Halloween is an ancient holiday, a day dedicated to celebrating the dead. We dress up in costumes, carve pumpkins, and trick-or-treat for candy. It doesn’t matter if you are an adult or a child, Halloween is a partying experience unlike any other. But more importantly, Halloween season is a time for horror movies.
Horror movies have always been directly associated with Halloween, but none more so than the Halloween movie franchise. This storied franchise and the Halloween holiday season are a match made in heaven, the perfect marriage, the stars aligned, and the consummation of that marriage resulted in the birth of Halloween poster boy, Michael Myers, who has been terrorizing audiences for forty-five years now…
Michael Myers, the masked killer, is synonymous with the season, and the Halloween franchise is, in my opinion, appointment viewing during the spooky season for so many reasons. Obviously, the title is derivative of the holiday. The best title decision in the history of filmmaking. If this franchise was named something other than Halloween, like The Babysitter Killer or Haddonfield Massacre, then it might not have the same juice. Even with its technical brilliance, the 1978 classic may have just been another offering in the horror pantheon. That might be an overly bold hypothetical, but I believe the title is that good.
Halloween floats above all else in the horror genre, especially around the spooky season, partly because Michael Myers is the embodiment of the season. Michael was born around Halloween. He kills around Halloween. He is Halloween…
The Halloween franchise is so rewatchable because for the most part, these movies are very simplistic, there is a masked killer going around killing people. The original Halloween movie borrowed from the gialli that came before it and set the template for the modern slasher. And that prestige gives the franchise credibility that has lasted for forty-five years and counting. Even if the movies in this series continue to go up, down, and sideways in regard to storytelling logic.
Halloween season is a booming business in the entertainment and retail realm. According to the National Retail Federation, Americans spend over $10 billion on Halloween per year, with 2023 peaking at just over $12 billion. Barring a global pandemic, Halloween is consistently dependable and an incredibly prosperous time of year. The horror movie industry is a booming business as well, and whether it be theatrical releases, streaming, or television syndication, even festival and convention circuits, the industry is a cash cow with a never-ending supply of milk…
Oddly enough, even though the Halloween franchise has earned over $800 million dollars at the box office throughout the last forty-five years, it’s not even close to being the most profitable horror franchise. There are many reasons for that, and throughout the rich history of the series, there has been so much turmoil, unrest, indecisiveness and flat-out poor execution for what was to follow the unexpected critical and financial success of the legendary original Halloween in 1978.
The Halloween franchise has a rich and interesting history, all of which is worth exploring, and is one of the most fiercely debated movie franchises out there. Every single film in the series following the original has garnered mixed reactions. Whether it be direct sequels, re-quels, legacy sequels, reimaginings, selective lore continuation, alternate universes and so on. The cult-like fans of this franchise, myself included, are passionate. I can’t speak for everyone else but speaking for myself, I find it near impossible to rank this franchise. It’s like picking a favorite child, and then that child turns out to be a psychopathic serial killer. The only indisputable and unbiased way to rank the Halloween franchise is financially, in particular, by the box office. Let’s see how this series ranks by ticket sales, and why…
13) Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989) – $11,642,254
Coming in at dead last place in the box office rankings of the Halloween franchise is Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers. Now this one is the most surprising to me on this list, and not because of the quality of the movie, which isn’t great, but because of what should have been potential hype for what was to come after the cliffhanger ending of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers…
This movie isn’t bad by any means, but it totally pivoted off of what I loved about Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. By really emphasizing the supernatural elements and the cult influence over the Myers kin, that stripped away all of what made Michael so special, as well as what was interesting about the Jamie Lloyd character in the previous movie. Michael being just a born killer for no particular reason at all, other than that he was just a dark soul with an inexplicable blood lust was far more interesting and terrifying than adding all of the window dressing with the Cult of Thorn plotline. Of course, Danielle Harris and Donald Pleasance are great as always. And not to forget that Don Shanks, in his lone appearance as Michael Myers, is also very memorable…
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I’m not exactly sure how this movie only made $11 million dollars though, especially because it was released in the heart of Halloween season, and also coming off of a now-revered classic entry in the series. But I’d imagine there was some Michael Myers fatigue, as Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers was not exactly well-received or popular at the time of release, and really only emerged as a cult-classic years later. Also, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers only came out a year after its predecessor. Maybe a few more years in between would have been beneficial to the box office turnout, hence, the Michael Myers fatigue…
12) Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) – $14,400,000
Maybe the most fiercely debated entry in the entire franchise, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, pivoted away from the Michael Myers story and apparently lost out on a lot of money because of it. Critically and commercially, Halloween III was a flop. Audiences were confused as to why Michael Myers was not the focal point, a decision specifically and intentionally made by John Carpenter, whose wish was to pivot the franchise into a horror anthology.
In spite of a less-than-stellar critical and audience response, Halloween III: Season of the Witch is a fantastic movie. It is unique, weird and terrifying. With a soundtrack and a finale that kicks ass. Written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, who was a confidant and close collaborator of John Carpenter, Halloween III is the most interesting movie in the franchise, but unfortunately, nobody wanted it, and nobody really saw it. The Michael Myers shadow looms so large over this series that Halloween III disappeared into obscurity, resulting in a six-year hiatus and eventual return of Michael Myers. Even Tom Atkins’ charismatic performance in the lead and the compelling horror/sci-fi story could not overcome that shadow. The Myers adjacent story wasn’t what people wanted; they wanted the Myers involved. Lesson learned…
11) Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) – $15,116,634
I find it beyond infuriating that Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers title does not include a numerical. Moustapha Akkad, the primary financier of the Halloween franchise. Just like how the Broccoli family technically owns and dictates the direction of the James Bond franchise, that is pretty much the same type of ownership that the Akkad family has of the Halloween franchise. Halloween is essentially a family-run series, passed down from Moustapha to his son, Malek. Because of the disappointing fifth entry in the franchise, Moustapha shelved the franchise yet again, feeling the need to re-strategize the future of the franchise, and after a five-year hiatus, the Akkads teamed up with Dimension Films by way of Miramax, to produce the sixth installment of the franchise. Like most Miramax movies, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers was riddled with conflicting decision making, rewrites, reshoots, and all-around confusion as to what they were making. Actually, kind of astonishing considering how simple a Halloween movie has to be to succeed…
Hallloween: The Curse of Michael Myers is directed by Joe Chappelle and written by Daniel Farrands, but might as well have been written and directed by Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. That’s not to diminish the work of those guys, as they both went on to do great things in their careers, but the overarching theme and downfall of Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers is that there are far too many conflicting voices in the room, and it feels like a movie that has been slowly hacked to pieces over the course of production, lacking a real singular vision and direction…
As much as I really do love this movie for what it is, there is far too much focus on the Cult of Thorn’s influence over Myers, which I’ll say is a fascinating concept, but I always thought this movie would have benefited greatly from just simplifying the story with some combination of Paul Rudd’s character, Tommy Doyle, or Danielle Harris’ Jamie Lloyd just simply trying to survive another Michael Myers attack on Halloween with the help of Dr. Loomis. I’m guessing the lack of success of the previous two Jamie Lloyd-focused movies dissuaded filmmakers from bringing that character back with Danielle Harris involved, but she is beloved by the fanbase, and would have strengthened this movie on fan service alone, not to mention Jamie Lloyd being a great character that would make the story a lot more interesting. Also, with the addition of Rudd’s Tommy Doyle, could have been a legacy pivot that made a lot of sense. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers really swung for the fences, and according to the critical reaction and box office results, missed miserably. Classic case of trying to do too much…
10) Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) – $17,768,757
Like I had mentioned previously, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers is my third favorite movie in this franchise. This movie is so simple, well-executed and has the best finale in the series. After the critical and commercial debacle of Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Michael is back, hence the title. This time, Michael has come back to kill his niece, Jamie Lloyd, played by Danielle Harris. Jamie Lloyd is Laurie Strode’s daughter, and funny enough, Laurie is actually declared dead in this movie. Turns out Jamie Lee Curtis was disinterested in returning. But of course, she returns a few movies later, and more lore has to be rewritten. But more on that later…
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers also marks the return of Donald Pleasance as Dr. Loomis. Somehow, Loomis survived the explosion in the finale of Halloween II, as did Michael, and both converge on Haddonfield to battle once more, this time over the young Jamie Lloyd. Loomis has always been hyper-aware of the danger Michael presents, and the cat-and-mouse game between them is always entertaining. The action in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers is solid throughout, with good practical Michael kills, plenty of suspense and a satisfying, easy to follow story, with an all-time sick finale.
Even though the Cult of Thorn is introduced in this entry, it’s really not prevalent at any point in the story. This movie plays like a long chase scene, Point A to Point B, and it is glorious. Credit to the director, Dwight H. Little and writer, Alan B. McElroy for shepherding a go-to Halloween season classic. And also, credit to Moustapha Akkad, who is quoted saying his goal for this film was to get back to the basics. The cult following for this entry runs deep, but because of the lack of excitement for this franchise at the time, had modest box office returns. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers is a basic cable classic, and I can’t recommend it enough to watch during Halloween season…
9) Halloween II (1981) – $25,533,818
Halloween II (1981) is a strange movie. And I don’t mean that plot wise, it’s not confusing at all, but there is just something about it that doesn’t work, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. I think this movie’s biggest issue is that it is a direct follow up, and literal continuation of the original film, which is such a classic that it set an impossibly high standard for this movie to succeed. Even with the returning main cast, and the funniest scene of all time (brutal death for Ben Tramer, the classic getting hit by a car and exploding double-whammy), something about this sequel just didn’t totally connect with audiences. I’m sure there are Halloween II (1981) stans out there, but it feels like a movie more so going through the motions, and there is nothing wrong with that in this franchise, but John Carpenter had absolutely no interest in being a part of this movie, and that dissatisfaction bleeds onto the screen. Jamie Lee Curtis obviously returns to star in this sequel, and her absence from the franchise after Halloween II (1981) lasted almost twenty years, then oddly enough, another near twenty years after that. Halloween II (1981) wasn’t a smash at the box office, and although Pleasance and Jamie Lee turn in solid enough performances, this movie just quite simply did not kick ass enough, and that shows with the $20 million less made at the box office (seems like nothing now, but back then was a stark difference). Halloween II (1981) is really a missed opportunity, in my opinion…
8) Halloween: Resurrection (2002) – $30,354,442
“Trick or treat motherf**ker!” – Busta Rhymes as Freddie Harris.
What the hell happened here? In what is far and away the most bizarre and out of place movie in the franchise, Halloween: Resurrection is a Bonafide disaster. Inflation aside, I truly don’t understand how Halloween: Resurrection outgrossed its predecessors at the box office. Quite an astonishing feat. Halloween: Resurrection plays like the worst possible version of Halloween meets the Big Brother television series. And even worse, the ‘star’, Jamie Lee Curtis, had no interest in actually being in the movie, so, (spoiler) they kill her off in the opening. But don’t worry, of course they made sure to include Jamie Lee front and center on the poster. All this being said, I personally enjoy this movie because I am a Halloween sicko, and it is so dumb that it is good to me at least. But Halloween: Resurrection reeks of everything that sucked about the early ‘00s in horror movies. Busta Rhymes is really the only bright spot of this film. Busta Rhymes vs. Michael Myers is right on par with Freddy vs. Jason and Alien vs. Predator in regard to hilarious battles between famous characters…
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Busta Rhymes plays a character named Freddie Harris who owns a company called Dangertainment. And on this Internet-based reality show, Dangertainment, they do an episode where a group of college aged kids have to stay in Myers’ childhood home for a night, filming the whole affair with hidden cameras, Big Brother style. Then, Busta Rhymes’ Freddie Harris character proceeds to roundhouse kick Michael Myers out of a window. So yeah, what am I saying, this movie rules…
I’m just going to chalk this one up to people wanting to go see a Michael Myers movie in theaters, leading to a modest box office success, although not good by any means for a movie that cost $15 million to make. Go watch this series installment and try to figure out where that $15 million was spent, because it definitely wasn’t used on groundbreaking action sequences or top-level talent. Oddly enough, Halloween: Resurrection was released in July of 2002. Just another mind numbingly silly decision among so many other ridiculous choices. The franchise was gasping for air after Halloween: Resurrection, and a long hiatus was very much necessary…
7) Halloween II (2009) – $33,392,973
After the success of Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007), Halloween II (2009) was given the greenlight, and the result was a massive swing that resulted in violently mixed reviews from audiences. Halloween: Resurrection is the stupidest movie in the franchise, but Halloween II (2009) is by far the strangest in the franchise. Rob Zombie is given seemingly full creative autonomy to do as he envisioned with Halloween II (2009). Zombie’s Halloween movies are fiercely beloved or extremely loathed, and there are few and far between in terms of neutral opinions on his ‘reimaginings’ of the original Halloween (1978) and the subsequent sequel. Of course, Zombie’s work is not for everyone, there is a really nasty tone with grimy characters and a general disgusting human nature that runs rampant in all of his work that is most definitely not for everyone. Most male characters in Zombie’s work are wiry, heavy metal-looking guys with long hair, just like him, and then stunning women with hard-nosed personalities that somehow only seem to be interested in these wiry, heavy metal looking guys with long hair. Life imitates art, in Rob Zombie’s imagination…
Halloween II (2009) sees the return of basically everyone from the main cast of the original remake that survived that movie. Most people probably went into this one just expecting more of the same, just like the original Halloween II (1981), but this iteration of Halloween II (2009) had other ideas, and lofty ones at that. For a franchise that mostly just sticks to the script, with a formula that works for the most part, Zombie pivoted big time and crafted a spiritual and depressingly dark exploration of post-traumatic stress syndrome.
Laurie Strode, played by Scout Taylor-Compton, cannot shake the trauma she suffered from the first movie, and even worse, can’t shake that pesky Michael Myers. This version of Michael Myers, played by Tyler Mane, is enormous, physical and really terrifying. The dread of this film oozes through the screen, and quite honestly, it is a tough watch for most. Everything with the ‘White Horse’, Michael and Laurie seeing ghosts, etc. just was a lot to deal with when going in expecting a Point A to Point B, Michael chases Laurie while Loomis helps Laurie escape along the way, with Michael destroying everything in his path type movie. Word of mouth must have spread hastily that this bleak and joyless Halloween movie might not be a fun time at the movie theater, and compared to the original remake, did horribly at the box office, and was mostly reviled by critics and general audiences. But fans of this franchise seem to have a real appreciation for the ambitious attempt by Zombie, and even though the movie is purely joyless, is a fun addition to the canon of the franchise. I personally dig certain elements, but I totally understand why it flopped significantly…
6) Halloween (1978) – $47,000,000
I haven’t been adjusting these box office numbers for inflation, but for the sake of showing respect to this movie, $47 million in 1978 would have been about $220 million in 2023, so it is worth keeping that in mind, but for the purposes of this list, Halloween (1978) comes in at this spot on this list. There isn’t much to add about Halloween (1978) that hasn’t already been said. This is simply one of the, if not the best, horror movie that exists. Every aspect of Halloween, in regard to filmmaking and performing is groundbreaking and the impact is still felt to this day and hasn’t been truly replicated since.
John Carpenter and Debra Hill’s Halloween was made for only $325,000, which is shockingly low, and every single dollar bill pays for itself on the screen. From the opening sequence with the POV of young Michael Myers killing his sister, to Michael Myers stalking the young babysitter, Laurie Strode, of course played by Jamie Lee Curtis, to Donald Pleasance eccentric, yet subtle, performance as Dr. Loomis, to the finale that has rattled audiences for forty-five years and counting, Halloween (1978) is the perfect horror masterpiece, birth of the modern slasher, and godfather of the genre that is now a prosperous business.
At the time of its release in 1978, Halloween cracked the top ten in box office performance that year, and for a small movie from a relatively unknown filmmaker and unproven lead actress, is massively impressive. The story of Michael’s mask actually being a Captain Kirk/William Shatner mask altered to be the legendary Michael Myers mask is, well, legendary. John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis became household names after this movie, but Michael Myers came away as the big takeaway from the audience. Then known as ‘The Shape’, this iteration of Myers, and this iteration of the Myers lore, is so surprisingly simple. But that simplicity and refusal to explain why Myers kills people added to the efficacy of the movie. Michael was literally just a ‘Shape’, total blackness, and on the prowl to just kill people. Having no motive was all the more terrifying, and people showed up in droves at the time of release, but also forever afterwards. Overall, spawning a thirteen-movie franchise is impressive, which is hilarious considering how disinterested John Carpenter and Debra Hill were in making a series out of this story, they just wanted to make the best possible slasher, and that they did, with the ramifications being a slew of sequels, re-quels, legacy reboots, re-imaginings and so on…
5) Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) – $55,041,738
Otherwise known as the late nineties, ‘WB version’ of a Halloween movie, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later performed incredibly well at the box office. Calling it a ‘WB version’ of a Halloween movie might be unfair and facetious, because H20 is actually a tightly woven and slickly executed Halloween movie with a swift running time that feels more like a long episode of a prestige television show than a movie. Jamie Lee Curtis makes her return as Laurie Strode in genre legend Steve Miner’s version of a Michael Myers Halloween movie. Steve Miner simply knows how to make a horror movie that gets from Point A to Point B, without frills, and hardly a single wasted second of time on anything that doesn’t keep the plot moving along. You could call H20 the most cookie-cutter Halloween movie, but I think that actually works in its favor. Michael has returned from being institutionalized/dead yet again to find and kill Laurie, who is now living by a fake name, in California, working as a headmistress of a private school (…), with her son, John, played by Josh Hartnett. Along with Hartnett, is a who’s-who of late nineties pop-culture, including Michelle Williams, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and LL Cool J, not to be forgotten, Janet Leigh (mother of Jamie Lee Curtis) playing a small part alongside her daughter…
H20 came after the heavily disliked Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, so this serves as a breath of fresh air into a franchise that seemed to be losing steam in terms of relevance in the horror landscape. Even though reviews were pretty mixed, and the audience reaction was slightly milquetoast, H20 is a serviceable Halloween movie, with a satisfying ending and solid performances across the board, and that is what this franchise desperately needed at the time. Back to the basics. I like this one, and the audience showed out at the theater enough to prove that this franchise still has some juice at the box office. The direction taken immediately afterwards is nonsensical, but overall, I would call this movie a success all-around, especially financially…
4) Halloween (2007) – $58,272,029
Halloween (2007) kicks major ass. As I had mentioned earlier, Rob Zombie is a very specific type of taste, like a rare cheese, that some people will dig, and some will revile. Personally, I find this movie to be the ultimate Halloween remake, and the best of all the movies that followed the original. There are obviously some flaws with this film, one being the wacky and overly vulgar dialogue that even for a sicko like me, makes me double-take and say, “wait what was that?”. Besides that, though, the tone set by the bass-heavy hardcore score, that in the right viewing environment, is so loud and so persistent. It wears you down completely, having the same effect that Michael has on those he is hunting down.
Halloween (2007) explores Michael’s origins more than the original does, albeit very similar in regard to what happened on the night Michael became Michael, on Halloween night. Halloween (2007) spends a lot of time with young Michael Myers, played by Daeg Faerch, on the day leading up to the killings, but then also after the killings as well. Halloween (2007) explores a young serial killer so unflinchingly and unlike any other movie about a young serial killer. Young Michael does some savage things early on in this movie, and his family and peers, with the exception of his mom, treat him quite terribly, leading to the question of was this kid born this way? Or was it partly because of the environment he was raised in. Dr. Loomis, played by Malcolm McDowell, poses this question, and it’s a code he cannot crack, this obsession with Michael consumes him. This aspect of Halloween (2007) really interested me and was really upsetting to watch. It’s a different take on Michael that I think works perfectly…
After all of the young Michael stuff concludes, we meet Laurie Strode, this time played by Scout Taylor-Compton, who is a great Laurie Strode. She is really a positive addition to this franchise, especially during a time period where all of these horror remakes were running rampant, and the lead actresses just didn’t really bring the scream queen energy that Taylor-Compton does. The Laurie Strode stuff in this Halloween plays out almost identically to the original Halloween (1978), obviously with some changes to the story, dialogue and characters being used, but for the most part, very similar. The difference being the original relying on staging and suspense to generate scares, this version of Halloween is physical and visceral, with brutal kills and tons of energy. Having genre legends like Brad Douriff, William Forsythe, Danny Trejo and Dee Wallace, along with other Zombie regulars Sherri Moon Zombie, Ken Foree, Leslie Easterbrook, Sid Haig and Bill Mosely, and of course Danielle Harris, now returning as Annie Brackett, after previously portraying Jamie Lloyd as a young kid twenty years earlier, makes for a really stacked cast, and the performances are all great…
Halloween (2007) was a smash hit at the box office, but with very mixed reactions from critics and audiences. Over time, I would say this movie isn’t as beloved as it should be. People really do love the Rob Zombie Halloween franchise, but overall, for whatever reason, is mostly considered to be a bastardization of the source material, which I think is ridiculous. The Rob Zombie Halloween movies are cruel and intense, but also incredibly entertaining for how bleak and grisly they are. The mid-to-late 2000s was just a weird time for horror movies, especially for remakes, so it’s hard not to consider this ‘reimagining’ a success…
3) Halloween Ends (2022) – $64,079,860
2) Halloween Kills (2021) – $92,002,155
1) Halloween (2018) – $159,342,015
I’m lumping the recent Halloween movies altogether because all three somehow outgrossed every other Halloween movie at the box office. Of course, with inflation, it’s not exactly a fair fight, but even during a stretch of peak-Covid, these movies still succeeded financially, and I personally find each to be ridiculous, and a low point in a franchise with quite a few low points…
Starting with Halloween (2018), the David Gordon Green/Blumhouse duo teamed up with a planned trilogy of Halloween movies, with the hopes of reviving the franchise, to go with a blessing from the man himself, John Carpenter, whose participation in the making of this movie is questionable outside of orchestrating the original score. I’m sure the intentions of the filmmakers were pure, but in reality, these movies feel like lifeless and soulless money grabs that really don’t do anything innovative and just exist to be forgettable and average.
Halloween (2018) is the return of Jamie Lee Curtis, again, because dying twice wasn’t enough to move on from that character for good. This time though, we are ignoring all the lore from previous movies, pretending they don’t exist, and taking place almost forty years after the events of Halloween II (1981). Which is fine, that is understandable and common in the reboot landscape. Only thing I have a problem with is that this rebooted trilogy operates with the belief that the trials and tribulations of Laurie Strode is what makes this franchise work, because it’s not. There are some good Michael Myers kills, especially in the 2018 movie, but overall, Michael Myers is kind of a joke.
Jamie Lee Curtis is hailed as the scream queen, and maybe rightfully so because of the impact of her performance in the original movie, as well as other horror movies from that era, but we’re all just lying to ourselves to think that her portrayal of Laurie Strode, spanning four decades, being as wildly inconsistent as it was, dead then somehow alive depending on the constantly changing direction of the franchise, is so iconic that she deserves an entire trilogy to tell her scattered story. My longstanding opinion (five years now) of this legacy re-quel is that the filmmakers got it all wrong. It’s that simple. This old-ass version of Michael Myers is honestly super dumb. And this bunkered-down paranoid Sarah Conner-like Laurie Strode is basically across the galaxy in terms of similarities between the Laurie Strode character in the original movie, which worked so well. I get it, people grow and can change and get tougher. That part of it is understandable and checks out, especially after going through something like the Laurie character did in Halloween (1978) but it undoubtedly makes for a worse Halloween/Michael Myers movie. The fun of the Michael Myers character is that he hunts down innocent, weak and helpless victims. Occasionally, he will encounter more of an equal in terms of physicality. But Halloween, and Myers specifically, are at their best when there is an overwhelming sense of dread because of Michael being indestructible and unstoppable. Michael is much more effective when he is stalking and chasing, not engaging in a back-and-forth fight. Maybe that’s just me, but I found this old-ass weaker Michael Myers to be disappointing, and not involved enough, but it ultimately didn’t matter financially, as it made a killing at the box office…
Anyway, Halloween (2018) made a fortune, and people were clamoring for a rebooted legacy, a Michael Myers movie that does ‘fan service’ by including legacy characters and performers, set in contemporary times. Only issue is they turned Michael into a laughingstock…
Halloween Kills isn’t even worth talking about. Other than the magnificent flashback sequence that was far-and-away the best scene in the entire rebooted trilogy, the modern technology used in that scene to recreate Donald Pleasance as Dr. Loomis is stunning. But this movie is nonsensical and so far below the standard for what should be expected from a Halloween film. I found it to be that bad. It still made good money, but overall is very much disliked by fans and critics…
And then seriously limping to the finish line is Halloween Ends. The story of Corey Cunningham and Allyson, who is Laurie’s granddaughter, with tertiary characters Laurie Strode and Michael Myers pushed to the side. The opening sequence in Halloween Ends is okay, but to have a Halloween movie with a nonexistent, weak Michael Myers is absolutely insane, and just doesn’t work. The idea of Corey becoming like Michael Myers because of a traumatic experience in his life, with lots of bullying included and being branded an outcast by the community, is way too much of an obvious connection. Not to mention the people in the town suck, and Corey gets incessantly bullied by Gen Z band geeks. Corey, played by Rohan Campbell, is actually a cool character, portrayed well by a good actor, just in the wrong franchise. Corey ends up beating up Michael Myers, becoming friends with him and kills with him, because Michael famously loves to team up with people on his killing sprees…
Michael absolutely cannot be referred to as ‘The Shape’ in this movie but should be referred to by his rightful name based on this movie, ‘The Sewer Troll’. Michael getting punked by down-in-the-dumps Corey Cunningham, and then welcoming him into his world, is embarrassing, and I truly don’t understand how that was the choice…
Overall, of course this rebooted trilogy made a bunch of money. Obviously, the pandemic had a real effect on the profitability of Halloween Kills, and Halloween Ends as well, but I do believe that the hype after a long hiatus, with a great trailer, greatly benefited Halloween (2018) at the box office. People were clamoring for a Halloween movie again, but the disappointing product led to that hype fading away, and even though the box office results trending down from movie to movie can be attributed to the impact of the global pandemic on the box office at the time, I definitely believe that the lack of quality and bad word of mouth can attribute to that downturn financially as well.
The Halloween rebooted trilogy is safe, pedestrian, and unsatisfying for audiences. But financially speaking, it is considered a success. I think that really exemplifies what is so wrong and shameless about modern legacy sequels, remakes, re-quels, reboots and reimaginings in this modern movie landscape. Oh well, the Michael Myers character is so iconic and profitable, so how can you blame them for getting seduced by its money-making potential? I’m sure there will be more to come, most likely forever…
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