Updated October 5, 2021 20.4K votes 3.6K voters 67.4K views
As we wait for the new Halloween movie, we're ranking all the movies in the Halloween franchise. Except for Halloween III: Season of the Witch, the Halloween movies feature masked killer Michael Myers hunting down the other characters. What is the best Halloween movie in the series?
Directed by "The Master of Horror" John Carpenter, the first Halloween movie is considered to be one of the first slasher films in the modern horror genre. Starring Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, the 1978 horror slasher spawned nine sequels over three decades. Curtis is returning to reprise her role in the new Halloween movie, which is set to premiere in October 2018. Danny McBride and David Gordon Green, who is also directing, will be writing the direct sequel to Halloween II.
On a cold Halloween night in 1963, six year old Michael Myers brutally murdered his 17-year-old sister, Judith. He was sentenced and locked away for 15 years. But on October 30, 1978, while being transferred for a court date, a 21-year-old Michael Myers steals a car and escapes Smith's Grove. He returns to his quiet hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, where he looks for his next victims.
After failing to kill stubborn survivor Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) and taking a bullet or six from former psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence), Michael Myers (Jonathan Prince) has followed Laurie to the Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, where she's been admitted for Myers' attempt on her life. The institution proves to be particularly suited to serial killers, however, as Myers cuts, stabs and slashes his way through hospital staff to reach his favorite victim.
It's been 40 years since Laurie Strode survived a vicious attack from crazed killer Michael Myers on Halloween night. Locked up in an institution, Myers manages to escape when his bus transfer goes horribly wrong. Laurie now faces a terrifying showdown when the masked madman returns to Haddonfield, Ill. -- but this time, she's ready for him.
The apparently comatose Michael Myers (George P. Wilbur) is being transferred from one hospital to another, but he wakes up when the ambulance crew talk about his surviving niece, Jamie (Danielle Harris). After slaughtering his attendants, Myers sets out to find his one living relative who is, fortunately, being cared for by a kind and resourceful foster sister named Rachel (Ellie Cornell). Meanwhile, the ever-cautious Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) remains on the killer's path.
Two decades after surviving a massacre on October 31, 1978, former baby sitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) finds herself hunted by persistent knife-wielder Michael Myers. Laurie now lives in Northern California under an assumed name, where she works as the headmistress of a private school. But it's not far enough to escape Myers, who soon discovers her whereabouts. As Halloween descends upon Laurie's peaceful community, a feeling of dread weighs upon her -- with good reason.
The nightmare isn't over as unstoppable killer Michael Myers escapes from Laurie Strode's trap to continue his ritual bloodbath. Injured and taken to the hospital, Laurie reunites with Tommy Doyle, the boy she was babysitting on the night Michael began his reign of terror. As Laurie continues to fight through the pain, Tommy leads an angry mob of vigilantes to rise up against Myers and destroy the evil once and for all.