 Ignoring the events of the previous three films , Halloween H20 : 20 Years Later ( 1998 ) establishes that Michael Myers ( Chris Durand ) has been missing since the explosion in 1978 . Laurie Strode ( Curtis ) has faked her death to escape her brother , and is now living in California under an assumed name with her teenage son John ( Josh Hartnett ) . On the twentieth anniversary of their last meeting , Michael tracks Laurie and her son to the private boarding school where she is headmistress , and murders John 's friends . Getting her son to safety , Laurie willingly goes back to face Michael , and succeeds in decapitating him . Halloween : Resurrection ( 2002 ) , which picks up three years after H20 , retcons Michael 's death , establishing that the man Laurie decapitated was a paramedic whom Michael had attacked and swapped clothes with . Michael ( Brad Loree ) tracks down an institutionalized Laurie ( Curtis ) and kills her . Returning to Haddonfield , he finds and kills a group of college students filming an internet reality show inside his childhood home . Contestant Sara Moyer ( Bianca <unk> ) and show producer Freddie Harris ( Busta Rhymes ) escape by trapping Michael in a burning garage . 
