In the original, we're introduced to Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) as he's driving with a colleague, Marion Chambers, on the way to Smith's Grove Sanitarium so they can escort Michael to court the night before Halloween. They arrive and find that multiple patients are wandering around outside the gate in their scrubs, suggesting that Michael was able to engineer a break. He attacks Marion and steals her car, zooming off to return to Haddonfield for another crime spree.
The scene of the patients milling about is reminiscent of a scene in the new film, in which Michael is able to crash the school bus he's on during a ride to a new psychiatric hospital with his doctor, Dr. Sartain. An unsuspecting father and son come upon the accident, where they see the ghostly figures of Michael's fellow patients wandering through the mist. Just as he does in the first movie, Michael uses the distraction to steal their car (and, uh, brutally snap their necks) to drive to Haddonfield.