Halloween is right around the corner and so is everybody’s favorite unkillable slasher, Michael Myers. He may not have the in-depth lore of the Jigsaw Killer or the quippy one-liners of Freddy Kruger, but Michael Myers has remained one of the defining figures of horror across thirteen movies. Well, technically twelve (sorry Halloween III: Season of the Witch). So to celebrate Michael’s favorite holiday we decided to do a ranking of the entire franchise, worst to best.
13. Halloween II (2009)
Rob Zombie has his rabid defenders, but he’s primarily recognized as a subpar horror filmmaker. His first swing at remaking Halloween in 2007 was a big one that most fans didn’t care for. But his follow-up a couple of years later was nearly unwatchable. Sorry, Zombie. This is the worst of the franchise.
12. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
Paul Rudd… in a horror movie? Yep, the ageless comedian turned superhero got his start in the much maligned sixth installment of the slasher franchise. Playing an older version of Tommy Doyle, the young boy who survived Michael’s first reign of terror in the ’78 original, Rudd’s charisma isn’t enough to elevate this strange, cultish take on the character.
11. Halloween: Resurrection
What do you do when you want to make a sequel but you’ve definitely killed off the villain in the previous film? Just resurrect him, of course! Halloween: Resurrection brought Michael Myers into the realm of reality television in the worst possible way and the series really jumped the shark when Busta Rhymes took on the masked killer by electrocuting his genitals.
10. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
Revenge of Michael Myers introduces some interesting ideas, but executes them terribly. The follow up to The Return of Michael Myers marked a low point for the franchise at that time. The mask is terrible, the kills are lackluster and the plot is mostly nonsense.
9. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
As the title suggests, the fourth film in the franchise marked the return of Michael Myers. He’d been noticeably absent from the previous film, but we’ll cover that more below. Despite the return of Donald Pleasance as Dr. Loomis and the introduction of Danielle Harris as Jamie Lloyd, Return failed to land with fans and critics, proving that the inclusion of Michael Myers alone does not make for a great Halloween movie.
8. Halloween II (1981)
While many hold a soft spot for the first sequel, it doesn’t hold up upon rewatch. I’ll admit that growing up, Halloween 2 was actually my favorite of the franchise (blasphemy, I know), but its hard to ignore the lack of plot, lack of tension and lack of skill that went into this one, especially when compared directly to the John Carpenter original that came before it.
7. Halloween (2007)
Did we need to know more about Michael Myers’ childhood? Absolutely not. He’s a killer who requires no backstory, but Rob Zombie decided to give us one anyways. The 2007 remake is wholeheartedly unnecessary, but Zombie uses his grit and grime style of filmmaking to bring a certain edge to the movie that the franchise had been lacking for years.
6. Halloween Ends
Now this is a divisive one. David Gordon Green’s conclusion to his follow-up trilogy largely left Michael Myers on the back burner, choosing instead to focus on a new, young killer acting as a sort of protege to Myers. It certainly didn’t cater to what fans wanted or expected, but it did deliver a thought provoking conclusion to the sage of Michael and Laurie.
5. Halloween Kills
It certainly lived up to its title as the goriest, bloodiest and most kill-heavy movie in the franchise. But the story was sacrificed in order to deliver on that additional blood. It’s a fair trade-off considering this is a slasher movie and fans come for the kills, but Halloween Kills ultimately feels pointless. Laurie is confined to a hospital and nothing of significance occurs. You could skip this one entirely and it wouldn’t mess up your binge watch from a narrative standpoint. Still, I wouldn’t suggest skipping it, especially if you’re a gore-hound.
4. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
The return of Laurie was a return to form for the franchise. After two decades of misfires and poorly executed sequels, the movie was retconned and Laurie, who’d been killed-off in previous sequels, was able to face off against Michael Myers once again. The new movie completely ignored the Jamie Lloyd story arc and acted as a direct sequel to the original Halloween and Halloween II. With LL Cool J and Josh Hartnett (in his film debut), a stellar cast and a fresh take revived the drowning franchise.
3. Halloween III: Season of the Witch
A Halloween movie without Michael Myers? And it cracks the top three? It’s true that fans didn’t know how to take Season of the Witch when it first came out, but the franchise was never intended to focus on Michael. The original plan had been to treat it like an anthology with different tales of terror set around the holiday each time. In that regard, Season of the Witch succeeds. It’s a bonkers story about killer robots and masks that turn kids’ heads into bugs. And of course there is the always fantastic Tom Atkins at the center. It’s… amazing.
2. Halloween (2018)
David Gordon Green brought the franchise back in a huge way by once again retconning the series. For Halloween (2018), every single film in the franchise is thrown out the window with the exception of the very first movie. It’s a direct sequel to Carpenter’s classic and revived the franchise once again, proving that just like Michael, it won’t stay dead.
1. Halloween (1978)
Was there ever any doubt that we’d end up here? The one that started it all is not only the best film in the franchise, it’s one of the greatest horror films ever made. The score, the mask, the final girl, all of it is now iconic and paved the way for the slasher sub-genre. John Carpenter is truly a master of horror, and Halloween is his masterpiece.