There is no place Jamie Lee Curtis won’t go to promote Halloween Ends, and on October 12, her horror campaign took her to the equally frightening Real Housewives of Beverly Hills reunion. As a longtime friend of Kyle Richards, whom she starred with in the original Halloween, Curtis has popped up on the show before in service of their charity work for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. But this season’s guest spot was an instant classic because there is nothing that unites the women of Beverly Hills like the power of celebrity; it’s the show’s currency of choice. On Orange County, it’s youth; on New Jersey, it’s family; on New York City, it’s vodka. But on Beverly Hills (to quote every single Kyle tagline), nothing excites the women more than a famous person popping up.
The presence of Curtis on the reunion stage is as much an absolute joy as it is slightly unsettling. It’s like when the bride’s mother comes to the bachelorette party. Or running into your kid’s teacher at a bar. This is a place known for trash and debauchery, and yet in walks gravitas and class?
Sure, she’s a pro at facing off with Michael Myers, but far scarier things have happened on a reunion stage than have ever happened in a horror film (e.g., the bunny). In this episode alone, there’s talk of home invasions, death threats, plus the horrifying jump scare of Diana popping up on Zoom. And at least in the Halloween franchise, there was a wardrobe supervisor making sure everyone’s outfits matched.
One thing is abundantly clear: Jamie Lee Curtis does not care about this show, and she wants us to know that. She seemingly knows nothing about it and was shocked to learn about its cultural impact. As a thank-you gift for having her at the reunion for a show she knows little about, she bestows the women with a Halloween-themed gift — more specifically, a Halloween-themed gift, because of synergy, and out rolls eight jack-o’-lanterns carved with their faces. It just so happens that this is the perfect segue to talk about Halloween Ends, the final installment in the franchise starring Curtis, Kyle, and Kyle’s bangs. What a coincidence! The reunion stage pivots to a press junket for a moment, and Andy Cohen asks JLC about playing the original scream queen all these years. “In the same way that you guys have a huge fan base, that’s how horror fans are. And I feel their love,†she says. It’s a fair comparison, but Housewives fans have had to behold far more terrifying things, like Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave’s contract getting renewed.
Now, carving a face on a pumpkin is no easy feat, especially when those faces are changing by the minute. It’s perhaps even more difficult when the pumpkin is made of plastic, as these ones are, so understandably the faces seem just a little bit … off. Everyone looks as if they’ve gotten about twice as much work done as they actually have. Kyle has Rinna lips, Dorit is elongated, and Garcelle should just outright send a cease and desist to whoever approved hers. Gourd is not the most flattering medium for a portrait, and if I were given such a gift, I might be rooting for Michael Myers.
Curtis, who, again, wants to make it very clear that she has no knowledge of this show or how it operates, talks about immediately breaking the fourth wall, which you’re famously not supposed to do on a reality show (or in scripted projects, unless you’re Fleabag). “I know I’m not supposed to talk to you, but guess what? I’m gonna break every rule that’s ever been had on this show,†we see her say to a camera operator. Very Denise Richards of her.
The reunion is an unconventional stop for a press tour, but maybe this will start a new trend. After all, Curtis is a master of the form. There’s not a greenroom she hasn’t graced to sell this movie, doing which has birthed the now-famous “trauma†meme (following in the footsteps of Lady Gaga’s “100 people in a roomâ€), and she has even signed a contract on Jimmy Kimmel Live! promising this will in fact be her final turn as Laurie Strode.
If that contract holds true, it looks as though this will be our last time getting Halloween promo on RHOBH. But now that she knows how great of a marketing platform it is, I’m sure she’ll be back to sell us Freaky Friday 2.