But which ones are worth your time? And which are the films to be avoided at all cost?
Let’s journey to Haddonfield as we rank all the films in the Halloween franchise from worst to best.
The Halloween franchise has had some very bad sequels. Some unforgivably naff follow-ups that creak through some stodgy mythology. And we’ll get to each of them. But none are as a bad as Halloween Resurrection. After a misjudged coda to H20 deals with Laurie Strode, the film gives us the worst version possible of a vaguely interesting idea.
What follows is a pretty bad early 00s slasher with an insufferable roster of victims and some bland kills (I liked the Peeping Tom homage but the rest are dross). When Busta Rhymes drop kicking your villain through a window is the high point you know you’ve taken a wrong turn.
How we went from John Carpenter’s glorious original to this is… impressive. A more interesting, poorly made follow up to the fifth installment, it feels relative as to which is objectively the naffest. They’re both bad.
For all that is interesting here there lies a terrible film, one that doesn’t have any idea how to deal with the corner the series has painted itself into. We’ve got Druid cults, Paul Rudd and one of the most confusing final acts a slasher movie has ever had. Best avoid this one and skip to the next installment (more on that one later).
If the Return of Michael Myers feels tired, his revenge feels positively cumbersome. Failing to live up to the fascinating finale to #4 (one of the few redeeming features of it), this is a pretty bad installment with little to really redeem it. Donald Pleasence looks exhausted of the franchise he finds himself stuck in, they waste the great talents of Danielle Harris and spend far too long trying to make a series work that is now running on fumes. In the same year that Jason Takes Manhatten and Freddy takes on a Dream Child, Michael struggles to have the impact he once had.
The Halloween franchise is a cinematic weathervane. It moves with the times, shifting to meet the trends around it. And this explains a lot of what Rob Zombie’s remake is. It is a horror that could not be more mid 00s.
The first half is a detailed (a very detailed) backstory for Michael Myers, whilst the second is a rerun of the original. Neither really work for me. There are interesting ideas nestled in here but, frankly, I hate most of them. And this is all executed exactly how Rob Zombie executes his films. If you’ve seen any of them, you’ll know if this is for you.
For me, I hated it.
Well… this is marginally better than its predecessor. Not because it is more enjoyable or competently put together (although I think the first 20 minutes are pretty darn great). Nor because the plot is more interesting or the ideas more engaging. But because this is at least its own beast. The link to the Carpenter original is pretty much broken here as this explores the trauma that the events of the 2007 film bred. This is different enough from what has come before to at least be worth a visit if you had any level of enjoyment of the remake.
I will never be a fan of what Rob Zombie is doing with these films. But they are at least works that are now entirely their own thing.
Only out a few days and already this is proving, bizarrely, the most contentious Halloween yet. A messy plot and a sense that this is three films merging upon themselves (Michael, the Strodes and the residents of Haddonfield are all in different stories) make this a pretty weak Halloween film. But the second part of that title, the kills, are exceptional. Terrifically staged, gloriously violent, fun and impactful, when Michael is decimating whoever is in his path, this becomes a 5 star movie. It’s just everything else around him didn’t really work for me.
It remains to be seen if Halloween Ends (and this film suffers as a story only partially told) will lift this higher in my opinion. Oh and John Carpenter’s score is, once again, brilliant.
As the third installment failed to light up the box office, so the series promptly returned to the figure of evil at its centre. And proceedings are starting to get a bit tired by this point. The shift from Laurie to Jamie Lloyd as the villain’s focus is an interesting one, and Danielle Harris’ turn is exceptional. But ten years after its debut, and as its subgenre has moved beyond it, Halloween is now no longer the innovator and, bar a fascinating ending, there’s not enough here to call this a good film.
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Twenty years on, and ignoring everything after the 1981 follow-up, Halloween H20 is a film of two halves. We find Laurie Strode a functional survivor and the head of a school as Michael returns to her life. Everything around Laurie is compelling, with Jamie Lee Curtis reminding us all what a phenomenal screen presence she is. When H20 focuses on her story and the trauma she’s had to face it’s a great watch.
However the stuff round Michael feels tame, a product of where the slasher genre was at the time. Once again this franchise shows itself to be a weather vane, making this a frustrating watch for Halloween fans.
The original’s night continues in the first sequel, as Myers follows Laurie to a hospital, killing a far greater number of people this time, as is necessary for the slasher boom this franchise is now a part of. Adding unnecessary mythos and suffering from a sluggish first half, when the fun finally hones in on Laurie, this film becomes noticeably better, with a number of great kills and a groovy new version of that iconic theme.
If this were the end of Michael and Laurie’s relationship, this would have been just fine.
Coming four decades after the original, and the second film in the franchise to ignore installments that come before, 2018’s Halloween is a direct sequel to the 1978 movie and is, for my money, just about the best sequel focusing on Myers. We find a Laurie Strode who has grown to be a broken figure, prepared for the inevitable return of The Shape. And he duly returns as a destructive force.
Not everything works here. Jamie Lee Curtis is great but her character’s journey satisfies less then in H20. Some characters grate (I could do without the British podcasters). But what works, what makes this such a compelling watch, is Michael Myers. An unstoppable presence again, the film is at its best when he’s on screen, with a set of kills that have weight and impact. And if only this ended the story as Michael’s fate feels the perfect conclusion to the whole endeavor of this franchise.
Plus Carpenter is back providing the film’s score, which is just a delight.
Or the one without Michael.
One of the greatest horror sequels ever made, Season of the Witch is a bold switch, a story absent of all that has come before and instead using the franchise’s name to tell a new one. And where the original is remarkably lean, this is complicated and packed with ideas. Suited robots, killer masks and Stonehenge are all here in a film that’s closer to folk horror then slasher.
Initially a bit clunky, when Season of the Witch lays out exactly what is going on it becomes something much more compelling. And by its ending it becomes one of the great horror watches.
If only this had been a hit and the franchise had taken the path away from Michael Myers.
I could have been bold and popped the third one in this position. But who am I kidding? Halloween is a masterpiece, a lean beast of a movie that helped shape the slasher genre that has so often dominated the horror genre. Chronicling the night that Michael came home, Carpenter’s film is thrilling, scary and utterly captivating.
A compelling story, a phenomenal lead turn (Jamie Lee Curtis has never been bettered as a final girl) and palpable tension that builds until it erupts on Halloween night. It’s arguable we never needed another entry in this series but perhaps why Myers endures lies in what is here.
John Carpenter was responsible for such a phenomenal run of films across the decade between Halloween and They Live, masterpiece after masterpiece. And Halloween is front and centre to all of this, one of the greatest slashers ever.