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Karen Nelson, played by Judy Greer, is a character in the 2018 film Halloween and its sequel Halloween Kills.
Karen is the estranged daughter of Laurie Strode. She's married to Ray Nelson and is the mother of Allyson Nelson. She was raised for years to prepare for Michael Myers' eventual escape. She practiced on her mother's firing range in her backyard and performed safety drills, hiding in the escape room in the basement. Eventually CPS took Karen away and she nearly lost all contact with Laurie. As adults, they have a strained relationship due to her childhood and to Laurie's alcoholism.
In Halloween, Karen and Ray were going to have a celebratory dinner for Allyson for getting into the honor society and meet her boyfriend Cameron Elam. Allyson asked Karen if she'd invited her grandmother, Laurie, and Karen said that she had and that Laurie declined. In reality, Karen never asked her, not wanting her to be there. During the celebration, a drunk Laurie shows up and embarrasses herself and everyone else in front of Cameron. She and Karen get into an argument and Laurie leaves.
Later, Karen arrives home and finds that Laurie has broken into her home and pantomimes shooting her to prove that her home is not secure enough. Karen and Ray tell her to leave.
After discovering Myers had escaped from a transfer bus from Smith's Grove Sanitarium, the police take Laurie, Karen, and her husband Ray to Laurie's home for protection and a squad car remains outside the residence. Deputy Hawkins promises to find Allyson and bring her to be with the family.
When Ray goes outside to greet who he believes are the two officers, to ask if they had located Allyson, Michael strangles him to death. Laurie manages to get Karen to safety before she engages in a showdown with Michael. Laurie severely injures Michael, including shooting off some of his fingers, but he stabs her in the abdomen and pushes her over a balcony. When Michael goes to check Laurie's body, he finds it missing, reminiscent of their first encounter decades ago. Allyson arrives and calls out for her grandmother, luring Michael and allowing Karen to shoot him in the jaw. Laurie suddenly reappears and attacks Michael, trapping him inside the safe room with Karen and Allyson's help. The trio sets the house ablaze, and Laurie says goodbye to Michael before she begins to faint and lets her daughter and granddaughter quickly hitchhike a passerby vehicle to take her to the hospital.
In Halloween Kills Laurie, Karen, and Allyson are taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, where Laurie undergoes emergency surgery, as Michael murders Laurie's neighbors before making his way back to Haddonfield. Karen is informed that Michael is still alive and withholds that information from Laurie to allow her to recover.
Tommy Doyle forms a mob and pursues Lance Tivoli through the hospital before Karen realizes that he is not Michael. Despite her attempts to calm the mob and help Lance, he jumps out a window to his death. Laurie urges Karen to work with Tommy and Leigh Brackett to hunt Michael down. Elsewhere, Lonnie Elam heads in alone to Michael's home and is killed. Allyson and Cameron rush inside and find his corpse before being attacked by Michael, who murders Cameron.
As Michael prepares to kill Allyson, Karen stabs him in the back with a pitchfork, steals his mask, and taunts him to follow her. She leads Michael into Tommy's mob, who swarm, attack, and seemingly kill him. When the mob disperses, Michael recovers and massacres the entire mob, including Tommy and Brackett. Back at Michael's home, Karen goes upstairs to investigate while Allyson receives medical attention. Michael appears and stabs Karen to death in Judith Myers's old bedroom as Laurie stares out of her hospital room.