There are thirteen movies in the Halloween franchise. An impressive feat for any IP, but even more so for one that started with a budget of $300,000. The first movie went on to make $70 million on release, and so much more in merch and licensing since then. Halloween became not just a hit, but a cultural phenomenon. Micheal Myers has survived reboots, both soft and hard, multiple near-deaths, and even Busta Rhymes; there were some admittedly dark moments in the franchise. As of 2022, Michael Myers had finally met his demise in Halloween Ends. But as of 2024, plans for another reboot, this time as a TV series, prove that unlike some of his contemporaries, Micheal shows no signs of slowing down. What makes this killer so iconic?
- Directed by: John Carpenter
- Written by: John Carpenter Debra Hill
- Starring: Donald Pleasence. Jamie Lee Curtis. Tony Moran
But Why?
There are SO many great killers throughout slashers movies. Michael Myers was an early favorite, and set a visual standard with his mask and jumpsuit. Clothes alone don’t make an icon, but in Michael’s case, that mask conveyed a lot of the theme and source of the terror. There is a simplicity to Halloween, at least the first and second movie. Thing get weirder the further in we go, but we’ll get to that. Another important side note: I’m mostly talking about the original storyline. Rob Zombie’s Halloween is a different story, and it deserves its own analysis.
For the original, the simplicity is important. Michael isn’t given a broken family life, or traumatic incident, that triggers his murderous tendencies. He’s just evil. It would be easy to say that his sister sleeping with her boyfriend kicked off the killing, but Loomis never ties those things together. More significantly, subsequent victims don’t really support it either. He likes killing, so he does.
Evil is Everywhere.
The lack of inciting trauma for Michael ties into the peaceful suburban setting and the girl-next-door nature of Laurie Strode and her friends. Evil is not supposed to be in little boys who grow up in normal families. Evil is not supposed to come to your neighborhood and stalk you before killing all your friends. That kind of thing happens elsewhere to other people in “bad” neighborhoods, and in “bad” situations. That’s the beauty and terror of Halloween. There is no isolated location, and yet, Michael has isolated them by killing off people who would help, and by trapping them in the house with just the threat of his existence.
Is the Boogeyman Real?
It’s a reoccurring question in Halloween. Laurie starts out trying to talk the kids out of a fact they already know. Yes, he is real. Once she becomes convinced of this, she’s also able to protect herself and the children she is babysitting. You can’t defend yourself from evil until you acknowledge its existence. But once you have, it doesn’t make you any safer, just more prepared.
Halloween is a movie about perception. How we see our world, our illusion of safety, and how easily it’s shattered. Carpenter spends time establishing shots using Michael’s P.O.V., putting the audience in the killer’s shoes, or following beside him as he stalks his victims. Outside of Judith’s kill, none of the deaths are shown from this perspective. The stalking scenes are some of my favorites in horror. It’s much easier to make things scary at night; Michael Meyers is terrifying any time of day.
Is He Human?
Eh, does it matter? At the end of Halloween, Loomis puts six bullets into Michael Meyers, and he gets up and walks away. It’s not the last time he’ll survive certain death to immediately go back to his killing spree. He’s determined to finish off the babysitter that got away. Only, Laurie’s not just a babysitter. The sequel makes first major lore change: Laurie Strode is now Michael Myers’ sister, and since he’s got a thing for killing sisters, that’s why he’s after her. How does Michael know all this? More complicated backstory that doesn’t make Michael any scarier. See, now I’m safe, since I’m pretty sure I’m not a Myers. Well, like 85% sure.
There’s a lot to enjoy about Halloween 2. The hospital is a great setting and keeping the continuity on the same night was a great decision. Where things start to go wrong is the desire to expand the backstory. Once that first decision is made, each subsequent movie (not Halloween 3, that one is its own thing and just fine) keep adding and revising, all while making the masks much worse.
New Characters and Focus, Same Evil
Halloween 4 and 5 star Danielle Harris as Jamie, Laurie Strode’s daughter. Laurie has been unceremoniously killed off-screen, and Michael has shifted his focus. As a kid, I loved these two movies. As an adult, I enjoy the concept of Michael passing on his evil genetically, but they’re not that high on my rewatch list anymore. They do introduce concepts that will be further explored in later movies: the spread of evil, and blaming others instead of Michael, but they seem more interested in killing people than really focusing on them. Also, 4 has the worst mask.
By the time we get to the sixth movie there’s a cult, druids, and cloning experiments. I can’t with this one, so I’m not going to.
Back to Laurie
The seventh film, Halloween H20, jettisons a lot of that, retconning Laurie’s death and refocusing on her and her teenage son. They’re hiding out at a private school as she deals with the lifelong trauma that Michael has caused. This is the first iteration of traumatized Lauri. It’s a smart approach to the character. H20 is a fun, suspenseful slasher, mostly due to the involvement of Kevin Williamson and a talented cast that included Josh Hartnett, Michelle Williams, and Janet Leigh. Oh, and L.L Cool J. There is an attempt to return to the themes of the original. Such as the idea of evil intruding into our safe spaces, the suburbs, hospitals, and schools. The further the franchise gets, however, it takes on a new theme and starts to be about how unstoppable evil is.
We Don’t Talk about Resurrection
H20 was followed by a strong contender for the worst film in the franchise: Halloween: Resurrection. It’s a bland mess of tepid commentary on reality TV and society’s fascination with “solving” violence. Since the legacy of Michael Myers survived Resurrection, I’m pretty sure it can survive anything.
Michael would lay low until 2007, when Rob Zombie directed two movies retelling his origin. There’s nothing wrong with the movies, but it’s about a different character. Giving Michael a troubled family changes his nature. A lot of what made Michael so frightening was that there was no reason for him to start killing. The second movie is much better, as it gets into how evil and violence spreads. Since Zombie was able to have freer rein on the sequel, it’s not surprising it’s more interesting. While I don’t love every one of his movies, I think he has unique vision and distinct style. I do prefer to see it applied to his original concepts, however.
Another Reboot
The next time the series is rebooted again in 2018, the writers and producers made the decision to take the story back to the beginning, sort of. This next iteration of Halloween follows the original movie and scraps everything that comes after. Including the sister plot line. Micheal was back as a motive-less, killing monster. The version of Laurie that accompanied him, while traumatized, has a fair amount of doomsday prepper mixed in. She’s not just afraid of Michael’s return, she’s preparing for it. This take was largely successful, and two other movies followed.
Thematically, they start to get a bit heavy-handed with Halloween Kills. The concept of an entire town still living with the trauma from Michael’s rampage is interesting. There are some other cool ideas too. When the townspeople are so desperate to find someone to blame, they target the wrong person, leading to his death. It’s just not subtly done, even to the point where it strains credibility.
Halloween Kills is however, one of the best-looking slasher movies I’ve seen. Michael looks great; the mask is menacing, and the sequence outside the burning house is awesome. Focusing on how violence just leads to more violence is a great theme. Especially for a killer as unstoppable as Micheal Myers. His tendency to spread evil has been explored in other movies, with Jamie in Halloween 4 and 5, and in Zombie’s Halloween 2. Those versions felt almost supernatural, and this is just the failing of human nature and mob mentality. It’s a different kind of frightening.
A New Evil
Halloween Ends looks at the spread of evil through a different lens: Corey Cunningham. After accidentally killing a boy while babysitting him (let’s be honest, the boy was mostly responsible here), Corey becomes the focus of the town’s hate and anger at Michael. Isolated and alone, he is befriended by two people: Laurie Strode’s granddaughter Allyson, and Michael Myers. Corey seems intent on taking over as Micheal, who is weirdly passive in their friendship. It’s kind of a mess with the execution.
Allyson trusts the obviously suspicious Corey over Laurie, who has been consistently right for like two movies now. Micheal having an intern seems wildly out of character. It also takes a long time for Laurie and Michael to have their final fight. When they do, it is satisfying to see Laurie take him out, followed by the townspeople, ensuring that his body is properly disposed of. My biggest complaint about Halloween Ends is that it feels like there are two movies here: one about the legacy of a killer, and another about Laurie getting her revenge. Neither was long enough nor well developed enough, so they stuck them together.
For someone like me, who enjoys dissecting movies for their subtext and meaning, there’s a lot to work with about the creation of evil. Corey, who has a lot of motive for his killing, and Micheal, who has none, could be interesting partners, but it doesn’t really come together. The “why” of it all is missing, and I think it’s a matter of timing. If Micheal had seen Corey kill, or attack someone before they had a face-to-face meeting, their relationship would make much more sense.
Where it Ends
It doesn’t really end, does it? Halloween will be rebooted, because evil never dies. Our desire to explain it, and look at the effects of evil and generational trauma has only increased, and many recent horror movies have tackled this theme. The big three classic slashers, Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street all tackled variations on these themes in different ways, with Halloween having the longest franchise run.
Final Thoughts
Halloween was technically not my first slasher. That honor goes to a late-night viewing of Child’s Play, courtesy of my mother when I was probably a bit too young. I’ll talk more about her lax policy on entertainment in another entry; the important thing is that Michael Meyers stuck with me in a way that Chucky did not, despite being older and more used to horror by the time I watched Halloween. I attribute most of this to the way Carpenter removes our illusions of safety, and convinces the viewer that if evil truly wanted them, nothing, not doctors, nor the police, nor the passage of time would stand in its way. That’s the kind of horror that stays with you, as long as they get the mask right.
the Halloweens are available on various streaming platforms
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