Samuel J. Loomis

Dr. Samuel James Loomis is a fictional character in the Halloween film series. He is a protagonist in "Halloween" (1978), "Halloween II" (1981), ' (1988), ' (1989) and "" (1995). Donald Pleasence plays the character of Dr. Loomis in all five films.

Malcolm McDowell portrays Dr. Loomis in the 2007 reimagining, "Halloween".

The name "Sam Loomis" is an allusion to the boyfriend in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho". [ [http://members.fortunecity.com/gimadman0917/id34.htm#speech DEBRA HILL'S SPEECH - A 1998 INTRODUCTION TO HALLOWEEN] ]

Fictional character biography

Tenure at Smith's Grove, 1963 - 1978

In November 1963, Loomis receives the six-year-old Michael Audrey Myers under his care. For an initial six-month-period, Loomis is charged with spending four hours each day in therapy sessions with his patient. The mute and motionless boy had murdered his seventeen-year-old sister Judith Myers on Halloween night. Loomis is determined to find out what would cause a boy his age to commit murder.

On May 1, 1964, Dr. Loomis meets with two superior doctors in the sanitarium's forum chamber. Loomis suggests that his patient be confined in a maximum-security ward located at Litchfield, Illinois. The two doctors brush off Loomis' request declaring that Michael was merely "a catatonic" exhibiting "comatose behavior" who does not react to any of his surroundings. Loomis insists he be taken seriously because he is convinced that his patient's blank behavior is an ingenious cover for his true nature. He also feels that the level of security at Smith's Grove is insufficient. He pleads that Michael be moved immediately to a facility where any possible escape or legalized freedom is impossible. The Smith's Grove superiors decline the doctor's requests and issue an ultimatum that Loomis keep Michael as his patient or he will be looked after by someone else. Loomis knows to his core that no one else can be trusted or even safe around Michael, so he agrees to stay with him.

For the first eight years of Michael's psychiatric care and treatment, Loomis tries to get any form of response out of him. He finally convinces himself that Michael is truly evil. So, for the following seven years, he tries to keep him in total incarceration.

"Halloween"

Because of failed attempts to rehabilitate and treat his patient, Loomis convinces himself that Michael is indeed a psychopath.

Michael turns twenty-one on October 19th. By law, he is to be presented to court on his birthday for trial. The final verdict determines his freedom or further confinement. The trial date is pushed two weeks into the first week of November.

On the rainy night of Monday October 30, 1978, Loomis is accompanied by his friend and medical assistant Nurse Marion Chambers; they are charged with transferring Michael back to his home county for the trial. Loomis reveals to Marion that Thorazine will be used before Michael is presented to the judge.

When the pair reach the gates of the sanitarium, they discover that many patients are wandering around the grounds. Loomis goes to the main gate to telephone the hospital, but Michael appears and nearly attacks Marion while she is waiting in the car.

Myers escapes from the Illinois state hospital hijacking the car meant for his court date transfer. His plan is to return to his hometown of Haddonfield and locate his last surviving sibling. Driving the convert|150|mi|km|0 to his destination, he arrives in Haddonfield in time for Halloween.

Loomis is on Michael's trail for the entire date of October 31st. While en route to Haddonfield, Loomis stops along a rural highway in west central Illinois to call Haddonfield authorities. He has every reason to believe Michael will return home, so he urges that the police watch out for him.

When the psychiatrist finally arrives in Michael's hometown, he seeks the help of Haddonfield Memorial Cemetery's grave keeper, a man in his sixties named Taylor. The pair discover that the headstone of Judith Myers had been dug up and is missing. This clue is enough to assure that his patient is physically in the city. That afternoon, Loomis enlists the help of Haddonfield's sheriff, Leigh Brackett. The pair later travel to the former Myers residence at 45 Lampkin Lane. Loomis is curious to know if Michael had returned to his childhood home. With the front door being broken into and the decaying carcass of a stray dog being indoors, these two clues reassure Loomis that Michael has indeed come home. Loomis tries convincing Sheriff Brackett that Michael is a human incarnation of pure evil, that he has returned to kill again, and that Haddonfield is not safe on this night until Michael is captured.

While Michael stalks Laurie and her friends, Loomis waits and watches over the house, believing that Michael will return to his home. When he discovers the stolen car, he begins combing the streets where he finds the two children Laurie babysitting running frantically from a house. Loomis investigates and sees Michael attacking Laurie. When she pulls Michael's mask off, he stops to re-apply it, giving Loomis the opportunity to shoot his patient six times, knocking him to and off the balcony of the two-story house. After agreeing with Laurie that Michael was "the boogeyman", Loomis walks over to the balcony and looks down in horror to see that Michael is gone.

"Halloween II"

Picking up directly where the first film leaves off, the sequel continues with Laurie being taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital while Sheriff Brackett accompanies Loomis in his search for Michael. Myers then heads to the hospital to kill Laurie, leaving several bodies in his wake. Dr. Loomis is ordered to leave Haddonfield by the state governor so as to not create panic. His assistant Nurse Marion Chambers has arrived to try convincing Loomis to leave Haddonfield. She also reveals to him one horrifying fact: Michael Myers is the brother of Laurie Strode. After hearing this, Loomis hijacks the police car that is taking him away from Haddonfield using his gun and arrives at the hospital to stop Myers.

Loomis races to Laurie's aid and, once again, fires multiple gun shots to Michael which, naturally, does not stop him. Loomis and Laurie run to a near by operating room where Loomis attempts to destroy Michael with a gun shot to the head. Not realizing his gun is empty, Loomis fires an empty chamber, and Michael angrily stabs him in his stomach. Nevertheless, Loomis recovers, and he and Laurie fill the room with oxygen and ether. As Strode runs away, Loomis stays behind. He tells Michael that "it's time" and proceeds to blow himself up with Michael. This film was supposed to be the end of the franchise, but the ending of "Halloween II" is later retconned in the later films as a less destructive explosion.

Surprisingly, Loomis survives, but is horribly burned, sustaining permanent damage to his leg. In 1980, Laurie and Jimmy Lloyd had a daughter named Jamie. Shortly afterwards, it was thought the couple died in a car crash.

"Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers"

On October 30, 1988, Myers, who had been in a coma for 10 years, awakens in an ambulance when he hears that he has a niece. Coming upon the carnage resulting from a crash, Dr. Loomis unsuccessfully attempts to alert the police that Michael Myers is now free. He then makes his way back to Haddonfield and Loomis once again pursues him. Loomis goes to the Haddonfield police, who believe him. While Michael slaughters many officers in the police station, an angry mob turns out from a local bar to help hunt Michael Myers. Loomis works with the new town Sheriff Meeker and the few remaining police officers to help protect Jamie from her uncle. After Loomis is attacked by Michael while helping Jamie to hide after he had found her, he is later seen to have recovered as he witnesses the sheriff, a few of the mob, and state police shoot Michael, seeming to finally kill him. However, after the nightmare appears to have ended, Loomis sees the horrific sight of Jamie after having just stabbed her stepmother, dressed in a clown costume similar to what Michael wore when he killed his sister as a child. Sheriff Meeker stops Loomis just as he raises his gun to Jamie, and seems to go mad by the thought that the evil that drove her uncle has now possessed his niece.

"Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers"

The following year, Myers, who has once again been in a coma despite having escaped the explosion, awakens at a hut and kills the hermit owner, who had taken care of him. He then heads to Haddonfield to kill off his niece Jamie, who is silent and now has developed a telepathic bond between him. He first stalks her surrogate sister Rachel and then manages to kill her a few hours later. He then goes on to kill her friends. Jamie tries to save Rachel's friend Tina who becomes fond and sympathetic for Jamie. Tina, unbeknownst to the danger she is putting herself in realizes that Jamie is on to something when she comes looking for her at a party. Michael shows up and runs down Tina, Jamie and Billy, a friend of Jamie's. Jamie is then saved by Tina as Michael slams his knife down into Tina's chest and kills her. Loomis then arrived at the scene and proposed a deal to Myers: to go to his house and be presented with Jamie Lloyd. The police and Loomis set a trap for Myers at his house, involving the young niece to sit at the dressing table in Judith Myers's old bedroom. After the police receive calls linking Myers to be somewhere else, they all leave, leaving Loomis to say another famous line, "Now you'll come, won't you, Michael?" Myers goes to his house and meets Loomis who calms him, even tries to reason with the little humanity that is still left in Myers. But, when Loomis reaches to take away Michael's knife, he seriously wounds him. When Loomis awakens, he grabs Jamie and holds her in front of Michael to lure him into a metal link net. Jamie runs and watches as Loomis shoots Michael with a tranquilizer gun and then assaults him with a large piece of wood. Myers is put in jail to be picked up by the National Guard, but is freed by a mysterious Man in Black, who stalks Loomis throughout the movie. The Man in Black also kidnaps Jamie Lloyd the same night from the burning jail.

Dr. Loomis suffers a stroke immediately after attacking Myers. After that, he retires and moves to a quiet hut on the outskirts of Haddonfield. There he lives a solitary, almost hermit lifestyle, choosing not to interact with other people.

"Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers"

In 1995, the nightmare starts all over again. It is a cold and stormy night when someone knocks on Sam's door. It is Dr. Terence Wynn, his old colleague, who had come to persuade Loomis to return to Smith's Grove. Sam declines. While the two are arguing about that, they hear the voice of Jamie Lloyd on the radio. She is begging Dr. Loomis to help her.

It turns out that Jamie was impregnated by the same cult that kidnapped her in 1989; however, she succeeds in escaping after giving birth to a baby boy. She takes the child with her, and stops at a bus station to call Dr. Loomis. However, Michael tracks her down and kills her, but cannot find the baby.

Jamie has left Steven in the bus stop bathroom. There he is found by Tommy Doyle, the boy whom Laurie Strode was baby-sitting in 1978 who has become a deranged adult bent on destroying Michael Myers.

The following morning Jamie's body is discovered, and Loomis is devastated. He had thought that the last of Michael's bloodline was killed that night, but after being approached by Tommy Doyle who tells him about his discovery of the baby, Loomis knows he has to fight his nemesis one last time in order to save the infant.

During the following day it is revealed that Dr. Terence Wynn, Sam's old colleague is actually the "Man in Black". After this discovery Loomis goes after Wynn, while Tommy Doyle joins forces with Kara Strode, Laurie's cousin whose family has taken residence in the Myers home, in order to protect baby Steven from Michael. They apparently succeed, after a bloody battle in the Smith's Grove sanitarium.

After "stopping" Michael and Wynn at the end of the movie, Tommy and Kara start their car and as they are about to leave, Loomis informs them that he has to stay behind, because "he has some business to attend to", back in the sanitarium. And as they leave, a loud scream can be heard from the building in which Myers and Loomis were last seen in.

However, in an unreleased cut of the film, after Michael has been stopped by Tommy through the use of runes, Loomis returns to unmask "the shape" only to find a dying Wynn, who mystically passes onto him the Thorn tattoo, making Loomis Michael's watcher.

"Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later"

While "Halloween: H20" retcons the previous three films out of continuity, like "Halloween 4" it is implied that Loomis survived the explosion at the end of "Halloween II". However, as Donald Pleasence had died before the film was made, the character was written to have died sometime before the film began. It is stated in the film that the remaining years of his life, Sam Loomis was cared for by his medical assistant and friend Nurse Marion Chambers. He died while living at Marion’s Langdon, Illinois home, never knowing why Michael Myers was so violent and disturbed. For many years, he had hoped to reform his longtime patient, but gave up any genuine treatment when he realized that Myers was filled and influenced by demonic forces, if not enforced by the Devil himself. The septuagenarian Loomis died of natural causes in his comfortable bedchamber and office. His distinguished career as a medical doctor and later a psychiatrist was chronicled on the walls of his room. Key events witnessed by him or having been involved directly or indirectly were in the form of newspaper articles and hospital files.

An article done by "Psychology Review" briefly explained Loomis’ career:

On Thursday, October 28, 1998, Nurse Marion Whittington arrives at her Langdon home to find that her front door lamp fixture has been broken. This unusual clue of a possible break-in makes her hesitant to enter her own house alone. She first enlists the help of her teenage next-door neighbor Jimmy Howell, accompanied by his friend Tony Allegre. He telephones the police explaining the situation and they agree to arrive in about fifteen minutes. Jimmy feels the desire to inspect Marion’s house himself. Marion warns that all three of them should just wait for the police. Jimmy does inspect her house while Marion and Tony wait outside on the front walk. Jimmy reveals to his concerned neighbor that whoever had been in her house "did a real number" on her office.

Tired of waiting for the police to finally arrive, Marion enters her house. She briefly inspects the main rooms and then sees for herself what Jimmy had described. Her private office has been broken into and the room is in great disarray. Because electricity is off in her house, she has to make her way in the dark with a flashlight. Even though her file room is in chaos, a black-and-white photograph of her late friend and colleague Dr. Loomis is still intact. This photograph is the only pictorial evidence seen in this "Halloween" installment of the series’ famous protagonist.

During the prologue credits, the voice of Dr. Loomis is heard as he is explaining the evil that is Michael Myers. Audio clips from "Halloween" were initially considered when playing his famous monologue. Instead of the voice of actor Donald Pleasence, sound-alike voice actor Tom Kane provides this voice-over:

"I met him fifteen years ago. I was told there was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding of even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, of good or evil, right or wrong. I met this six year old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest eyes, the Devil's eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized that what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... evil."

"Halloween (2007)"

Doctor Samuel Loomis is first seen as a young child psychiatrist brought in by ten-year old Michael Myers' school to speak with his mother, Deborah. He recommends the boy gets medical help due to his increasing psychotic behavior (Loomis comes to this conclusion after seeing the various animals Michael tortured and killed). After the triple murder committed by Michael on Halloween, he is put under the care of Dr. Loomis at Smith's Grove Sanitarium. On some days the two talk peacefully, on others Michael expresses extremely horriffic outbursts of emotion. Fifteen years later, Dr. Loomis writes a best-selling book based on Michael's treatment called "The Devil's Eyes". On his last day at Smith's Grove, Loomis tells the silent Michael that he has tried but cannot help him anymore. Also telling him that Michael has become something like his best friend. Loomis concludes after Michael's escape he is going to Haddonfield. Once there he enlists the help of Sheriff Lee Brackett, and also buys a gun. Dr. Loomis believes that Michael may have return to finish what he started and murder his little sister, Laurie, who was brought to the adoption agency by Brackett when Michael's mother committed suicide years before. Michael succeeds in tracking Laurie and killing her friends and two police officers. Loomis is alerted of Michael capturing Laurie by Tommy Doyle and Lyndsey Wallace, the children Laurie is babysitting, and sets off to the Myers house. There he confronts Michael as he approaches Laurie, begging Michael to stop, but as Michael ignores him and continues forward, Loomis is left with no choice but to shoot Michael. Loomis rescues Laurie, but Michael soon reawakens to continue the attack on his sister. Loomis again tries to reason with him at which point Michael lets Laurie go and begins to crush Loomis' head, and drags him into the Myers house before continuing his pursuit of Laurie. His fate is unknown.

In the unrated version of the film, when Michael is in pursuit of Laurie through the house, Loomis grabs his foot to try and stop him. Michael shakes him off. This means that Loomis survived the previous attack.

Loomis has a different fate in a workprint version of the film that was leaked before the film's release. In it, Loomis is successful in convincing Michael to let go of Laurie as he is surrounded by police officers, telling Michael he "did the right thing." After Michael is killed shortly afterwards in a hail of gunfire, we see Loomis crying.

In Rob Zombie's adaptation, Dr. Loomis seems not to have contempt for Michael, and Michael doesn't truly see him as his nemesis. Their relationship with one another is more of a tragic friendship. Loomis does not immediately shoot Michael, but tries to reason with him.

ee also

*Halloween (film series)

References