Few horror series have shaped pop culture like Halloween. Since John Carpenter’s 1978 original terrified audiences with its minimalist dread and haunting score, Michael Myers has stalked through four decades of sequels, spin-offs, and reboots — some brilliant, others baffling. The series has survived studio meddling, creative reinventions, and multiple timeline resets. But which entries stand tall, and which belong buried in the pumpkin patch? Let’s break it down — from worst to best.
13. Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
A reality TV crew enters the Myers house for a live broadcast. Chaos (and bad Wi-Fi) ensues.
In at 13 (there's 13 of them!), even Busta Rhymes couldn’t save this one. Resurrection is a tonal disaster — a cynical attempt to cash in on early-2000s internet culture. It opens by undoing the powerful ending of H20 and spirals into cheap kills, clunky dialogue, and a finale involving kung-fu kicks against Michael Myers. It’s the kind of sequel that kills a franchise — and nearly did.
12. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
Michael returns to stalk his niece Jamie Lloyd — again — while a mysterious cult subplot brews.
Rushed into production, Halloween 5 is a chaotic blend of gothic atmosphere and incoherent plotting. Dominique Othenin-Girard drenches it in style but forgets substance. Its biggest crime? Killing off fan-favourite Rachel Carruthers far too early and introducing an ill-defined supernatural element that went nowhere.
11. Halloween II (2009)
Rob Zombie’s sequel continues his gritty reboot, diving deeper into Laurie Strode’s trauma and Michael’s fractured psyche.
To Zombie’s credit, this isn’t lazy. It’s bold, angry, and deeply nihilistic — but also relentless and exhausting. The hallucinatory white horse motif adds ambition but little coherence. It’s a fascinating failure rather than a forgettable one.
10. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
The mysterious Thorn cult is revealed as the source of Michael’s power. Paul Rudd (yes, that Paul Rudd) makes his debut as Tommy Doyle.
The theatrical cut butchered the story, leaving dangling subplots and abrupt tonal shifts. The Producer’s Cut adds clarity but not coherence. Still, there’s nostalgic charm in its 90s aesthetic, and Rudd’s performance is oddly compelling — a fascinating misfire from an era when horror didn’t quite know what it wanted to be.
9. Halloween Ends (2022)
Four years after Kills, Laurie faces a new evil — not Michael, but Corey Cunningham, a local outcast drawn into darkness.
It’s more Christine than Halloween. The trilogy’s finale sidelines Michael for a moody character study about inherited evil. Admirable in ambition but not what fans expected. Still, its meditation on trauma and cyclical violence gives the saga a haunting, if uneven, thematic closure.
8. Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
A corporate plot uses Halloween masks to sacrifice children through ancient magic and television broadcasts.
No Michael Myers, no problem. Carpenter and Debra Hill’s attempt to make Halloween an anthology failed commercially but earned cult reverence. Its mix of techno-horror, folk mythology, and paranoia feels decades ahead of its time — a proto-Black Mirror for the VHS era.
7. Halloween II (1981)
Picking up minutes after the original, Laurie is taken to hospital while Michael continues his rampage.
It lacks Carpenter’s precision, but Rick Rosenthal delivers solid slasher craftsmanship. The hospital setting is claustrophobic, Dean Cundey’s cinematography is slick, and the synth-heavy score amplifies tension. The sibling twist remains divisive, but as a direct sequel, it’s a worthy continuation.
6. Halloween Kills (2021)
Haddonfield fights back — poorly. A vengeful mob hunts Michael, chanting “Evil dies tonight!” (Spoiler: it doesn’t.)
Kills is messy, but unapologetically so. It explores mob mentality and trauma on a communal scale. The kills are spectacularly brutal, and Carpenter’s updated score is electric. Not elegant, but full of grindhouse energy and righteous anger.
5. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
Laurie Strode, living under a new identity, confronts her past when Michael returns two decades later.
Jamie Lee Curtis reclaims the franchise with emotional weight and steely resolve. Directed by Steve Miner, H20 smartly trims the mythology back to basics, focusing on Laurie’s trauma and survival. It’s sleek, confident, and very late-90s — a solid precursor to modern legacy sequels.
4. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
A decade after being presumed dead, Michael returns to hunt his young niece Jamie Lloyd.
After the anthology experiment failed, Halloween 4 brought Myers back to basics. It’s atmospheric, tightly paced, and features one of the best endings in the series — that shocking mirror of innocence and evil. Danielle Harris delivers a standout child performance, and Donald Pleasence’s increasingly manic Loomis is unforgettable.
3. Halloween (2018)
Ignoring all previous sequels, this reboot reunites Laurie and Michael 40 years later in a direct continuation of the 1978 original.
Director David Gordon Green and writer Danny McBride reinvented Halloween for a new generation without betraying its roots. Laurie’s decades-long PTSD arc is compelling, and Carpenter’s return to the score gives it authenticity. It grounds the mythos in human fragility rather than supernatural lore.
2. Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007)
A brutal reimagining of Michael’s origins and first rampage, blending Southern Gothic grit with psychological horror.
Zombie’s vision is grim, violent, and uncomfortably human. It strips away the supernatural to explore nurture, trauma, and environment. While purists balked at humanising Myers, the result is hauntingly effective — a rare remake that justifies itself through sheer conviction.
1. Halloween (1978)
Fifteen years after killing his sister, Michael Myers escapes a sanitarium and returns to Haddonfield on Halloween night.
John Carpenter’s original isn’t just the best Halloween film — it’s one of the greatest horror films ever made. Its genius lies in simplicity: long takes, minimal blood, and an omnipresent sense of dread. The camera becomes the killer’s gaze, the suburbs turn sinister, and that piano score became legend. Every slasher since owes it a debt.
Final Thoughts
Across more than forty years, Halloween has endured reinventions, failures, and triumphs. From the purity of Carpenter’s vision to Zombie’s fury and Green’s generational reckoning, the franchise mirrors the evolution of horror itself — always shifting, never dying. Much like Michael Myers.
Which Halloween film ranks highest for you? Share your thoughts below — and remember: evil never really dies.
