Entertainment
How To Watch All 12 Michael Myers ‘Halloween’ Movies In Order
Along with Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers is one of the most iconic horror movie characters of all time.
Thanks to his ‘Halloween’ movie franchise, many fans reserve October 31 as the perfect time to binge-watch all his movies. However, new fans might find this a challenge given the Halloween series is now up to 12 separate movies.
Even more challenging, the timeline of the series doesn’t follow the order of their release. Actually, there is no single timeline connecting all the movies. Confused? Continuity errors will plague the moviegoer every few movies.
In the spirit of Halloween, we’re giving new fans of Michael Myers a movie cheat sheet so they can watch the entire franchise in the order they're supposed to be.
We’re also including some notes on how one movie affects the overall timeline (or doesn’t). Warning: some spoilers ahead.
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Timeline 1: The Original Series
Halloween (1978)
The one that started it all. This marked the first appearance of Michael Myers. Being the first, Halloween can afford a simple storyline along the lines of slasher movies popular at the time. Jamie Lee Curtis also makes her first appearance as protagonist Laurie Strode.
Halloween II (1981)
Surprise, surprise, Michael Myers isn’t dead. He also wants Laurie dead instead. The straight-up sequel explores the relationship between the killer and his elusive prey.
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
To preserve the timeline, viewers should watch this after part II. After the events of the second movie, Myers and Dr. Loomis remain alive.
Meanwhile, heroine Laurie had to die from an early car crash as Jamie Lee Curtis had better things to do during the production. Also, notice how the movie stopped the use of roman numerals in the title.
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
Yes, Michael Myers remains alive. This time, he’s battling (and connecting) with Laurie’s daughter, who was introduced in the previous movie.
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
Still not dead. A couple of recasts were made for some characters. The highlight of this installment is Michael’s origin story involving cults. This also ends the timeline of the original Halloween series. Reboots followed this soon after.
Timeline 2: Reboot
This second timeline includes Halloween and Halloween II as its beginning thread. Resurrection ends the second timeline that consisted of Halloween, Halloween II, H20, and Resurrection.
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
Jamie Lee Curtis returns as Laurie Strode 20 years later. This reboot completely ignores Halloween 4, 5, and 6.
Instead, it turns out she faked her death from the car crash in 4 to live a new life somewhere else. The climactic ending had Strode kill Myers. Or did she?
Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
Surprise! it wasn’t Michael that Laurie killed. It was someone else. This time, Strode lost her latest duel to Myers. Also, a bunch of college kids had to spend the night at Myers’ old house for a reality show. Knives out.
Timeline 3: Rob Zombie Edition
Halloween (2007)
As mentioned earlier, this reboot features the directorial stylings of Rob Zombie. It followed the original series but also focused on Michael’s troubled childhood to establish his character.
Zombie’s take made the 2007 movie a commercial success, which necessitated a sequel. Btw, Jamie Lee Curtis isn’t here.
Halloween II (2009)
Rob Zombie version part 2. Part 1 was a smash. Everybody had to come back for an encore. However, this is the last of the Rob Zombie timeline. Which means another timeline is incoming.
Timeline 4:
This timeline immediately follows the events of Halloween. Part II up to Rom Zombie editions didn’t happen.
Halloween (2018)
Jamie Lee Curtis returns 40 years later (still hot). As she’s alive, it means she didn’t die in Resurrection. Actually, it turned out that in this timeline, Resurrection until the Rob Zombie remakes didn’t happen.
Even Halloween II was denied in this installment. But Jamie Lee is back, so hooray. This version actually ended up acclaimed. It ended as the second-best movie in the entire franchise.
Halloween Kills (2021)
The latest was so good, it needed a sequel. Hence, we arrive at Halloween Kills this year. As usual, the character we thought was killed in the last movie is still alive.
This sequel took place on the same night as the 2018 movie. It also brought back more characters from the original franchise.
Storywise, it’s a great trailer for the upcoming franchise ending: Halloween Ends. This is scheduled for release in 2022.
Bonus Timeline: Watch Anytime
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
This is the only movie in the franchise that didn’t feature Michael Myers. Or a connection with the original characters or story of the previous films. Or a coherent plot.
Still, part three remains a part of the franchise. You can watch this safely out of chronological order.
Watch the Heavy Spoilers video explaining the HALLOWEEN KILLS ending:
Loading ...Have you seen all the Halloween movies? What timeline did you like best?
Let us know what you think about the movie franchise as well as Michael Myers. Share your comments below.
