Top 10 Halloween Franchise Movies

Coming in at number ten isn’t so bad. This one even has something the others in the original timeline arguably are lacking - character development. Jamie ends the previous film having stabbed and presumably killed her adoptive mother in the same Halloween costume as young Michael Myers from the first movie. This implies Jamie has become a remorseless killer. However, this film uses some pretty interesting character beats to rearrange the narrative. Jamie is now mute and in a mental institution for hurting but not killing her mom, which apparently was an action driven by some mental link between her and Uncle Michael. Dr. Loomis, once a protector, has no qualms about using Jamie as bait to finally catch Michael Myers.

We know the different timelines in the series can get confusing, so we’ll try to keep things as simple as possible. This one is an addition to the original timeline started in 1978 and a sequel to the “Halloween” from 2018. Make sense? Forty years after Michael’s first attacks, Tommy Doyle leads a group of the survivors from Michael’s attacks who set out to end him once and for all. Watching the original survivors turn into a lynch mob is quite a sight to see. Much like Michael is this angry, faceless, evil shape, Tommy’s mob becomes its own angry, faceless, evil shape.

Unlike all but one of the other films on this list, this one does not go back to the original. It is a remake of the original. Rob Zombie took a swing at retelling the original story, with a brand new Laurie Strode and so on. Michael Myers may be more brutal than ever here. If you go back and watch the original you might realize that there is barely any blood shown. This one on the other hand is very gory. We also get to see a bit more of Michael’s mental pathology from his growing up in the mental institution - which emphasizes he truly has no motive. He just kills. Michael even murders the only guy who really cared about him. Ruthlessly brutal.

This one didn’t get stellar reviews from either critics or viewers, perhaps because the tone is very different from the other films in the franchise. It doesn’t have the feel of a classic “Halloween” movie, the aesthetic feels more like a modern horror movie, and Michael Myers is more like a secondary character. However, there are some super cool references to the original film. Remember that iconic head tilt after he makes a kill? Or Corey killing in a scarecrow mask that’s reminiscent of the original clown mask? It’s as if to say that even with Michael Myers gone, there will be a new Boogeyman soon enough.

These doctors and police officers really need to learn their lesson already about trying to transport Michael Myers. How many times does he have to escape for them to realize he cannot be contained? This time he awakens from a ten year coma and sets out to hunt for Laurie Strode’s daughter, Jamie, who is also his niece. Although the fifth movie walks it back a bit, Jamie is the first suggested follow up to Michael Myers. Throughout the movie she exhibits a psychic link to him. She is even drawn to the same clown costume Michael wore. That image of her at the end holding the bloody knife is unforgettable. Just ask Dr. Loomis.

Just to be clear, this is the first sequel to the original “Halloween,” not the Rob Zombie sequel to the Rob Zombie reboot of the same name. In general sequels usually take place some time after the original, but this one takes place the very same night as the first. They say that the villain always comes back for one more scare. Well the entire movie is the one more scare. This is the one that introduced the idea of Laurie Strode as Michael’s sister. It’s debatable whether or not giving Michael a motive or him having no motive whatsoever is scarier. We’ll leave that one up to you to decide.

Originally, this one was meant to change the franchise into an anthology series. Sure, it has nothing to do with the other films, or even Michael Myers. It doesn’t even take place in Haddonfield, but there is no denying that this one works great as a standalone film. A man and a woman discover a horrible plot behind a jack-o-lantern Halloween mask, and race to stop the plot from killing masses of people. It’s more like hard sci-fi with a taste of horror. If it had been marketed that way instead of as a sequel, we bet it would have done way better with viewers and critics alike.

Wait? How can Michael be after Laurie again if she died earlier in the franchise? Well, as it turns out Laurie only faked her death to escape Michael and didn’t abandon her daughter. Actually, she had a son instead. This franchise is the master of the retcon. It falls on a tangent timeline after the first two films, so nothing from films three through five is canon here. Twenty years after the initial events, Michael finds Laurie working at the school her son attends. It’s fascinating to see Michael in a more confined location, as most of the movie takes place on the campus. It is also the first time we really see Laurie really take the offensive in this battle to the death.

In this timeline it’s only the original “Halloween” that exists in canon before this one. As far as we know, Laurie hasn’t seen Michael in forty years, she is not his sister, and she has a daughter, who is not Jamie for some reason, and a granddaughter Alison. The most interesting part about this film is that even though she hasn’t seen Michael in decades, Laurie was ready for him. We get to see the toll that the original events had on Laurie and her family, for worse and for better. Laurie and Karen, and even Alison, on the offensive together is nothing short of awesome. Three generations of Final Girls.

We could go on forever about how great the writing, the directing, the casting, the music is. But it’s actually the behind the scenes facts that are the coolest part. According to “The Movies That Made Us,” the low budget, young crew, and the resourcefulness of those involved all combined to make the final product special. Unable to make a mask for The Shape, they reengineered a William Shatner mask. When the nurse gets trapped in her car and Michael breaks the window with his bare hand, they just attach a wrench to the dude’s hand to create a practical effect. Movies these days with massive budgets, huge stars, and seasoned crews often can't even meet the standards set by this phenomenon of a film.