'Halloween' is known for popularising both the home-invasion trope of horrors as well as the slasher subgenre, and Jamie Lee Curtis' performance as Laurie Strode has been one of her most recognisable roles in a career that's spanned over four decades.

At this year's San Diego Comic Con panel, Curtis along with the makers of the upcoming sort-of sequel / reboot took part in a Q&A session with fans lining up to ask pretty standard questions. All except one man - Jeffrey Scott - who actually had an experience similar to Jamie Lee Curtis' character in the 1978 horror classic.

It all came about when Curtis was explaining her role in the new film, and how it was really about reclaiming someone's victimhood. "There comes a point where you say, I am not my trauma, the narrative of my life is that I am not a victim,” said Curtis.

"This is a woman who has been waiting 40 years to say... I’m going to take back my narrative and you don’t own me anymore. And that, weirdly enough, seems to be a bit of a thing in the world today.” Shortly after that, Scott shared his own experience of how he found himself alone at home, in the middle of the night, with an intruder in his house who tried to attack him with a knife - and pretty much decided to act the same way Curtis did in 'Halloween'.

As Scott explained, "I ran down to the neighbors, and started screaming like you did in the movie... To make a long story short, I’m here today because of the way you portrayed Laurie Strode. I’m a victor today instead of a victim, just like those people you were talking about."

Curtis then left the panel and descended into the crowd where she hugged Scott, spoke quietly with him for a few moments and then returned to the stage. "The gentleman that spoke earlier? That kind of emotion is real," said Curtis on her return. "These are movies and we love to come to a movie and get scared, it’s exciting … but it all has to be based in a reality and something you can believe in."

'Halloween' arrives in Irish cinemas on October 19th.