With Halloween Kills now playing in theaters and on Peacock, we decided to revisist all previous installments in this classic horror franchise to see how they measure up.
Though Halloween 2018 (wisely?) ignored all but Carpenter's film, there actually were a few bright spots among the various sequels, reboots and re-imaginings over the years - including one installment that didn't even feature Michael Myers.
Below, we take a closer look at every one of 'em, starting with the absolute worst of the worst, Halloween: Resurrection.
To view the list in its entirety, simply click on the VIEW LIST (ONE PAGE) button below!
Halloween: Resurrection
Quite a few of the movies on this list have at least some redeeming features, but it's hard to think of any positives when it comes to the eighth installment in the
Halloween franchise,
Resurrection.
Even putting aside how badly made and acted it is, the film kills off Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) within the first few minutes, and then hilariously attempts to bring Myers into the modern age by making his childhood home the setting for a live internet horror show.
You know you're in trouble when the most memorable thing about your movie is Busta Rhymes roundhouse kicking Michael Myers in the head.
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
Looked at as a guilty pleasure by some fans,
Halloween 6 is far too messy and incoherent to score a higher place on this list. A Producer's Cut of the movie was released back in 2014, but that did little to restore any sense to the plot.
Notable only for Donald Pleasence's final turn as Dr. Loomis before he died during production and a very young Paul Rudd as Tommy Doyle,
The Curse of Michael Myers isn't even gory enough to sit through for some cheap thrills.
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
Honestly, there wasn't much between this and
Resurrection, but at least
Halloween 5 had the sense to bring Danielle Harris back as Jamie - even if they do make her mute for most of the running time.
The Revenge of Michael Myers is just a bonkers movie... and not in a good way. From slapstick cops with comedic music to a batshit crazy Loomis and a mysterious Man in Black busting Myers out of prison, this succeeds in undoing everything that was good about the largely underrated
Halloween 4.
Oh yeah, and Michael Myers, aka The Shape, aka evil on two legs, cries.
H2: Halloween II (2009)
For many, Rob Zombie's second
Halloween movie was a vast improvement over the first, but I actually found it difficult to sit through to the end when I was re-watching it recently.
Zombie ups the gore quota and does attempt to delve deeper into the fractured psyche of both Michael and his sister Laurie, but the ham-fisted dialogue and rather silly imagery (what is with that [frick]ing white horse?) bog the movie down to the point that it becomes little more than a brutally violent slog.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
How can the
Halloween movie without Michael Myers in it be so high on this list? Well, because it's still a pretty damn good little horror flick.
Season of the Witch was originally envisioned as a re-imagining of the franchise as an anthology, but fan outcry forced the studio to bring Myers back for the fourth installment. Because of this,
SOTW is often ignored, but there's a lot to like in this very odd, often terrifying tale of killer masks, ancient Celtic festivals and... robots? Yep, robots.
If you've never seen it, give it a shot.
Halloween (2007)
Rob Zombie probably shouldn't have went near
Halloween, but he did, and the results were... nowhere near as bad as they could have been.
Granted, the monumentally ill-advised decision to give Michael Myers a backstory complete with Zombie's trademark depravity and woefully unsubtle scumbag characters plays out about as awfully as you'd imagine, but once little Mikey grows up and Laurie Strode (an impressive Taylor Scout Compton) is introduced, it becomes a pretty effective - if still completely pointless - remake.
Oh, and Malcolm McDowell does a fine job as Loomis, too.
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
The Shape returned for the fourth
Halloween movie, which is probably quite a bit better than you remember.
Though it never gets near Carpenter's original - or its follow-up, for that matter -
TROMM still has some genuine moments of tension, thanks in no small part to a terrific debut performance from young Danielle Harris as Michael's niece, Jamie.
Plus, the ending still remains the most shocking of the entire franchise - provided you don't already know it's coming, of course.
Halloween II (1981)
The follow-up to the first
Halloween was not helmed by John Carpenter (and it shows, tbh), but the horror maestro did produce co-write the script, so it does at least bear his fingerprints to a degree.
Picking up directly where the original left off, we follow Myers on a killing spree through the hospital where Laurie is being treated, with Loomis hot on his trail.
It's a solid slasher with a lot more blood than the relatively retrained
Halloween 1, but first-time director Rick Rosenthal doesn't quite capture the atmosphere or dread that comes so effortlessly to Carpenter, and you'll likely feel a sense of deja vu before the credits roll.
Halloween Kills
Halloween Kills has proved to be highly divisive, and it's easy to see why. Though the movie does feature some downright twisted kills and strong performances from Curtis, Greer and Matichak, it ends up having more in common with the sequels on this list that have now been retconned out of existance than the iconic original.
Kills has its moments, and If Green manages to pull off a worthy conclusion with next year's Halloween Ends, this may work better as a middle chapter designed to showcase the sheer brutality of Michael Myers before his inevitable final confrontation with Laurie Strode. As it stands, though, it has to be considered a disappointing instalment after the promise of the last film.
Halloween: H2O
The highly underrated seventh entry in the series brought back Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode and was supposed to serve as the final nail in Michael Myers' coffin until the wretched
Resurrection.
David Gordon Green and Danny McBride may never admit it, but they clearly took inspiration from the premise of
H2O for their revival even if the execution of the story plays out (a little) differently.
The movie is far from perfect (there's the usual irritating cannon fodder and Myers' mask is laughably bad), but overall it's a terrific entry in the franchise, and Laurie's final stand against Michael is worth watching for alone.
Halloween (2018)
Yes, David Gordon Green's
Halloween revival really is
that good.
There are problems (one twist is a major misstep and some of the humor falls flat), but overall
Halloween 2018 comes the closest to replicating the atmosphere of the original while also serving as a satisfying continuation (conclusion?) to Laurie Strode and Michael Myers' twisted story.
Jamie Lee Curtis is excellent, and she's backed up by a solid supporting cast which includes the always watchable Judy Greer and newcomer Andi Matichak as Laurie's granddaughter.
Very tense, gory, funny, even moving at times, it's difficult to imagine any fans of the franchise being disappointed.
Halloween (1978)
As great as
Halloween 2018 is, it was never going to touch the original!
What can one say about John Carpenter's master-class in suspense that hasn't been said already? The movie may have dated a little in some respects, but it still retains its power to unsettle, unnerve and downright terrify at times. There's an atmosphere or dread that pervades
Halloween that has arguably yet to me matched by any modern-day horror film.
Do yourself a favor and dim the lights, stick the jack o' lantern on the fireplace, and revisit a true classic this All Hallows' Eve.
How would you guys rank The Halloween franchise? Be sure to let us know in the comments down below.