Well, you've got to admire his persistence! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the best of the best out of the “Halloween” franchise.
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00:00 (Music)
00:07 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the best of the best out of the Halloween franchise.
00:13 "Tommy! Tommy, it's me!"
00:18 Coming in at number 10 isn't so bad.
00:26 "No! No!"
00:28 This one even has something the others in the original timeline arguably are lacking.
00:32 Character development.
00:34 Jamie ends the previous film having stabbed and presumably killed her adoptive mother
00:38 in the same Halloween costume as young Michael Myers from the first movie.
00:42 This implies Jamie has become a remorseless killer.
00:46 However, this film uses some pretty interesting character beats to rearrange the narrative.
00:51 Jamie now cannot speak and is in a mental health hospital for hurting but not killing her mom,
00:56 which apparently was an action driven by some mental link between her and Uncle Michael.
01:01 "Tell me what you know! Be a right, right, right!"
01:06 Dr. Loomis, once a protector, has no qualms about using Jamie as bait to finally catch Michael Myers.
01:12 "Get your little girl and then you're home and safe!"
01:24 We know the different timelines in this series can get confusing,
01:27 so we'll try to keep things as simple as possible.
01:29 This one is an addition to the original timeline started in 1978 and a sequel to the Halloween from 2018.
01:36 Make sense?
01:37 "No, no, no, no, no! I'll let it burn!"
01:41 40 years after Michael's first attacks,
01:44 Tommy Doyle leads a group of the survivors from Michael's attacks who set out to end him once and for all.
01:49 "We need all of you! Evil dies tonight!"
01:54 Watching the original survivors turn into a mob is quite a sight to see.
01:59 Much like Michael is this angry, faceless, evil shape,
02:03 Tommy's mob becomes its own angry, faceless, evil shape.
02:07 "It's Halloween. Everyone's entitled to one good scare."
02:11 Unlike all but one of the other films on this list, this one does not go back to the original.
02:19 It is a remake of the original.
02:21 Rob Zombie took a swing at retelling the original story with a brand new Laurie Strode and so on.
02:27 "Help! Help!"
02:31 Michael Myers may be more brutal than ever here.
02:34 If you go back and watch the original, you might realize there is barely any blood shown.
02:39 This one, on the other hand, is very gory.
02:42 "I don't like my hair!"
02:46 We also get to see a bit more of Michael's mental pathology from his growing up in a mental health hospital,
02:52 which emphasizes he truly has no motive.
02:55 He just kills.
02:56 Michael even murders the only guy who really cared about him.
03:00 Ruthlessly brutal.
03:02 "Mikey!"
03:04 Number 7 - Halloween Ends
03:11 This one didn't get stellar reviews from either critics or viewers,
03:15 perhaps because the tone is very different from the other films in the franchise.
03:19 It doesn't have the feel of a classic Halloween movie,
03:27 the aesthetic feels more like a modern horror movie,
03:30 and Michael Myers is more like a secondary character.
03:33 "I was just a man, and I always managed. I'm pretty good, you know."
03:39 However, there are some super cool references to the original film.
03:43 Remember that iconic head tilt after he makes a kill?
03:46 Or Corey killing in a scarecrow mask that's reminiscent of the original clown mask?
03:50 It's as if to say that even with Michael Myers gone, there will be a new boogeyman soon enough.
03:56 "But the truth is, evil doesn't die. It changes shape."
04:01 Number 6 - Halloween 4 - The Return of Michael Myers
04:05 These doctors and police officers really need to learn their lesson already about trying to transport Michael Myers.
04:11 How many times does he have to escape for them to realize he cannot be contained?
04:15 "No, I still don't understand."
04:17 This time he awakens from a 10-year coma and sets out to hunt for Laurie Strode's daughter Jamie, who is also his niece.
04:26 Although the fifth movie walks it back a bit, Jamie is the first suggested follow-up to Michael Myers.
04:32 Throughout the movie, she exhibits a psychic link to him.
04:36 She's even drawn to the same clown costume Michael wore.
04:39 That image of her at the end holding the bloody knife is unforgettable.
04:43 Just ask Dr. Loomis.
04:45 "No, no, no!"
04:49 Number 5 - Halloween 2 - The Reboot
04:52 Just to be clear, this is the first sequel to the original Halloween
04:56 and not the Rob Zombie sequel to the Rob Zombie reboot of the same name.
05:00 In general, sequels usually take place sometime after the original.
05:08 But this one takes place the very same night as the first.
05:12 They say that the villain always comes back for one more scare.
05:15 Well, the entire movie is the one more scare.
05:23 This is the one that introduced the idea of Laurie Strode as Michael's sister.
05:27 It's debatable whether or not giving Michael a motive or him having no motive whatsoever is scarier.
05:33 We'll leave that one up to you to decide.
05:35 "It is time, Michael."
05:38 Number 4 - Halloween 3 - Season of the Witch
05:46 Originally, this one was meant to change the franchise into an anthology series.
05:51 Sure, it has nothing to do with the other films or even Michael Myers.
05:55 "8 more days to Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, 8 more days to Halloween, Silver Shirt!"
06:03 It doesn't even take place in Haddonfield.
06:05 But there is no denying that this one works great as a standalone film.
06:09 A man and a woman discover a horrible plot behind a Jack-o'-lantern Halloween mask
06:14 and race to stop the plot from killing masses of people.
06:17 It's more like hard sci-fi with a taste of horror.
06:26 If it had been marketed that way instead of as a sequel,
06:29 we bet it would have done way better with viewers and critics alike.
06:32 "It's still on, please. Take off the third channel, the third channel, it's still running, stop it, please, for God's sake, please stop it, there's no more time. You've got to, please, stop it."
06:41 Number 3 - Halloween H20 - 20 Years Later
06:45 Wait, how can Michael be after Laurie again if she died earlier in the franchise?
06:51 Well, as it turns out, Laurie only faked her death to escape Michael and didn't abandon her daughter.
06:57 Actually, she had a son instead.
06:59 "Really, what day is that, John?"
07:01 "Halloween."
07:02 This franchise is the master of the retcon.
07:05 It falls on a tangent timeline after the first two films, so nothing from films 3 through 5 is canon here.
07:11 20 years after the initial events, Michael finds Laurie working at the school her son attends.
07:17 It's fascinating to see Michael in a more confined location, as most of the movie takes place on the campus.
07:29 It's also the first time we really see Laurie take the offensive in this battle to the death.
07:34 Number 2 - Halloween
07:42 In this timeline, it's only the original Halloween that exists in canon before this one.
07:47 As far as we know, Laurie hasn't seen Michael in 40 years, she is not his sister, and she has a daughter who is not Jamie for some reason, and a granddaughter, Allison.
07:57 "Say goodbye to Michael, and get over it."
08:01 "Goodbye."
08:04 The most interesting part about this film is that even though she hasn't seen Michael in decades, Laurie was ready for him.
08:10 "He's waited for me, I've waited for him."
08:13 We get to see the toll that the original events had on Laurie and her family for worse or for better.
08:19 Laurie and Karen, and even Allison on the offensive together is nothing short of awesome.
08:24 Three generations of final girls.
08:27 "Happy Halloween, Michael."
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08:44 Number 1 - Halloween 1978
08:49 We could go on forever about how great the writing, the directing, the casting, the music is.
08:55 But it's actually the behind the scenes facts that are the coolest part.
08:59 According to the movies that made us, the low budget, young crew, and the resourcefulness of those involved all combined to make the final product special.
09:11 Unable to make a mask for the shape, they re-engineered a William Shatner mask.
09:21 When the nurse gets trapped in her car and Michael breaks the window with his bare hand, they just attach a wrench to the dude's hand to create a practical effect.
09:29 Movies these days with massive budgets, huge stars, and seasoned crews often can't even meet the standards set by this phenomenon of a film.
09:37 Which Halloween film is your favorite? Sound off in the comments.
09:50 "Officer Hawkins, tell me, what happened to him?"
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10:03 [music]