In the spring of 1978, a group of young filmmakers set out to shoot a movie over three weeks on a budget of just $300,000. Months later, the film hit theatres and became one of the most successful independent movies of all time.

That movie was John Carpenter’s Halloween. Carpenter wrote the film with his frequent collaborator, Debra Hill. The film stars Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her first starring role.

Halloween introduced the world to the iconic, inhuman killer Michael Myers. Myers is known for his trademarks: a butcher knife, a jumpsuit costume, saying absolutely nothing and of course, the infamous white mask, which was originally a William Shatner Capt. Kirk mask that was spray painted white.

The film spawned a full series of films, with six sequels starring Michael Myers as the villain, a one-off film not connected to the franchise and a remake with its own sequel.

Like many horror series, the sequels tended to detract from the original storyline and the brilliance of the first film: relying on suspense and not using much blood and gore to scare the audience and having Michael Myers be like a supernatural force. The series does have its best films, its films that are enjoyable but not as good and its film you have to avoid at all costs.

The Big 3

 The best three films in the series are the original film, its sequel and the 20th anniversary film Halloween H20: 20 Years Later. Each of these films pits Laurie Strode (Curtis) against Michael Myers, a.k.a. The Shape, on Halloween 1978 and Halloween 1998.

Halloween opens on Halloween Night 1963. Six-year-old Michael Myers spies on his sister Judith and her boyfriend. When the boyfriend leaves, Michael creeps upstairs and stabs Judith to death. For the next 15 years, Michael is incarcerated in the Smith’s Grove Sanitarium under the care of Dr. Sam Loomis (Pleasence).

On October 30, 1978, Michael escapes from Smith’s Grove and returns home to Haddonfield, Illinois, to go after Laurie. He stalks Laurie and her friends throughout the day and at night, as Laurie and her friend Annie babysit across the street from each other. One-by-one, The Shape kills each of Laurie’s friends and tempts her to the house across the street.

Once Laurie discovers the bodies, The Shape makes his appearance and stalks her through the house and back across the street. Eventually, Dr. Loomis tracks down Michael and shoots him six times at close range. The film ends as Dr. Loomis looks down to the ground where Michael fell after being shot and sees Michael is gone.

Halloween II picks up right where Halloween left off. Laurie is taken to the hospital to recover from her ordeal with Myers. The Shape tracks her to the hospital and starts to kill off the hospital staff. Loomis picks up on Michael’s whereabouts and forces a marshal to turn around and stop Michael from attacking Laurie, who is revealed to be Michael’s younger sister. Loomis and Laurie trap Michael in a room of the hospital where they turn on the oxygen tanks, which Loomis causes to explode by lighting a lighter.

Halloween H20 picks up 20 years after the first two films. Laurie Strode is living under an assumed name, Keri Tate, with her son in California, where Laurie is the headmistress of a posh, private school. The memories of Halloween 1978 still haunt Laurie, who is a functioning alcoholic because of her past. Suddenly, Michael returns to stalk and kill Laurie’s son John and meets Laurie for a final confrontation.

The Little 3

For the series’ fourth through sixth films, the storyline shifted to Jamie Lloyd, who was said to be the daughter of Laurie Strode, who died in a car crash a year before Halloween 4 (Halloween H20 retconned this by having Laurie fake her death and it ignored the continuity of the previous three films). When Michael is being transported, he awakens when he learns of his niece living in his hometown.

In the fourth and fifth films, Michael chases after Jamie and her family, killing dozens along the way. By Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers, Jamie and Michael have been missing for six years after the events of Halloween 5. They both return and the film focuses on the curse of the Thorn, which Michael is supposedly cursed with, which causes him to kill his entire family. Jamie has her demise in the opening scenes of Halloween 6 and Michael instead focuses on the family living in his old home. The family consists of relatives of Laurie Strode, most of who don’t know the home’s dark history.

While Halloween 4 through 6 can be enjoyable films, they lose much of the nuance of the original story and spend too much time trying to be popular films of the era, rather than films with a great story.

The Standalone

After Halloween II, the filmmakers decided to branch away from the Michael Myers storyline. To that end, they came up with Halloween III: Season of the Witch, which has nothing to do with the rest of the films in the series.

Halloween III focuses on an investigation into a man known as Cochran, who is the owner of the Silver Shamrocks company, which produces novelty Halloween masks. The film takes place from October 23 to Halloween and follows the two main characters as they investigate Cochran and Silver Shamrocks. They uncover a plot to destroy most of the world using the Silver Shamrocks masks and work to try to prevent that from happening.

Though Halloween III was not a commercial or critical success, it is enjoyable as its own film. It would be better had the film not been connected to the first two films, which is why many fans were disappointed with it. The film’s underperformance led to the revival of Michael Myers in Halloween 4.

Remake and sequel

Rob Zombie took the helm of writer and director for a 2007 remake of the original film. Rather than simply repeat the plot, Zombie made an effort to delve into the story of Michael Myers as a young boy before he starts to kill. To that end, viewers actually hear Michael speak for the first time in the series during the remake. Rather than Michael start killing randomly, Michael is depicted as a bullied child, who is put down both at school and at home. The two people in his life, his mother and a baby Laurie, who don’t treat him like garbage, survive his initial carnage.

From there, the film mostly recreates the events of the first film. In the director’s cut alternate ending, Michael is killed off after being shot to death dozens of times, which made for a fine ending. Of course, Zombie had dollar signs in his eyes and opted to have Michael survive, which led to a sequel in 2009 that was panned almost universally.

The One to Avoid 

The one film in the series to avoid at all costs has to be Halloween: Resurrection. Resurrection retcons Michael’s death in H20 by having him switch clothing with a paramedic who came to check on the unconscious Michael, who supposedly crushed the paramedic’s larynx, which is why the paramedic never speaks. According to Resurrection, that paramedic is the person Laurie decapitated at the end of H20.

Resurrection opens on Halloween 2001 and finds Laurie in a mental institute. She is presumed insane, but has been carefully planning for Michael’s return. Michael eventually finds Laurie and moves to attack her, falling into Laurie’s trap. When Michael feigns confusion and tries to take off his mask, Laurie is unable to risk killing another innocent person. Laurie reaches for Michael’s mask and Michael quickly gains the upper hand and stabs Laurie in the back before apparently sending her falling to the ground to her death.

The end of Laurie Strode in such a pathetic way is why many fans hate Resurrection. Not only that, but the pointless plot that follows is its own reason to avoid the film at all costs.

Even Jamie Lee Curtis has said in an interview in 2015 that Resurrection was a joke. She stated the only reason she was in it was because she was contractually obligated to — the only way for her to make H20 was to agree in her contract to appear in a sequel.

Future

Halloween will get one more chance to scare viewers with a direct sequel to the original Halloween II coming out October 19, 2018. David Gordon Green and Danny McBride will write the film, while Green will also serve as director. In addition, series co-creator John Carpenter will produce the film and act as a creative consultant. Best of all, Curtis is reprising her role as Laurie Strode for a final confrontation with Michael Myers. With both the original star and original director returning for this film, it is hopeful that this sequel will live up to its two predecessors and end the series on a high note that is satisfactory for the audience.