Michael Myers has proven longevity is the greatest strength of all. The iconic horror villain has outlived his monster brothers and sisters with a franchise that predates most competing brands and is still receiving installments well after the others have either stalled out or become tangled in legal battles. TheHalloweenfranchise is commendable in that four decades after the first film was released, audiences are still eager to watch Michael wreak havoc on Haddonfield, and there’s someone still willing to fight the Shape.
David Gordon Green and Blumhouse got together to retcon the hell out of the franchise and confidently eliminated everything that happened after that fateful first night.Halloween(2018) was a nice return to Michael’s adventures in terrorizing Laurie Strode and everyone in her perimeter. Of course, a trilogy plan was designed after the film was a hit. Some creative decisions inHalloween Killsdivided audiences with commentary on mob mentality, and the script didn’t exactly do much for Michael and Laurie. A few cameos weren’t enough to save the film from being lambasted by basically everyone.
And then David Gordon Green tried to go full circle withHalloween Ends. A change of tone, new and relevant characters, and the definitive end of Michael’s run weren’t enough to make it a worthy conclusion to the new trilogy. Fans weren’t exactly delighted with the film’s direction, and the franchise was quickly put in a drawer to be revisited in a few years for reconsideration. All this brings us to a conversation in which we’ll try to determine if the original anthology plan for theHalloweenfranchise needs to be brought to the table.
Update August 21, 2025: The Halloween season has started early, and this article has been updated following the release ofHalloween Ends.
The Original Plan
In 1981, a sequel toHalloweenwas released to give John Carpenter’s successful 1978 film a conclusion. Halloween II killed Michael Myers off, closing out that storyline. Then, the brand would become free to explore its anthology potential, where everything imaginable under the Halloween umbrella could be explored. Each year, audiences would be treated to a big studio take on a creepy and macabre concept.
Halloween III: Season of The Witchkicked things off in 1982. The film, overflowing with gonzo horror creativity, was received horribly upon its release. For years, it was trashed as the ugly duckling of the franchise, having nothing to do with Michael Myers. It was a marketing mistake, but rather than stay on course with the anthology plan, the franchise owners retraced their steps and began delivering the redundancy audiences apparently wanted as Michael Myers returned in 1988’s Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and the franchise keep repeating the same formula.
Related:The 50+ Best Horror Movies of All Time, Ranked.
Season of The Witchis about ancient Stonehenge magic in the hands of a brilliant psychopath with an army of robots. He has devised a plan to murder all the world’s children by tapping into ancient cosmic sorcery. The film’s plot is so wildly creative that it forces you to reconcile a kind of travesty that has played out with the masses' demands versus a carnival of Halloween-inspired wonders that could have been. A collective guilt perhaps is felt by horror enthusiasts who now recognize the brilliance ofHalloween 3and regret a mass demand for endless Michael Myers films.
John Carpenter was quotedas saying:
“Let me explain the movie business to you: if you take a dollar sign and attach it to anything, there will be somebody who wants to do a sequel. It will live. If the dollar sign is not big enough, no matter what, it will not live. I don’t know, man. I don’t know. This time, I do not know. They really want to end. They’re going to shut it off, end it. It’s what David has in mind. That’s fine."
Has Michael Myers' monopoly of theHalloweenbrand run its course? After all, the value proposition ofHalloweencould be explored much further than the confines of Michael Myers. The cultural and economic increase in the holiday itself inspires a more dynamic way to imagine the cinematic possibilities. It may, in fact, exceed the value of Michael Myers himself or simply unleash the greater universe in which Michael Myers is but one entry. Then again, using theHalloween 3business model isn’t exactly promising. Perhaps it’s all about new stories, new franchises, new faces. All in the same genre, of course.
Rest in Peace, Michael
With overt references toSeason of The Witchin David Gordon Green’sHalloweenmovies, it’s possible the director agrees with going back to the original plan, but it could also be that a homage and nothing else. Michael Myers was killed inHalloween Ends.Michael needs to rest, and much more importantly, so does Laurie Strode. Yet it is unlikely the brand will stay dead for long because it is just too profitable.
Related:Halloween Ends Had the Right Idea in the Wrong Movie
Can you imagine a film likeHalloween 3being made and widely released today? Yeah, we don’t see that happening. Anthologies, like the one in the original plan, are not part of business models. Given how audiences and fans reacted to the shift in the villainHalloween Ends, it is unlikely they would turn out for a non-Michael Myers Halloween film in theaters.
Halloween Should Move To a TV Franchise
While film anthology franchises are rare, so far, the only one isCloverfield; television is another story.Horror anthology series are still as popularas they were whenThe Twilight Zonewas on, as notable in the success ofBlack MirrorandAmerican Horror Story. AHalloweentelevision series has less at stake than a big-budget feature film and can afford to experiment with the formula. Audiences might be willing to accept a series with the branding of Halloween but without Michael Myers.
The final word lies in the hands of the Akkads. AfterHalloween Ends, the rights returned to their hands, and Blumhouse got rid of all responsibility. Knowing how ambitious they are, there’s a chance the franchise will be revisited, and Michael will be back. Is that a good thing? Fans will probably watch whatever’s thrown at them because that’s how a legacy of this magnitude works. Yet the franchise
