10) Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
This movie is completely insane. One: they killed off Jamie Lee Curtis wrecklessly and Busta Rhymes gets into a fight with Michael Myers using martial arts. You won't be bored, but you'll also see the low point where the filmmakers try desperately to cling to the found footage craze spawned by Blair Witch Project.
Halloween: Resurrection gets a confused, and indifferent Jeff Winger:
9) Halloween II (2009)
I'm not sure who you're supposed to be rooting for in this movie, outside of Brad Dourif's sheriff character and the returning Danielle Harris as his daughter. But they're side characters and Laurie Strode is completely unlikeable as a lead. Even though the concept of seeing Laurie dealing with trauma the same way Michael did as a child was a great concept, the execution is bad. Dream sequences with no consequence and one-dimensional side characters obviously setup for the next brutally excessive scene of violence. And excessive is putting the death scenes mildly.
Halloween II gets repulsive spitting of food, because that's what you'll do if you try eating during this movie.
8) Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
Coming off the fifth Halloween, where a cult seemingly played a pivotal part of "crafting" Michael Myers, at this point the "Laurie-less" trilogy of Halloween movies is just a cluster. Despite the continued efforts of Danielle Harris and an early acting gig from Paul Rudd, it's a cluster. It's also sadly one of Donald Pleasance's last performances ever.
Halloween 6 gets an indifferent, bewildered Paul Rudd.
7) Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
After the fourth entry proved successful, they kept the train rolling, releasing the next installment a year later. The rushed production shows. Characters are odd. They rendered Danielle Harris' character mute. It's not terrible, it's also anything but good. I had to look up the synopsis to remember what even happened. The best thing about the movie was the poster.
Halloween 5 gets the GIF you'll feel 15 minutes after watching this movie.
6) Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Halloween III is a representation of where John Carpenter wanted to take the franchise: having each installment be a different story altogether, making it more like an anthology rather than an ongoing series. However, the quick production cash-grab of Halloween II set the wrong tone. So no one knew what to do with this. While this one has its defenders, it's received a bit of a cult following. However, it's not a good movie. It's entertaining, but at times it's not for the reasons they wanted you to be entertained. And that commercial will get stuck in your head and never leave.
Halloween 3 gets confused laughter.
5) Halloween (2007)
Rob Zombie handled the near-impossible task of remaking the original. His efforts deserve a bit more credit than the movie received. If you don't like Rob Zombie's other horror movies (House of 1000 Corpses, Devil's Rejects, 31) you're not going to like this. He gives his flair to this movie. While I'm not typically a fan of origin stories, the new approach was a good take to do something different while trying to still check all the necessary boxes of the original. Malcolm McDowell gives his own version of Doctor Loomis, not an easy task taking over from Donald Pleasance. It was fun to see Danielle Harris return to the franchise in a different role too.
Zombie's Halloween gets a GIF of how you'll feel watching the movie:
4) Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
Costume design aside, this was a decent return to form. After Halloween III didn't perform at the box office, it was clear Myers had to return. Return he did. They were unable to get Jamie Lee Curtis back, and did the lazy thing of killing her in the time that's passed since the original installments. However, Danielle Harris as Laurie Strode's daughter did a great job and a returning Donald Pleasance added new layers to Loomis.
Halloween 4 gets the GIF of being decent.
3) Halloween H20 (1998)
Considering there have been 10 installments, and the 11th arriving Friday, October 19th, it's a little sad that there are only 3 really decent movies in the entire franchise. Hopefully the new one can join the ranks of higher quality movies. But the return of Jamie Lee Curtis was necessary. Removing 4-6 from the exponentially confusing timeline was smart. Trying to work that into a new take would've been a lot to ask of new audiences jumping into the franchise for the first time. It had a little bit of self-awareness, due to the popularity of Scream. But Michael Myers came back in true form and provided a strong return to form.
Halloween H20 gets an enthusiastic Pedro, glad to see Michael Myers in full stride again. And by full stride, I mean pacing at a lumbering, yet ominous pace.
2) Halloween II (1981)
The next two rankings won't be surprising to fans of the franchise. The answers are expected, but there's a reason. It's because Halloween II served as a worthy extension of the first. It's nowhere near the quality and perfection of the original. However, Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasance do a great job returning, and serves as one of the better horror sequels out there. Curtis is underused, sadly, but the hospital serves as a great setting to give the franchise a fresh, but equally terrifying, setting.
Halloween II gets the stamp of approval from the Emperor of the Dark Side himself.
1) Halloween (1978)
My expectations are high for the reboot. Having said that, I'm still expecting to go into theaters expecting something better than any of the other sequels, but still won't hold a candle to the original. It defined the genre. Jason, Freddie, even Chucky, Candyman, and Hellraiser have Halloween to thank to a degree. John Carpenter's score and the simple approach made it seem plausible, and that was what provided a sense of terror. There's not much more to go over that hasn't already been said. There's a reason that 40 years later, it is still considered one of the greatest horror movies of all time.
Only GIF that's appropriate is one of the key shots capturing how incredibly unnerving the Halloween experience feels.
Where do you expect the new movie to land? I'm expecting top three for sure, hoping it is the second best of the entire series. Let us know in the comments and be sure to listen to our podcast all month long for our horror discussion.
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