In the Halloween film franchise, Michael Myers is a fictitious character that appears in a number of slasher flicks. John Carpenter’s Halloween premiered in 1978, and he made his debut as a little kid who goes on to murder his older sister, Judith Myers. He returns to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, fifteen years later and murders another group of youths.
The shape serves as the principal adversary throughout the Halloween film series, with the exception of Halloween III: Season of the Witch, which is not related to the rest of the films in terms of continuity, the third installment was spearheaded by George Romero. There have been six actors who have taken on the same role of the madman in the mask including Castle, Moran, and Wallace since the first film was released in 1988. Among the few actors who have played Michael Myers more than once are Castle, George P. Wilbur, Tyler Mane, and James Jude Courtney. Of these actors, Mane and Courtney are the only ones to have done so in consecutive films (Mane and Courtney are the only ones to have done it in consecutive films). As portrayed explicitly in the films, as well as by the filmmakers who conceived and developed Michael Myers over the course of nine films, and by random poll respondents, Michael Myers is defined as pure evil.
Captain Kirk’s mask is painted white in the first two instalments of the series. A cast of William Shatner’s face was used to create the mask, which was first shown in the horror film The Devil’s Rain in 1975.
With such a bizarre, lengthy, and multi-universe franchise, the plot has veered off in odd directions throughout the years, blurring the facts of Halloween and Michael Myers with the introduction of new production teams and remakes.
Timeline and Appearances of Michael Myers
Halloween 1978, The first time that we encounter Myers
Halloween was the film in which Michael Myers made his debut appearance (1978). On Halloween, 1963, a six-year-old Michael (Will Sandin) murders his adolescent sister Judith (Sandy Johnson) in the midst of the holiday season. After escaping Smith’s Grove Sanitarium fifteen years later, Michael (Nick Castle) returns to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, where he grew up.
On Halloween, he follows adolescent babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), while his psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) makes an unsuccessful attempt to locate him. After assassinating several of Laurie’s acquaintances, Michael turns his attention to Laurie herself, but she manages to stave him off long enough for Loomis to intervene and save her. During the course of the shooting, Loomis shoots Michael six times, knocking him off the balcony. When Loomis returns to check on Michael’s body, he discovers that he has vanished.
Facts from Halloween 1978
The production of the picture took 17 days and cost $300,000, yet it ended up earning $47 million at the box office in the United States. With earnings in 2008 that would be equal to the equivalent of $150 million, ‘Halloween’ has become one of the most successful pictures ever produced by an independent film studio.
It was initially going to be titled “The Babysitter Murders,” and the events depicted in the movie were intended to have taken place over the course of many days. The screenplay had to be modified so that everything happens on Halloween so that the production company could make more money. This reduced the amount of costume changes and set modifications required, which resulted in cost savings.
The author, John Carpenter, based the narrative on an encounter he had while he was in college when he toured a mental institution. Carpenter saw a boy who appeared to be glaring at him “with a look of malice, and it horrified him.”
At first, Nick Castle’s sole purpose for being on set was to observe the filming of the movie. It was John Carpenter who encouraged him to audition for the part of Michael Myers, and the actor accepted the offer.
In the spring of 1978, the filming of Halloween took place over the course of twenty days.
Halloween II, a direct follow-up to the original film.
Dr. Loomis is continuing on the hunt for Michael in Halloween II (1981), which continues up just where the first film leaves off. Throughout the night, Michael (Dick Warlock) pursues Laurie to the local hospital, where he murders each member of the staff one by one. As soon as Loomis discovers that Laurie is Michael’s younger sister, he hurries to the hospital to locate them. Laurie shoots Michael in the eyes, causing him to go blind, and Loomis engineers an explosion in the operating room, allowing Laurie to flee the hospital. With his clothes on fire, Michael makes his way out of the room before fainting on the floor.
Halloween II Movie Facts
Following the events of the very first Halloween, the film begins (1978). Jamie Lee Curtis, who had started sporting a shorter ‘do in the 1980s, used a wig to bring back the look of her original character in the film.
As previously stated Halloween III: Season of the Witch never had an appearance by Myers, so we are going to skip this one.
Halloween 4: After a long gap in the timeline the shape returns
Michael Myers returns in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, which takes place ten years after the events of Halloween II. It is discovered that Michael (George P. Wilbur) has been in a comatose condition ever since the explosion occurred. When Michael discovers that Laurie Strode has died in a car accident, he awakens from his coma. Laurie Strode has a daughter, Jamie Lloyd, who is nine years old (Danielle Harris). In Haddonfield, where he has returned from his exile, he causes a citywide blackout and slaughters the town’s police force before being shot by state police and tumbling down a mine shaft.
Halloween 5: The last time we will see Michael for a little while
Immediately following the events of Halloween 4, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989) opens with Michael Myers (Donald L. Shanks) escaping from the mine shaft and being nursed back to health by a local hermit. Next year, Michael awakens to finish off the hermit and returns to Haddonfield in search of Jamie (Harris), this time following her through his boyhood house, which has been put up by Loomis as a trap for him (Pleasence). In the end, Michael is restrained by Loomis and taken to the local police station, but a mystery “Man in Black” attacks the station, murders the policemen, and then frees Michael.
Halloween 6: Reveals facts about Myers never before known.
After the events of Halloween: The Revenge of Michael Myers, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers takes place six years later in Haddonfield, where Jamie (J. C. Brandy) and Michael (Wilbur) have both vanished. Jamie has been abducted and pregnant by the Cult of Thorn, which is commanded by Dr. Terence Wynn (Mitchell Ryan), a friend and colleague of Loomis’ from Smith’s Grove who is also a member of the Cult of Thorn. In Halloween 5, Wynn is shown to have been manipulating Michael all along and to have been the mystery rescuer of Michael’s life. But not before she hides her child, who is discovered and taken in by Tommy Doyle, Michael assaults Jamie and she is injured (Paul Rudd). After learning that Michael’s fixation with killing his whole family, as well as his apparent magical skills, may be the result of a cult while attempting to protect the baby from Michael and Wynn, Tommy decides to investigate further. When Michael eventually comes around to their way of thinking, he is finally subdued by Tommy, who injects him with enormous amounts of tranquillizers while he is inside the Smith’s Grove Sanitarium. As the film comes to a close, Michael’s mask lies on the lab floor, with Loomis wailing in the background, allowing the audience to speculate about the fate of both men.
It’s also worth noting that with Halloween 6 aka The Curse of Michael Myers, there exists an alternate cut which in turn makes for a totally different viewing experience. This cut is known as the ‘Producers Cut‘ you can read more about the alternate version in our dissection of the film by clicking here.
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, the first wrinkle in the Halloween time line.
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), which makes no reference to the events of the preceding three films, establishes that Michael Myers (Chris Durand) has been gone for twenty years, following the explosion that occurred in 1978. Having feigned her death in order to get away from her brother, Laurie Strode (Curtis) has taken up residence in California under an assumed identity with her teenage son John (Josh Hartnett). Michael follows Laurie and her son to the exclusive boarding school where she is the headmistress, where she murders the students who are friends of John’s. After securing her son’s safety, Laurie gladly returns to Michael’s side and decapitates him, hence finishing him off once and for all.
Halloween: Resurrection (2002) Not much to see here..
Taking place three years after the events of H20, Halloween: Resurrection (2002) retcons Michael’s death by stating that the guy Laurie decapitated was a paramedic whom Michael had attacked and switched clothes with. Michael (Brad Loree) seeks down and murders Laurie, who has been placed in an institution. Upon returning home, he discovers and kills a group of college students who are filming an internet reality show inside his boyhood house, a year after he first returned to Haddonfield. By electrocuting Michael, contestant Sara Moyer (Bianca Kajlich) and show producer Freddie Harris (Busta Rhymes) are able to flee the scene. The bodies of Michael’s victims, as well as Michael’s own body, are then transported to the mortuary. Michael awakens just as the medical examiner is about to begin his examination of his body.
Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007) The First Reboot
A new Michael Myers appears in Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007), a remake of the Halloween franchise. As in the original film, Michael (Daeg Faerch) is depicted as a ten-year-old boy who kills animals and suffers mental torture from his mother Judith (Hanna R. Hall) as well as her lover Ronnie (William Forsythe), both of whom he subsequently murders, as well as a youngster who was bullying him. Micheal continues his papier-mâché mask-making hobby and seeks ineffectual therapy from Dr. Sam Loomis in the wake of his incarceration at Smith’s Grove (Malcolm McDowell). Michael’s mother, Deborah (Sheri Moon Zombie), kills herself after witnessing her son, Michael, execute a nurse in front of her. To be with the one person he has ever genuinely loved in his whole life, Michael (Tyler Mane) returns to his hometown of Haddonfield as an adult to reconcile with his younger sister Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton). Laurie, on the other hand, has no memory of Michael and is terrified of him. She shoots him in the head in self-defense after he assassinates her friends and adoptive parents.
Rob Zombie’s Halloween II (2009) Off the rails and the end of this reboot.
After the events of Halloween II (2009), Zombie’s journey continues in the sequel, which takes off just where the original film ends off and then leaps ahead one year. During this scene, Michael (Mane) is assumed to be dead, but he emerges after having a vision of Deborah telling him that he must seek Laurie down so that they may “return home.” Michael and Laurie form a mental bond throughout the film, with the two of them exchanging images of their mother. After killing Michael by stabbing him repeatedly in the chest and face with his knife at the film’s finale, Laurie appears to have taken on her brother’s psychosis, as seen by the final scene in which she dons his mask.
Halloween (2018) The Blumhouse Trilogy
Halloween (2018) is a direct sequel to the original film, in which Michael and Laurie are not related to each other by blood or marriage. Michael (James Jude Courtney) escaped into the adjacent woods after being shot by Loomis, and he was eventually apprehended by Deputy Frank Hawkins, who apprehended and detained him. Following his murdering rampage in 1978, he spent the next 40 years at Smith’s Grove Sanitarium before escaping and returning to Haddonfield for another killing spree. He was sentenced to life in prison. This is when he meets face to face with Laurie Strode (again played by Curtis), who has been living in terror of his return for the last few years. In the presence of his psychotic psychologist, Michael is transported to Laurie’s house, where he participates in a confrontation with Laurie, who badly injures him and severs two of his fingers. In the end, Laurie, her daughter Karen (Judy Greer), and her granddaughter Allyson are responsible for keeping Michael imprisoned in Laurie’s burning house (Andi Matichak). In a post-credits sequence, Michael can be heard breathing, which suggests that he has survived.
If you are interested in the goofs and mistakes found in the Halloween 2018 release visit the Halloween (2018) Goofs, Mistakes and Plot Holes page.
Halloween Kills (2021) Following up to the 2018 release of Halloween.
Halloween Kills (2021) is a direct sequel to the 2018 film, in which Michael escapes from a burning house with the assistance of firemen and then goes on a murdering rampage around the neighborhood. After a few assassinations, the citizens of the town band together to track him down. In spite of the fact that the crowd appears to be excessively destructive, they eventually swarm the man and appear to murder him. During the dispersal of the mob, Michael murders one of those who seeks to confirm that he is indeed dead, and then continues to slaughter the remainder of the returning throng. He subsequently makes his way back to his boyhood house, where he encounters Karen, whom he kills along with the others.
There is also an alternate ending for Halloween Kills, check out The Halloween Kills Extended Edition article that we posted for complete details.
Halloween Ends (2022) The conclusion to the Blumhouse saga
Michael Myers and Laurie Strode’s terrifying journey comes to a spine-tingling conclusion in this last movie of the Halloween franchise.
Now that Michael is dead for good, Laurie leads a parade of Haddonfield citizens to the salvage yard to view his remains. At Corey’s uncle’s scrapyard, she throws his body into a large industrial shredder. Laurie completes her book in the days that follow and begins to have romantic feelings toward Officer Hawkins again.
Is this really the end?
