Top 10 Michael Myers Kills of All Time

You’d think working on a true crime podcast would have made these two extra careful. In 2018’s Halloween, characters Aaron and Dana meet Michael as he is preparing to transfer to a new mental institution. When Michael inevitably escapes, he tracks them down at a gas station, where they become one of several victims. Approaching Dana slowly in a disgusting bathroom stall, he drops human teeth on the ground in front of her, as a little preview of what’s to come. As if this wasn’t sinister enough, he uses Aaron’s bloody head to beat in the stall door. Never lacking in creativity, this guy.

Few of Michael’s victims had it coming like John Strode. The adoptive uncle of Michael’s sister Laurie, John is a real estate agent who buys the Myers home after it is proven to be unsellable. An abusive alcoholic, John frequently lashes out at his family and is especially resentful of his daughter Kara. Upon returning home from work on Halloween, John discovers the power is out and goes down to the basement to investigate. After discovering some bloody sheets are clogging the washing machine, John runs into Michael and ends up being impaled on a fuse box which leads to an explosive death.

We couldn’t possibly make this list without talking about Lynda. One of the most memorable characters from the original “Halloween” film, Lynda Van Der Klok was one of Laurie Strode’s best friends and was played by horror movie icon P.J. Soles. Unaware that her boyfriend Bob has already had a deadly encounter with Michael Myers, Lynda assumes it is Bob dressed as a ghost when a bespectacled ghoul enters her bedroom. When “Bob” doesn’t respond to her, she decides to give Laurie a call. Lynda then finds out that her spooky visitor has much more sinister intentions. Michael strangles her to death with the phone cord while Laurie listens. Talk about a haunting death!

Picking up right where the original film left off, “Halloween 2” continues to chronicle the events of Michael’s homecoming. While stalking Laurie in a Haddonfield hospital, Michael begins methodically killing off the hospital’s staff so no one can protect her. When nurse Karen and ambulance driver Budd decide to get kinky in the hospital’s therapy pool, Michael enacts one of his most unique kills in the franchise. After strangling Budd to death, Michael proceeds to drown Karen in the boiling hot pool, a murder which is made even more gruesome by Michael’s prolonging of Karen’s scalding suffering.

If there’s one thing to be said for the later “Halloween” sequels, it’s that they definitely got more creative with the kills. While having sex in a barn during a Halloween party, Sam and Spitz are unaware that they are being stalked by Haddonfield’s resident boogeyman. Michael makes short work of Spitz by impaling him with a pitchfork and then fetches a massive scythe in the tradition of the grim reaper himself. Although Sam courageously tries to defend herself using the pitchfork, Michael finishes her off with one clean stroke of his newfound weapon.

If you ever wondered why Michael Myers doesn’t use a gun to slay his victims, consider this kill as an argument for his hands-on approach to murder. After Michael returns to his hometown, the main characters take refuge in the home of Haddonfield’s sheriff while waiting for the state troopers to arrive. When the sheriff’s daughter Kelly offers some coffee to a deputy guarding the front door, it takes her lighting a candle to realize that he’s already dead. Although you’d think Michael would simply shoot her with the murdered deputy’s shotgun, he instead opts for a grislier method and impales Kelly to the wall. He certainly loves getting up close and personal while working.

Since Laurie Strode’s best friend Annie Brackett was the daughter of Haddonfield’s sheriff, one might have assumed she’d be one of the survivors in the original “Halloween”. However, Annie instead became the victim of one of Michael Myers’ most terrifying murders. Attacking her from the back seat of her car, Michael attempts to strangle Annie with one hand as she desperately tries to fight him off. Despite her resilient struggle, Michael finishes Annie off with a precise stab of his butcher knife to her throat. Made even more frightening by the eerie haze of the fogged-up windows, this kill furthered the film’s not so subtle suggestion that Michael could attack from literally anywhere.

When Halloween hit theaters in 2018, critics praised the film for bringing Michael Myers back to his roots after so many years, and this next kill is a good example of why. Shot in a series of long takes, we watch as Michael enters a home, takes out the owner and locates his weapon of choice. Out in the street, a wholesome Halloween scene plays out, with Michael fitting in as just another trick or treater. We overhear a neighbour being warned about an intruder, but by this time it’s much too late. Incorporating some modern flare into the suspense of the originals, this kill is probably the film’s best.

Say what you want about Rob Zombie’s reimagining of the “Halloween” franchise, but there’s no denying he brought a horrifying intensity to his vision of Michael Myers. In a homage to the original “Halloween 2”, Zombie’s sequel begins with a similar sequence of Laurie Strode being chased through a hospital by her monstrous brother. Arguably the most famous kill of the film, a nurse played by Octavia Spencer finds herself in the unfortunate position of being between Michael and Laurie. What happens to her next is perhaps the most brutal murder in the entire franchise as Michael stabs the nurse repeatedly in a fit of homicidal fury.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are some honourable mentions:

Rudy’s Last Stand
“Halloween: Resurrection” (2002)

Bye Bye Brady
“Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers” (1988)

Jamie Meets the Corn Thresher
“Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers” (1995)

Mike’s Lobotomy
“Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers” (1989)

Smashing Dr. Sartain's Head In
“Halloween” (2018)

It all began with this one. Shot in one single take, the first scene in the original “Halloween” film takes the audience on a journey into darkness through the eyes of six-year-old Michael Myers. Framed through the eye-holes of Michael’s clown mask, the viewer follows Michael’s perspective as he retrieves a huge knife from the kitchen drawer, ascends the staircase and creeps into his sister Judith’s bedroom. As Michael silently enters like a ghost, a naked Judith only notices she’s not alone until it’s too late. Made all the more disturbing due to its first-person point of view, this was the kill that gave birth to a horror movie legend.