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Update: Hit umpteen bazillion fanpages after posting last and have discovered that I'm not alone in my confusion- the Halloween mythology is convoluted and some movies seem to rewrite previously established canon while others simply ignore it altogether.

I think it's pretty interesting to see how the fans deal with the changes as each subsequent movie is released. And as for the 8th movie? There's pretty much angry consensus across the web that it and 3 are the weakest entries in the series. JLC's brief appearance in 8 serves as Charlton Heston's brief appearance in the Planet of The Apes sequel did- to eliminate all possibility of further resurrecting the character.
Go JLC.

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