How to Watch the Halloween Movies in Order

(SPOT.ph) The most essential aspect of establishing a long-running movie franchise? Settling on a proper titling scheme, in order for audiences to easily identify that the new and upcoming release is part of a larger, beloved story. In most cases, you simply get the protagonist's name in the title followed by a subtitle teasing the story of that film. See: Harry Potter and all the whimsical adventures he went on. Other times, you get the meme-worthy chaotic energy of the Fast & Furious series, which goes from The Fast and the Furious to 2 Fast 2 Furious to simply Fast & Furious to Fast Five then Furious 7, before finally, F9.

Giving Vin Diesel and his physics-defying stunts a run for its money, the Halloween franchise boasts perhaps what is the most confusing title scheme of any Hollywood film series. Not only are there three movies in the series simply titled Halloween (one of which is a reboot of the original and the other, a sequel to the original), but there are also two (unrelated) movies titled Halloween II, and a Halloween III which isn't at all connected to the original two films nor any of the 10 films that follow it.

Confused yet? We got you covered with the slasher-proof guide on how to watch the Halloween movies in order.

Also read: What Is the Right Order to Watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Here are all the Halloween movies in order:

Let's start off with the original 1978 film, John Carpenter's Halloween. The horror flick is a relatively straightforward slasher wherein a psychiatric hospital patient, Michael Myers, escapes from his confinement to wreak havoc in his hometown of Haddonfield on Halloween night. Michael's a bit goofy; he dons a bleached Captain Kirk mask and also at one point puts a sheet above his head before killing a couple making love.

The original Halloween ends with Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) surviving the attack but with Michael vanishing into the night. The first sequel Halloween II picks up right after this, with Laurie lying bedridden in the hospital and Michael coming back to finish off his victim. It's revealed in this film that Michael is obsessed with killing off Laurie, because she's, in fact, his long-lost baby sister. This plot twist becomes a crucial development for (most of) the series going forward, but for now, this Halloween II ends with Michael being shot, set on fire, and seemingly killed off for good.

Next, we skip over Halloween III, which isn't centered on Michael Myers at all, and move over to Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. Set 10 years after the events of the first two films, Return reveals that Michael survived and has been in a coma for the last decade. He awakens from the coma after learning that Laurie passed away and left behind a young daughter named Jamie Lloyd. Michael hunts Jamie down on Halloween, only to fall down a well by the end of the film. However, the mother of all Halloween plot twists comes when Jamie suddenly attacks her foster mother with a knife—essentially signaling to everyone that she has inherited Michael's "curse."

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers takes place a year after the horrifying twist ending of Return. There's admittedly nothing truly special about this entry, as it backtracks on the twist of the previous film. Michael is rescued from the bottom of the well shaft by a hermit who nurses him back to health. It also turns out the violent outburst was a random episode for Jamie, who becomes Michael's prey yet again in this film. Absurdly, Revenge even ends with Michael being arrested and then immediately broken out of jail by the "Man in Black."

In the sixth film, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, the Man in Black reveals that he is part of a druid cult that put a curse on Michael that makes sure he won't stop hunting down his family members until they're all dead. We'll give you a minute to absorb that. This installment puts an end to the "Jamie Lloyd" timeline and all its weird developments with a finale that involves Paul Rudd injecting Michael with a tranquilizer.

We shift over to the "H20" timeline with Halloween H20: 20 Years Later. The film ignores the events of Halloween's 4 through 6 and establishes itself as its own sequel to Halloween II. In the film, Laurie is still alive and a mother to a son named John. In this timeline, Laurie faked her own death years back in order to live in peace in California. However, Michael soon finds her and hunts John and his friends at a private boarding school. The film's climax sees Laurie putting an end to all the slashing by doing some slashing herself, as she decapitates Michael to save her son.

Surprise! It's not over. H20's sequel, Halloween: Resurrection reveals that—yup, you guessed it—Michael is alive yet again, because he "faked his own death." The opening of Resurrection surprisingly depicts Michael killing Laurie, then the rest of the film focuses on a group of college students (including Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks, for some reason) trying to "survive the night" at Michael Myers' childhood home. Some would argue that this film would be the low point of the series, which is why it isn't surprising that the film swiftly brings an end to the "H20" timeline.

Our next timeline to explore is the "Green" timeline, named after the trilogy's director David Gordon Green. Green's trilogy includes 2018's Halloween and its sequels Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends. 2018's Halloween scraps the events of Halloween II and all of its sequels. Essentially, Halloween (2018) is the sequel to Halloween (1978). In this timeline, Laurie and Michael aren't related at all, as Michael is simply a force of evil that terrorizes the town with seemingly no clear agenda. It's a rather straightforward trilogy that follows almost 40 years of convolution.

Finally, we have our outliers in the series. In the late 2000's, director Rob Zombie tried his hand at doing loose remakes of Halloween and Halloween II. The two films were more violent and dirty than any Halloween movies that came before but also explored Michael's psyche and motivations in a hauntingly beautiful way—especially in 2009's Halloween II. Many strange dreamlike vignettes that solidify these features as the most interesting Halloween installments. They're not for the faint of heart though. 

And then there's Halloween III: Season of the Witch, which was originally intended to establish the Halloween franchise as an anthology series that focused on different spooky stories set during Halloween. Its plot centered around kids all over America seemingly being put under a spell that made them want to buy products from a Halloween merchandise company. It doesn't have the most gripping premise, but the sci-fi/horror execution is solid.

However, as the fates would have it, audiences weren't particularly keen on watching a Halloween movie without Michael Myers, which is why they brought him back for every succeeding installment. A shame, too, since after 40 years, perhaps its time for the franchise to retire the mask and kitchen knife, in order to move onto something new. 

An anthology approach might be what saves the Halloween franchise going forward. After all, as Season of the Witch states, "They're fun, they're frightening, they glow in the dark!"

Also read: The Definitive Guide to Watching the Star Wars Movies in Order

Halloween Ends is showing in PH cinemas.

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