Strode/Curtis for saving his life. Curtis immediately bounded up from the table and made her way to the audience. 6,000 attendees witnessed something very real and very raw today. A magical Comic Con moment that I will never forget.

A lot of people don’t equate horror to serious, legitimate cinema. Thank you Jamie Lee Curtis for turning this around and making it more than cheeky, campy scares.

“I am not my trauma…I am going to take back my narrative,” Jamie Lee Curtis on her character, Laurie Strode, in Halloween.

I know where I will be this October 19th. In the theater with popcorn in my lap, ready to hear the familiar theme song of one greatest franchises in horror.