Franchise hub · 1978 to 2022
Halloween
A masked killer, a final girl and a series that keeps rebooting its own timeline.
Overview
The Halloween series began with John Carpenter's 1978 independent film and grew into one of the longest-running slasher franchises, with thirteen films released between 1978 and 2022. Its central figure is the masked killer Michael Myers, and on the other side stands the babysitter who first met him, Laurie Strode. The first film is covered in depth in Halloween, and the series sits at the heart of the slasher subgenre.
What makes the series unusual is its structure. Several films discard earlier sequels and continue straight from a previous entry, so the franchise is better understood as a set of parallel timelines than as one straight line. One writer for Forbes, Scott Mendelson, called it the Choose Your Own Adventure of horror franchises. Reference works commonly sort the films into five groups: the original continuity, the stand-alone anthology entry, the Dimension Films continuity of the late 1990s, Rob Zombie's remake pair, and the recent Blumhouse trilogy.
The numbers show how durable the idea is. Together the films have grossed roughly $885 million worldwide on a combined production cost estimated at around $143 million, according to the franchise table on Wikipedia. Adjusted for inflation, the series is said to have the highest United States total of the American horror series compared in that article. Those totals depend on which sources and budgets are used, so treat them as approximate.
Release order
| Year | Title | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Halloween | The original film that started the series. |
| 1981 | Halloween II | Continues the story on the same night. |
| 1982 | Halloween III: Season of the Witch | A standalone story with no Michael Myers; an attempt at an anthology series. |
| 1988 | Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers | Brings the killer back after the anthology experiment. |
| 1989 | Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers | Follows directly from Halloween 4. |
| 1995 | Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers | Adds a cult storyline to the earlier continuity. |
| 1998 | Halloween H20: 20 Years Later | Ignores films 4 to 6 and follows the story of the first two films. |
| 2002 | Halloween: Resurrection | Follows H20. |
| 2007 | Halloween (2007) | A reimagining by Rob Zombie. |
| 2009 | Halloween II (2009) | Continues the 2007 reimagining. |
| 2018 | Halloween (2018) | A new sequel to the 1978 film that ignores all other sequels. |
| 2021 | Halloween Kills | Second part of the 2018 trilogy. |
| 2022 | Halloween Ends | Concludes the 2018 trilogy. |
Titles without a link do not have their own PORTFLICK entry yet.
How the series evolved
1978 to 1982: from independent hit to open question
The original was made for about $300,000 and grossed roughly $70 million worldwide. The first sequel, Halloween II (1981), picked up on the same night and moved the story into a hospital. By then the slasher had become a crowded field, and the producers changed course with Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), meant to begin a yearly anthology of unrelated Halloween stories with no Michael Myers at all. Audiences did not accept the change, and the series went dormant for six years.
1988 to 1995: the killer returns
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) brought the killer back and introduced Jamie Lloyd, Laurie Strode's young daughter. Halloween 5 followed a year later, and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) added a cult storyline. Each film earned less than the one before. Critics were harsh, although the fourth film has since won defenders, and the sixth became the lowest-rated entry on both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.
1998 to 2002: reset and decline
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) reset the series for the first time. It discarded films four to six, brought back Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie, and followed the mood of 1990s horror set by Scream. It was the series' top earner until the 2007 remake. The follow-up, Halloween: Resurrection (2002), about an internet reality show staged in the Myers house, collapsed at the box office and with critics.
2007 to 2009: a darker reimagining
Rob Zombie's two films rebuilt the story from the ground up. The 2007 remake spent its first half on Michael's childhood, then retraced the 1978 plot with a rougher tone. Halloween II (2009) went further into dream imagery and brutality. Both were poorly reviewed, and the second earned far less. Zombie declined to make a third film, and plans for a follow-up were canceled.
2018 to 2022: a legacy sequel trilogy
The most recent trilogy ignores every sequel except the original and focuses on how trauma echoes across generations. Halloween (2018) was a major success; Halloween Kills (2021) and Halloween Ends (2022) earned less and divided audiences. It also reflects a wider trend in which long-running horror brands return with their original stars and call their films direct sequels rather than remakes.
The first two films, 1978 to 1981
Producer Irwin Yablans and financier Moustapha Akkad hired Carpenter to make a film about a babysitter stalked on Halloween night. Carpenter co-wrote it with Debra Hill, who produced. Reference works put the budget at $300,000 to $325,000 and the worldwide gross at about $70 million, with Rotten Tomatoes at 97 percent and Metacritic at 91. Pleasence, Curtis and Nick Castle, who played The Shape, are among the figures discussed in the John Carpenter entry.
Halloween II (1981) was written by Carpenter and Hill, who were reluctant to continue the story. Rick Rosenthal, making his feature debut, directed it, with Curtis and Donald Pleasence back, and Dick Warlock playing Michael. Carpenter reportedly reshot some death scenes with more gore after judging the rough cut insufficiently scary. Made for about $2.5 million and released by Universal on October 30, 1981, it grossed about $25.5 million domestically, the second-highest horror result of its year behind An American Werewolf in London. Critics were largely negative, with 27 percent approval on Rotten Tomatoes, and later retrospectives have been kinder.
Season of the Witch, 1982
Carpenter and Hill wanted Halloween to become an anthology in the manner of The Twilight Zone, with a new story each time. Halloween III: Season of the Witch was written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace in his feature debut, and it follows a doctor and a toy-company owner whose cheap Halloween masks conceal a plot. Nigel Kneale wrote the original script, but he asked to have his name removed after the producer and financier Dino De Laurentiis reportedly pushed for more gore, and Wallace revised it.
Tom Atkins and Dan O'Herlihy lead the cast. The film was shot in Loleta, California, and Carpenter and Alan Howarth wrote an electronic score that replaced the piano theme. Budget figures are reported as $2.5 million in one source and $4.6 million in another, and it earned about $14.4 million, the lowest total of the series at that point. Critics were largely negative on release, with Roger Ebert calling it a low-rent thriller, but decades later it has a strong cult following, and its jingle for Silver Shamrock masks remains one of the most remembered devices in horror.
Halloween 4, 5 and The Curse of Michael Myers
After the anthology experiment, Akkad wanted the killer back. Paul Freeman, a producer, said audiences left Halloween III asking where Michael was. Carpenter and Dennis Etchison wrote a script that Akkad rejected as too cerebral, and Carpenter stepped away. Dwight H. Little directed Halloween 4 (1988), and writer Alan B. McElroy had under eleven days to pitch and deliver a draft before a Writers Guild strike. It was filmed around Salt Lake City, Utah, rather than California to save money, with Pleasence returning as Loomis and Danielle Harris as Jamie. On a $5 million budget it opened at number one and grossed about $17.8 million.
Halloween 5 (1989), directed by Dominique Othenin-Girard, was rushed into production while its script was still being revised. It included a mysterious Man in Black that the final cut left unexplained. It earned about $11.6 million, the lowest of the series, with 10 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The Curse of Michael Myers (1995), written by Daniel Farrands and directed by Joe Chappelle, added a Druid-like cult and a rune curse, featured Paul Rudd as an adult Tommy Doyle, early in his film career, and grossed about $15.1 million. Pleasence died on February 2, 1995, before release, and the film is dedicated to him. Critics gave it 8 percent. Its Producer's Cut, with about 45 minutes of different material, first received an official release in 2014.
H20 and Resurrection
Curtis wanted to reunite the original cast and crew for the twentieth anniversary. Carpenter was considered as director but left over a fee dispute, and Steve Miner took the job. Scream writer Kevin Williamson provided the story and uncredited rewrites, and Marco Beltrami's Scream music was added to the chase scenes. Josh Hartnett made his film debut, with Michelle Williams and LL Cool J in the cast, and Janet Leigh, Curtis's mother, appeared in a scene with a nod to Psycho. At 86 minutes and about $17 million, it opened with $16.2 million and grossed about $75 million worldwide, with 54 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Halloween: Resurrection (2002) returned Rosenthal to the series, with a story by Larry Brand and a script by Brand and Sean Hood. Contestants spend a night in Michael's childhood house for a live internet show, with Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks in the cast. Budget figures vary between $13 million and $15 million, and it earned about $37.6 million worldwide, an underperformance next to H20. Rotten Tomatoes lists 10 percent positive reviews and Metacritic 19. It remains the last Halloween film in the Dimension continuity.
Rob Zombie's reimagining
Dimension Films announced a remake in 2006, and musician and director Rob Zombie wrote, directed and produced it. Carpenter's advice to him, according to accounts of the production, was to make it his own. Zombie expanded Michael's childhood, casting Daeg Faerch as the young Michael and Sheri Moon Zombie as his mother, with Tyler Mane as the adult, Scout Taylor-Compton as Laurie and Malcolm McDowell as Dr. Loomis. Critics widely praised McDowell's casting and some preferred the childhood half to the slasher half.
Halloween (2007) opened on August 31, 2007, earned $26.4 million in its first three days and a record $30.6 million over the four-day Labor Day weekend, and grossed about $80 million worldwide on a $15 million budget. Rotten Tomatoes gave it 28 percent. Halloween II (2009), also written and directed by Zombie and shot in Georgia partly on 16mm film, took in about $39.4 million with 25 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Zombie used popular songs throughout and kept Carpenter's theme for the final shot. A planned Halloween 3D was canceled in 2012.
The 2018 trilogy
Director David Gordon Green wrote Halloween (2018) with Danny McBride and Jeff Fradley as a direct sequel to the 1978 film, set forty years later and ignoring all other sequels. Blumhouse and its founder Jason Blum produced it. Carpenter returned as executive producer, co-composer and creative consultant, his first direct involvement since Season of the Witch, and Nick Castle returned for a cameo, with James Jude Courtney playing Michael. Filming took place in Charleston, South Carolina, and the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2018.
On a $10 million budget, Halloween grossed about $259.9 million worldwide and opened to $76.2 million, the best opening ever for a film led by an actress over 55. It has 79 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Halloween Kills (2021), which pits a mob of Haddonfield residents against Michael, cost $20 million, grossed about $133.4 million and holds 38 percent. Halloween Ends (2022) jumps four years ahead, cost $33 million, grossed about $105.4 million and holds 40 percent. Both sequels were released in theaters and on Peacock the same day.
Where to start
Anyone new to the series should begin with the 1978 original, then choose a timeline rather than watching in release order. The straight line is the original and Halloween II. After that the paths diverge: the late 1980s films, the H20 pair, the Zombie films, or the 2018 trilogy. Watching Season of the Witch on its own terms, as a separate story, is easier than treating it as part of the Myers saga.
For related reading, the slasher entry explains the wider boom the first film started, Michael Myers and Laurie Strode cover the two leads, and Alfred Hitchcock explains the debt owed to Psycho, since Janet Leigh and Jamie Lee Curtis connect the two families of films.
Verified details
- Halloween (1978) was made for about $300,000 and opened in October 1978.
- Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) has no Michael Myers; Tom Atkins stars.
- Donald Pleasence died on February 2, 1995, before Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers was released, and the film is dedicated to him.
- Janet Leigh, star of Psycho, appears in Halloween H20, with her daughter Jamie Lee Curtis.
- Halloween (2007) set a Labor Day weekend record with $30.6 million over four days.
- Halloween (2018) opened to $76.2 million, the best opening for a film led by an actress over 55.
- Jamie Lee Curtis returns as Laurie Strode in several films, including the 2018 trilogy.
- Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends were released in theaters and on Peacock on the same day.
- The 2018 and 2007 films belong to separate continuities.
- Tommy Lee Wallace, director of Halloween III, bought the mask used in the first film and made Michael's disguise from it.
Sources and further reading
- Halloween (franchise), Wikipedia
- Halloween II (1981 film), Wikipedia
- Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Wikipedia
- Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Wikipedia
- Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Wikipedia
- Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Wikipedia
- Halloween (2018 film), Wikipedia