The ‘Halloween’ Franchise Ranked
8. Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
Halloween 6 isn’t much better than the previous instalment, but is marginally improved upon. Focusing on the Curse of Thorn, and the pseudo-pagan myths of Halloween to be the origin of Michael’s immortality and rage, Michael is stalking a family living in the old Myers House years after Halloween 5 (relatives of the Strodes) whilst Loomis and a grown-up Tommy Doyle (played by Ant-Man himself, Paul Rudd), try to stop him from sacrificing Jamie’s child.
I had to rank this film higher than the last purely because, despite many re-shoots and re-drafts, it at least tries to tie everything together. It wants to end this phase of Halloween mythology, and to a large extent that’s what it does, even killing Loomis at the end of the film (Pleasance himself passed away months before the film’s release). Rudd is surprisingly half-decent in one of his early roles, and the kills are decent for a slasher sequel. Added to this, the mask is markedly improved upon from the previous film and Myers’ body language is very nearly back to being similar to the first film, something that was lacking from the other instalments to this point.
However, the cult is still a ridiculous concept, and the need to explain Myers’ supernatural powers is a ridiculous and pointless endeavour which goes against the point of Myers’ remorselessness. It still presents an entirely forgetful finale involving a load of kids locked up in a hospital to be inflicted with the curse or sacrificed to pagan gods (yeah, you read that correctly), and the film is somewhat of a satire of its former self.
7. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
Awakening from a coma after ten years, Michael discovers Laurie is dead and has a daughter, Jamie. Michael returns to Haddonfield to track down and murder the young girl. Dr Loomis, inevitably, comes to try and stop him.
This is perhaps the second-worst mask in the series, and right from the shot of him in the mirror during the film’s opening, you know it. The hair is wrong and the face is too white and shocked. The plot is incredibly forgettable, though fun to watch in a campy sort of way, and aside from one or two chase scenes, nothing really stands out.
The only things that do are, much like Halloween 5, the acting of Pleasance and Harris, who both do an excellent job here with the script they’ve been given. Also, here is one of the first times we’re given a proper Michael bloodbath. There are one or two moments in Halloween 2, but nothing to this extent. They’ve upped the gore-factor, probably due to the amount of blood in other series such as Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street, and there are some nice practical effects, but nothing that makes the film of any merit. It’s not going to be on the ‘must-watch’ bucket list any time soon, but it isn’t a bad instalment in the franchise.
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6. Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007)
Many may be surprised that this film made it so high up. Rob Zombie’s take on the original film sees the movie split into two sections – the back-story of Michael, and his eventual break-out and murder spree – with Malcolm McDowell taking on Donald Pleasance’s role as Dr. Loomis to track him down.
There are some things that need to be addressed in regards to this film. Notably, as has been outlined before, Zombie can’t direct dialogue, and in this film we have the prime example in a particularly infamous breakfast table scene. Explaining Myers’ rise to evil is also a negative as it takes away the mystery from the little boy who just suddenly snapped one night. This version of Michael might be any other generic slasher villain with a tragic backstory, one out of a Lucio Fulci gore-fest. Laurie isn’t an incredibly likeable survivor girl in this adaptation either, and most would see it as a disrespectful re-imagining of a film that didn’t need to be touched.
That being as it is, the film still shows off Zombie’s incredible ability to capture images, and offers paintings of violence and mayhem that are as beautiful as they are shocking. The murder-spree is relentless, never giving you any time to breathe, and Michael feels as big and powerful as ever; he has bulked up and he’s a merciless machine of destruction. It’s one of the better directed films in the franchise, with a startling ability to shock and disturb, at least if one forgets to compare it to the original film. Rob Zombie’s Halloween is in no way amazing, but it’s certainly one of the better remakes of classic horror films and definitely more powerful than the original string of sequels following Halloween 2.
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