Where in the Horror are they Now? Halloween 4’s Ellie Cornell!

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

ELLIE CORNELL

THEN: It may not be October, but I’ve been celebrating Halloween since August. And because we are finally getting close to the end of September, we here at AITH decided to take a look at some of the faces in the HALLOWEEN franchise now. One lovely lass we have yet to seek out in Where in the Horror are they Now is HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS star Ellie Cornell. This perky blonde actress is one of my favorite things in what many consider to be one of the best sequels in the franchise. As Rachel Carruthers, she had the right mix of spunk and brattiness to bring the character to life. While she might have been a little bit of a pain in the ass to young and troubled Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris), she cared enough about her to fight back against Myers.

With the successful return of one of America’s favorite horror maniacs, Ellie returned for HALLOWEEN 5: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS. While this is not necessarily the worst sequel in the franchise – my money is on RESURRECTION for that – it is a bit of a waste. This is especially true when it comes to Cornell and her take on Rachel. I just spent a couple of hours really warming up to her, and what do they do? Well, let’s just say that her loss throughout the rest of the movie was certainly felt. Jamie and Rachel were a great team, and instead they put the focus on dumb teens trying to scare each other for half the movie. This movie needed more of Ms. Cornell.

After HALLOWEEN 5 in 1989 Ellie seemed to disappear from Hollywood, aside from a TV movie called Chips, the War Dog and one episode of Gabriel’s Fire. After that she took a bit of a break. Then, in 1998 she appeared in the comedy FREE ENTERPRISE and then THE SPECIALS in 2000  – two films she was an executive producer on. With that short break from scares, her next foray into horror was not one that was terribly well-received, like AT ALL. Yet there she was, in the 2003 video game adaptation of HOUSE OF THE DEAD by fanboy “favorite” Uwe Boll. And in favorite I mean, the dude that everybody loves to hate on. My memories of this flick are fairly vague as I only took this on one time and it was really as bad as everybody said it was. However, it was nice to see Ellie return to horror. That was a good thing.

In 2005, Ellie continued her horror streak with ALL SOULS DAY: DIA DE LOS MUERTOS and HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2. The first of these two flicks I had a bit of a soft spot for. The Jeremy Kasten directed feature isn’t what you would call a classic. However, something for late night cable when you can’t sleep? Perfection. As for HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2, after the first I sort of avoided this like the plague. That said, I appreciate Ellie’s return and perhaps one day, when I have nothing better to do, I will give this a watch? Anybody? Is this as bad as the original? Somebody save those of us that haven’t seen it the time and let us know.

The following year was a pretty damn busy year for Ellie, and it was all horror, baby. We had ROOM 6 – hey, I actually saw that one – and then THE THIRST, DEAD & DEADER, DEAD CALLING and THE DARKROOM. Come to think of it, I sat through all of these flicks. The one that I remember the most is probably DEAD & DEADER simply because it featured my AIRPLANE VS. VOLCANO co-star Dean Cain. This is a whole lot of straight to video thrills that Ms. Cornell was a part of. Sure all these features weren’t winners, but it is kind of refreshing that Ellie continued to be a part of the horror world.

NOW: The last we saw of Ellie Cornell was a few appearances in the series Femme Fatales back in 2011-2012. She even took on a directing gig in 2008 for an anthology called PRANK along with fellow HALLOWEEN talent Danielle Harris as well as A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET vet Heather Langenkamp. Unfortunately this flick never seemed to grace our horror loving presence, but man I would have loved to see it. The good news is that if you’d like to see Ms. Cornell you can catch her in a number of HALLOWEEN making of’s including Halloween 5: Dead Man’s Party – The Making of Halloween 5 from 2013 and Halloween 4: Back to the Basics: Making of Halloween 4.  And yes, there are a ton more to check out for fans of Ellie.

Here is a thought, with the new HALLOWEEN RETURNS – the sequel/reboot/retelling – from Marcus Dunston and Patrick Melton, how about a little Ellie Corrnell and Danielle Harris cameo combo? Personally I’d be all about that. However, if you get a chance, look out for Ms. Cornell at your local horror convention or the numerous making of features. You can also check out on Facebook  – unfortunately it isn't an official Facebook page. Ellie Cornell is still one of my favorite HALLOWEEN leading ladies, and here is hoping we continue to see the talented actress in AITH’s favorite genre.