After powering through both the Elm Street films and the Friday the 13th films, I finally got around to watching all of the Halloween films as well. Coincidentally, I finally found the time to write up this post on the first of October so that's quite fitting considering there's only 30 days left until the big day itself. For those of you who don't know, the Halloween franchise follows psychopathic killer Michael Myers who stalks the town of Haddonfield every Halloween night, slashing his way through a variety of victims over the years. Apart from Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Myers appears in every film in the franchise and has become a staple of the horror genre ever since. Now, without further ado, here is my ranking of the Halloween films from worst to best. Again, like the previous posts I will be excluding the remakes (sorry Rob Zombie), and be warned, there are mild SPOILERS ahead.
8. Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
While it can be argued that the fifth and sixth installments killed the franchise, Halloween: Resurrection makes them look just as good as the first in comparison. Coming out in a post-Scream world where horror films were more comedic and usually starred rappers, Halloween: Resurrection is one big shit stain on the franchise. Not only does it kill off Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) within the first 10 minutes, but the rest of the film is a bizarre amalgamation between reality television and slasher that just doesn't work at all. It sees a group of college students sign up for a show called Dangertainment, a reality show that sees them exploring the Myers house on Halloween night, you can guess what happens next. The characters are thinly written, the script is painfully bad, and there's just a blatant lack of respect for the franchise altogether, made clear when Laurie is killed off. I mean, there are some cool death scenes like when Michael Peeping Tom's a camera man, and it does have Busta Rhymes doing karate, but it's just a bad film overall. The tone is all over the place and at times it's just plain boring, if you thought Rob Zombie's films ruined the franchise then think again. Maybe it's a good thing that Michael Myers stayed dead this time. Trick or Treat muthafucka.
7. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
After being broken out of jail by a mysterious cowboy at the end of Halloween 5 (don't ask), Michael Myers returns to Haddonfield yet again several years later to continue his killing spree. The Curse of Michael Myers opted to introduce supernatural elements to the plot in order to explain Myers' immortality and penchant for killing. It is revealed that Myers carries the curse of thorn, an ancient Celtic curse that causes people to murder their family members on Halloween night. Furthermore, Myers is also being manipulated by a mysterious cult who have been controlling him since the day he was born. Yep, that's where this film goes, and it's nowhere near as interesting as it could be. The film feels severely overstuffed, trying to deal with a number of characters and tie up several plot holes all in the space of 90 minutes. Along with that, it's got some truly dodgy editing that's enough to give anyone a headache. Being the first 90's film in the franchise, Curse has a cool, grungy aesthetic that definitely inspired the later remakes, but the style can't substitute for substance here. It does have some decent performances, Donald Pleasance gives everything he can in his last outing as Dr. Sam Loomis before his unfortunate death, and Paul Rudd (yes, that Paul Rudd) is convincing enough as the grown up Tommy Doyle from the first film. There are actually two versions of this film, the original cut and the producers cut, but sitting through Curse once was enough for me so the producers cut will have to wait till I'm truly desperate for something to watch.
6. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
Halloween 5 isn't extremely terrible, nor is it very good, it's just a painfully mediocre film that brings very little to the franchise. Taking inspiration from Friday the 13th Part VII, this film introduces the concept of psychic abilities to the franchise, granting them to pre-existing character Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris). When Michael returns a year after he was seemingly killed, Loomis teams up with his young niece Jamie once again, who can now sense when Myers is about to kill somebody. Halloween 5 essentially misses everything that Halloween 4 done right and takes the franchise down a doomed road that eventually led to Curse. Instead of building upon the ending of the previous film and continue to develop the Jamie Lloyd character, the film just brings back Michael Myers yet again in a rehash of the previous entries into the franchise. Danielle Harris is an incredibly talented actress and her performance in Halloween 4 was one of the highlights, but here, most of her lines consist of her screaming 'Tina!' over and over again. A true waste of her talents. The film was supposedly shot without a finished script, and it really shows. Along with the weak script, there are some truly bizarre moments that I felt I needed to mention, these include the strange music that plays in one scene over the two goofy cops, and the character of 'Spitz' (Matthew Walker), the most annoying disposable teen in the franchise. It's just a badly made film with no thought put in whatsoever, although it does make for an interesting drinking game if you take a drink whenever Jamie screams 'Tina!', you'll be smashed by the end of it.
5. Halloween H20 (1998)
From the title I thought this was going to be some underwater Halloween adventure, but nope, apparently the H stands for Halloween while the 20 means 20 years later. Acting as a quasi-reboot of the franchise that cuts out the previous 3 films and takes place 20 years after the first 2, Halloween H20 sees the return of Laurie Strode to the franchise, now living in witness protection under and assumed name, working as a high school principal. I mean, I guess cutting out the curse of thorn nonsense was a good thing, but it made sitting through the previous 2 films even more frustrating seeing as how it just cuts them out of the continuity altogether, along with number 4. It's not a bad film overall though, it's got a lot of throwbacks to the original film, as well as some Easter eggs for horror fans in general (look out for that Janet Leigh cameo), and the cast is pretty strong. Curtis makes an excellent return to the role of Laurie Strode, further fleshing out her character 20 years on, while a young Josh Hartnett and Michelle Williams are among the supporting cast. And because this is the late 90's, rapper LL Cool J also joins the cast, reciting his erotic novels to his partner over the phone for some reason. It trims out a lot of the bullshit from the past two films and manages to make Michael Myers scary again, he is cunning and articulate just like in the earlier installments. However, at times it feels like it's trying to be more of a Scream film than a Halloween one. The tongue-in-cheek humour, the musical ques, the script, they all feel very Kevin Williams-y. It had potential to be a lot better than it ultimately was, but to be fair it is a big improvement over some of the other installments.
4. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1998)
After the poor reception to Halloween III's attempt to make the franchise an anthology, the decision was made to bring back Michael Myers after being seemingly killed in Halloween 2, because that was the style at the time. Halloween 4 is actually one of the better sequels that manages to get a lot of things right without getting too ridiculous like later sequels would. This film introduces Jamie Lloyd to the franchise, the daughter of Laurie Strode who went into foster care after her mother was seemingly killed in a car crash. Myers awakens from a coma ten years after his initial killing spree and sets off to Haddonfield to kill Jamie and anyone else who gets in his way. Returning yet again is Donald Pleasance as Sam Loomis, who has been both physically and emotionally scarred after the events of Halloween 2. The first thing the film gets right is making it feel like it is actually Halloween, and we begin with these shots of an autumnal countryside decorated with a variety of spooky bits and bobs. It's definitely one of the most Halloween-y of the sequels. The film also boasts a number of strong performances from Pleasance, Harris, and Ellie Cornell as Jamie's foster sister Rachel. Harris was only about 11 years old at the time of filming and easily gives one of the best performances of not just the film, but the franchise itself, proving that she was born to be a scream queen. However, as much as the film attempts to replicate the original in its rather formulaic plot, it can never quite bring Carpenters signature sense of suspense back to life. It relies too heavily on trying to recreate the first film that it feels as though it's afraid to try anything new. Despite this, it's not a bad sequel and could have ended up much worse, it's a shame the later films actually did.
3. Halloween 2 (1981)
After the success of the first Halloween a sequel seemed like a no-brainer, thus Halloween 2 was born. Picking up on the same night that the first film left off, Halloween 2 continues the story of Laurie Strode, who winds up in a hospital after narrowly escaping Michael Myers. However, Myers is never too far behind her. While John Carpenter did not return to direct this entry, Dean Cudney returns as cinematographer and manages to recreate Carpenters style almost perfectly. He and director Rick Rosenthal manage to craft a film that is stylistically similar to the first. What I like about Halloween 2 is that it deals with the repercussions of the first films events and build upon them. For example, we see how Sheriff Bracket (Charles Cyphers) deals with the death of his daughter, and we get a little more insight into why Michael Myers is so intent on killing Laurie. That's right, this is the film that establishes her as Michaels sister, an interesting direction to take the franchise that works a lot better than that cult of thorn bollocks. It further develops her character and builds a stronger link between her and Michael that ultimately raises the stakes. The film also ups the gore to an extent, crafting a number of bloody death scenes in order to up the shock factor from the first film. I feel like it relies too heavily on raising the body count instead of focusing on suspense, although to be honest, it's a lot more suspenseful than the later sequels. Also as a side note, remember Ben Tramer from the first film? The fella that Laurie had a crush on? Well just wait and see how they kill him off in this one, RIP Ben.
2. Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Surprisingly, the best of the sequels is the only one without Michael Myers. In an attempt to take the franchise in a more anthology-style direction, Halloween III followed Dr. Daniel Challis (Tom Atkins) who sets off to the mysterious town of Santa Mira to investigate the death of a patient that has ties to a mysterious toy company. I feel like the only reason this film got so much hate was the lack of Michael Myers, because overall it's a really solid horror despite its bizarre concept. Tommy Lee Wallace is a talented director and with a score from John Carpenter himself backing up the film, the suspense is quite high. Out of all the sequels it feels the most like a Carpenter film. The story is a strange mix of sci-fi and Celtic myth that somehow works, and manages to tie the titular holiday into the plot making the film a true Halloween experience. Tom Atkins is brilliant as always as Dr. Challis, but the real highlight is Irish actor Dan O'Herlihy as the sinister warlock Conal Cochran. He gives a devilishly charming performance as the films antagonist that makes the strange subject matter feel all the more terrifying. The film also boasts some truly horrific death scenes that I will not spoil, but trust me you won't soon forget them. It's a slow burning film reminiscent of John Carpenters early films that gradually builds to a surprisingly nihilistic ending that strips away any sense of hope or optimism that may have been held hitherto. Season of the Witch is by far the most misunderstood film of the franchise, and not a day goes by that I don't think about how different the franchise could have been if it had have built upon this anthology format. A lot better methinks.
1. Halloween (1978)
The original, and the best, Halloween is one of the most suspenseful and influential slasher films of all time that inspired a generation. Co-written and directed by the great John Carpenter, the film follows deranged killer Michael Myers returning to his hometown of Haddonfield after spending years in a mental institution. What can I say about this film that hasn't already been said? It's a true masterclass in suspense that takes you to the edge of your seat and never lets you leave. I saw it in the cinema last Halloween and honestly, it holds up wonderfully today and is just as effective as I imagine it would have been when it first came out. The score, the direction, Nick Castles memorable performance as Michael Myers, they all come together to make for a truly chilling slasher film that would be mimicked and imitated for years to come. It sees Donald Pleasance at his best as Dr. Loomis while kickstarting the career of Jamie Lee Curtis who would go on to become one of the most prolific scream queens in horror history. Most importantly, it has Michael Myers at his scariest. I always felt that in some of the later films Myers lacked any sense of personality, but Castle makes him this truly menacing physical presence that is ever present throughout the film. That scene where he appears to be dead, but suddenly rises up again unbeknownst to Laurie remains one of my favourite scenes in any horror film ever. Above all, it kept things simple. It didn't feel the need to over-explain Myers' motivations or try too hard to be scary, it was just a simple story about a masked killer coming home. Carpenter made horror history with Halloween, changing the genre for years to come.
So with a couple of weeks left until Halloween, why not binge watch the Halloween franchise? If you've got nothing better to watch that is, I wouldn't recommend anyone to watch Halloween: Resurrection. Give the first 4 a watch at least, and maybe H20 if you're a big Scream fan. While some of the later sequels are just plain bad, watching the Halloween franchise in full has gotten me even more excited for David Gordon Green and Danny McBride's new Halloween film next year. With John Carpenter's blessing and potential involvement, along with Jamie Lee Curtis' return, it's definitely one to look forward to and is just about a year away. Happy 1st of October dudes, let's hope this Halloween will be a spooky one.
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