Vote up the iterations of "The Shape" that you find most terrifying and compelling.
Michael Myers is a cinema icon, but over the years, he's become more than just a typical movie monster. In the five decades since he was first introduced, Myers has become the face of Halloween - both the movie franchise and the holiday. Along with Jason, Freddy, and Leatherface, Michael has gone from a masked maniac to a cinematic legend who represents all that goes bump in the night.
But not all versions of Michael Myers are equal. In some Halloween movies, he's an everyday masked killer, while in others, he's the puppet of an evil cult or is magically incapable of dying.
Which Michael Myers is the best Michael Myers? Vote up your favorite version of the Halloween killer.
In the first outing for the iconic killer, Michael Myers is introduced as an unstoppable killing machine on the hunt for teenagers. There's very little backstory besides what Dr. Loomis and a few flashbacks are able to provide. Known at this point as "The Shape," Michael is described as "pure evil" by Dr. Loomis:
I met him 15 years ago. I was told there was nothing left - no reason, no conscience, no understanding in even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, of good or evil, right or wrong. I met this... 6-year-old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and... the blackest eyes - the devil's eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up, because I realized that what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... evil.
At this point, Michael is very much a disturbed boy who grew up to be a disturbed man, and Laurie is just an average teenager who is at the wrong place at the wrong time.
How Michael "Dies": He falls from a balcony and is presumed dead.
In this reboot, the events from every movie except for the original Halloween have been erased, leaving Laurie as a broken woman who suffers from severe PTSD due to that fateful night Michael killed all of her friends.
Michael is again just a man, though he has aged quite a bit since the events of the first Halloween occurred in 1978. This Michael Myers is a senior citizen in his 60s, but with tremendous upper-body strength and the stamina of a teenager. His cat-like reflexes and ability to dart around from place to place make him more agile than most, and while he isn't supernatural in any way, he does show an almost superhuman strength, especially for a man of his age.
He can also drive in this movie, a skill that seems out of place for an inmate who grew up in the system.
How Michael "Dies": Michael is implied to have died in a fire, but he survives.
The second outing picks up exactly where the first Halloween left off, following Laurie Strode to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital as Dr. Loomis continues to hunt for his former patient.
The sequel is marked by an increase in brutality - Michael's kill count rises as he gets more creative with his methods. While Michael previously just stabbed or strangled, he now uses his environment as well as weapons of convenience, including a hot tub and syringes.
Also, this version of Michael begins to creep into paranormal territory as he appears to be very, very difficult to kill. At one point, Michael is shot in the eyes, but he's still able to stand.
Michael also goes from a mindless killing machine to a brother with a vendetta as the audience discovers that Laurie is his sister, and not just a random babysitter who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Tagline:It's going to be one hell of a family reunion.
In a return to normalcy (or something akin to it), H20 skips over Halloween films three through six, removing the cult and Jamie timelines from its story arc while reintroducing Laurie Strode.
In this version, Michael is no longer a telepath or influenced by a curse - he's merely a terrifying killer who has been on the hunt for his long-lost sister for 20 years. While he is still quite strong, he can no longer puncture a human skull with his thumb. He can, however, lift a corpse with a butcher knife. The film does imply that Michael is the essence of evil, just not in a supernatural way.
How Michael "Dies": Laurie appears to decapitate Michael.
Rob Zombie's version of Michael Myers is less of a psychic, immortal killing machine and more of a white-trash killer with a tragic past. Abused and bullied as a child, young Michael is seen killing small animals before he strikes out against the school bully, his older sister Judith, her boyfriend Steve, and his mother's awful boyfriend Ronnie.
Hiding behind the masks he creates in his cell, this Michael Myers is very crafty, using the masks to bring forth his killer personality, with his favorite being the classic spray-painted Captain Kirk mask.
This version of Myers is very much a human, albeit a massive one with long, stringy hair and intense upper-body strength. He goes after his sister Laurie so he can finish what he started - not for any supernatural reason.
Tagline:Ten years ago, he changed the face of Halloween. NOW HE'S BACK!
After a Michael-less third outing with Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Halloween IV is a return to form as Michael once again takes center stage. Set 10 years after the second film, Michael awakens from a coma once he discovers the existence of his niece, Jamie, a young orphan who is given to a new family after the death of her mother, Laurie.
This version of Michael is more supernatural in nature: He's incredibly strong and seems impervious to most conventional weapons. He's able to shove his thumb through a skull like it's butter (RIP Mr. Ambulance Technician) and rip off heads with ease, decapitating many a victim with his bare hands. This Halloween plants the seeds of supernatural Michael Myers, which takes shape alongside a more complex mythology in later movies.
How Michael "Dies": Michael is shot and falls down a mine shaft.
