FEATURE: Ranking the Halloween movies

By Stephen Pytak

I run through this every year. It's a tradition, I suppose, something I enjoy about the season, the time when leaves turn brown and gold and the scariest night of the year is right around the corner.

Ranking the series of films which followed John Carpenter's "Halloween (1978)" is kind of fun to do. And every fan of the franchise I suppose has a slightly different take. 

I don't think any of the films in the series match the power of the original. 

After I saw "John Carpenter's Halloween (1978)" on TV back in the day (I think it was in 1980 or 1981), I found myself checking the shadows as I crept up to bed. I was 9 or 10. A lot of things about the film stuck with me. For starters, it's a simple concept.

A deranged man breaks out of an asylum, tears back to his hometown and steals a mask and some knives. The next day, on Halloween, he stalks three high school girls, tricks them with a few rounds of now you see me, now you don't, then treats them to other kinds of fun, activities which include home invasion and strangulation via phone cord. 

But Carpenter's direction is what made this low-budget affair something truly special. He was in the right time and the right place. Perhaps the cinema gods were guiding his hand. Whatever was going on there, he was certainly doing something right. I think the only other horror film he made which engaged me with the same level of tension was his version of "The Thing (1982)."  

Carpenter didn't envision The Night HE Came Home as the first entry in a series. 

And, honestly, the directors who resurrected Michael Myers in his numerous incarnations over the years haven't been able to give the masked boogeyman the one thing which made him special in the first place. 

But, that doesn't mean the Halloween sequels are all bad. 

David Gordon Green made an interesting follow up to Carpenter's film in 2018. It may not do everything right. But I think to date it's the best of the sequels.

Green also made the one I consider to be the worst. That's "Halloween Ends (2022)." Some fans admire it as an effort to do something different, but it's a poorly made product filled with half-baked ideas. I had trouble watching this one a second time and haven't watched it since. That's over a year ago.

I really like the early entries in the series. Part of that is because I enjoy nostalgia. And part of that is because there are some excellent moments in "Halloween II (1981)," "Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)" and "Halloween IV: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)."

I remember the excitement I felt when Jamie Lee Curtis returned to the series in 1998. I had high expectations. And Steve Miner, who had helmed two of the Friday the 13th movies, was going to direct. Woo! I couldn't wait for this. But while it raked in the bucks, "Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1998)" was something of a misfire. The story was just okay. Some of it worked. Some of it didn't. One major problem: I don't know who Michael Myers is in this film. Honestly, it works better if you watch it and try to see the killer not as Myers but as an imposter, some new wacko who's obsessed with the case. 

I'm not too crazy about Rob Zombie's reboot of the series. But are his two entries any better than "Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)?" 

Below is my ranking of the films in the franchise. 

Nancy Loomis as "Annie" in John Carpenter's Halloween (1978).

John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978). RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 5.

Halloween (2018). RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 4.

Halloween III (1982). RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 4.

Halloween II (1981). RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 4.

Halloween IV: The Return of Michael Myers (1988). RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 4.

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1996). RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 3.5.

Halloween Kills (2021). RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 3.5.

Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007). RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 2.5

Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1998). RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 2.5.

Halloween: Resurrection (2002). RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 2.

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989). RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 2.

Rob Zombie’s Halloween II (2009). RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 2.

Halloween Ends (2022). RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 1.

Fans of John Carpenter's original may want to seek out some films which were either inspired by that film or employed a similar style. Here are a few I recommend, along with my ratings of those films:

It Follows (2014). RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 4.5.

Friday the 13th (1980). RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 4.5.

The Strangers (2008). RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 4.5.

You're Next (2011). RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 4.

Terror Train (1980). RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 4.

Scream (1996). RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 4.