John Carpenter admits during a documentary that Halloween’s Michael Myers was inspired by the 1973 Westworld film and Yul Brynner’s Gunslinger.
As we all know, the original 1973 Westworld film had a significant impact on the sci-fi genre in both film and books. What you will be surprised to find is that Westworld also influenced horror’s most iconic image of Halloween evil, Michael Myers.
Halloween’s director John Carpenter revealed during the Halloween documentary “A Cut Above The Rest,” that in developing Myers, he was inspired by the Gunslinger character played by actor Yul Brynner. The 1973 film is about the same wild west fictional park catering to the very rich when Brynner’s Gunslinger goes on a killing rampage due to a virus.
While Brynner’s character isn’t featured in the HBO series, The Man in Black’s all black attire is undoubtedly a nod to the villain of the original movie. There’s also a nostalgic Westworld easter egg hiding within a scene in which Bernard enters the host’s storage area, and a cowboy figure stands in the background resembling the Gunslinger in clothing and in posture.
The Gunslinger is an emotionless determined killer that becomes an unstoppable threat in the film. Who could stop a machine that cannot die and therefore has nothing to lose in its quest to kill?
It is this premise that Carpenter borrowed and instilled in Michael Myers. Myers’ character in Halloween is a murderous psychopath that doesn’t seem to have any motives other than to kill his own family and anyone else he comes across.
Most importantly, he has no empathy. And in the end, Myers can’t be taken down even when he’s captured thus reminding us that his return is imminent.
While the new Westworld series focuses on the humans being the real threat, we see much of the unrelenting determination in a killer robot that refuses to die in Dolores. The Gunslinger eventually meets his end when the main character reaches the control area and deactivates him.
But HBO’s Westworld is more complicated and modern design doesn’t function the way the 1973 version did–making Dolores seem unbreakable in comparison to the Gunslinger and Michael Myers.
What do you think about Westworld being the inspiration behind Halloween?