The ‘Halloween Kills’ Novelization Drops a Very Unexpected “Cult of Thorn” Connection

At the time of writing this article I am 200 pages into writer Tim Waggoner‘s Halloween Kills, the official novelization of David Gordon Green’s sequel. As Waggoner recently explained in an interview with our own Jason Jenkins, “I was able to write it pretty much from the script,” which is usually how these sorts of things work. Waggoner was provided with the script for Halloween Kills and he wrote out the novelization based on the dialogue and descriptions found therein, building out from there to turn the script into a 312-page novel.

Characters and situations get fleshed out a bit more in Waggoner’s official novelization, which notably provides a backstory for the ill-fated Anthony Tivoli and touches upon what legacy characters including Tommy Doyle, Lindsey Wallace, and Lonnie Elam have been up to in recent years. And Waggoner also works fun some Easter Eggs into the mix for Halloween fans.

As he explained to BD, “I had two different editors on the project, and one of them was a big Halloween fan. Together, we seeded little Easter eggs throughout the book, just for fun.”

One of those Easter Egg nods is to Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2, with Waggoner making mention of a pizza shop called “White Horse Pizza,” but that’s not even the deepest or most interesting cut for fans of the Halloween franchise. That honor belongs to a nod on page 85, wherein Waggoner makes sure to give the infamous “Cult of Thorn” mythology a little mention.

One of the more polarizing ideas in the franchise’s history, the Cult of Thorn mythology was woven into Halloween 4, Halloween 5, and Halloween 6 as a way to explain Michael’s supernatural powers, but all of those sequels have of course been wiped away by the current timeline. In this timeline, after all, only the original classic remains part of the experience.

Nevertheless, the Halloween Kills novelization reveals that Tommy Doyle (played by Anthony Michael Hall in the movie) has a Cult of Thorn tattoo, just like Halloween 6‘s Michael Myers!

Anthony Michael Hall as Tommy Doyle in Halloween Kills, directed by David Gordon Green.

Waggoner writes, “Tommy… in some ways he was the worst of them, including Laurie. Ever since the night that Laurie saved him and Lindsey from Michael, he’d had difficulty controlling his anger. He had a hair-trigger temper, was quick to take offense at any perceived slight, no matter how mild, and he could be irritable, impatient, and impulsive. He’d gotten into a lot of fights in high school, and even more after he’d graduated. He drifted from job to job, unable to hold on to one for any length of time without blowing his top off at someone – usually his boss – or taking a swing at them. He’d gone through a series of relationships, but they never lasted long either. No one wanted to be the partner of someone with such a volatile emotional state.

“… Tommy had been in therapy on and off since his late twenties, and while he’d picked up a lot of psychological tools to help him deal with his anger, it was by no means fully under control. He was so obsessed with Michael and all things Halloween that he’d gotten a tattoo of a Thorn rune on his left arm, and when he was anxious, he rubbed his hand over it subconsciously.”

The book digs no further into the Halloween 6 connection, and doesn’t explain the tattoo for readers unfamiliar with the franchise’s past, but it’s a fun little connection that’s sure to have hardcore fans salivating with theories. Tommy Doyle was of course the central protagonist character in Halloween 6, however he was played by Paul Rudd back then. That version of Tommy Doyle, a character from the original classic, was similarly obsessed with Michael Myers and the Thorn mythology. Does this mean those two versions of Tommy are the same man?

At the end of the day, of course, it’s likely little more than an Easter Egg slipped in by Waggoner. In Halloween Kills, the movie, no such tattoo is ever seen on Tommy Doyle’s arm.

But it sure is fun to think about…

The Halloween Kills novelization is available now. Grab a copy here.