Horror Icons: Michael Myers

One of the original slashers, this guy was responsible for an entire town putting a ban on Halloween, well in the film series anyway.  He killed his sister, came back for the second sister and then went for her daughter.  Michael Myers is a real horror icon.

Originally Michael Myers was a baby sitter killer, you know he stalked babysitters and killed them, on Halloween.  Then when the second film was made, they made it about family, which was a smart move, for the sake of sequels.  Even if it eventually turned into a curse and his doctors made him kill, because of the order of the thorn.  They must have really began to run out of ideas towards the end, before the dreaded remake.

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Not to mention H20 ignored the bulk of the series which were the Jamie Lloyd films 4, 5 and 6.  The thing I always wonder, what if Donald Pleasence was alive for H20, how much different it would have been.  It seemed like they went from one central character to another, when Loomis was gone, bring back the “dead” Laurie Strode.  Michael Myers never really seemed like the main character of the story, a force of nature who surrounded the main cast.

Michael Myers was always great, he was a man on a mission who did not let anything get in his way when it came to the kill.  He was nearly unstoppable, but I noticed in watching some of the films, due to poor writing, the character is not consistent with his kills, how and who.  But crappy additions and changes to the myth don’t help, look at Halloween 5.  Halloween is possibly the worst Halloween movie of the series with exception to

Rob Zombie really screwed the character up when he made a remake in 2007.  It was all kinds of awful, he gave Michael a trashy family who was verbally abusive and he was bullied in school.  The worst part was giving this kid a personality, not just a personality but delving deep into his backstory.  Rather than going silent for 15 years and having the blackest eyes, the devils eyes, he was just crazy.  Rob Zombie really mad a mistake and killed the franchise with his version.  I firmly believe he should have made a Texas Chainsaw Massacre film, rather than messing up one of the most iconic movie monsters of all time.  If they scrapped all of their plans for a new Texas Chainsaw series and hire Zombie…that would be good.

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Halloween II made the character even worse.  I will say one thing, he was progressively brutal.  Halloween II, there wasn’t much with the mask and he was mostly a kind of, hobo situation.  Terrible, the worst Halloween movie.

Michael Myers is probably the first of the modern movie monsters, but it I were you, I would stop at the first two film.  Halloween 4 and 5 really do not stand up to the originals as I have thought, the rest are just not worth it.  But really you have an interesting choice.  You can watch Halloween 1-6, which follows Jamie Lloyd, Laurie Strode’s daughter.  You could watch all 7 movies through to Halloween Resurrection.  But, there is one more option, Halloween H20 ignores 4,5 and 6.  You can watch Halloween and Halloween II, then skip to H20 and Resurrection.

Wow, talking Halloween makes me want to watch Halloween tonight, I will, even if I watched Halloween just a few weeks ago.  More than likely I will watch the second also.  Probably should watch another horror film, maybe the Exorcist, wow I guess the Halloween hangover is…over.

Who are your favorite horror movie monsters?

Check out our other Horror Icon posts.

Doug Bradley 

George A. Romero

Leatherface

Freddy Krueger

The Modern Zombie

Many more to come.

 

About Ray Marek III 699 Articles
I have been watching horror films since I was 6 years old. The story, one Saturday night, my mom and I were watching movies and she fell asleep on the couch. We had the channel set on HBO and the movie we were watching ended and the next one, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. This was some time in 1986. I watched then entire film, I was sitting on the edge of my seat. When my mom woke, she asked me what just ended and I told her, “Freddy”. That was all I talked about for weeks and finally she broke down and rented more horror films for me. She rented, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre part 2, Re-Animator, Friday the 13th VI: Jason Lives and Halloween II. I watched all and fell in love with horror films forever. 5 Horror Films to Watch Inferno (1980) A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) The Beyond (1981) Friday the 13th VI: Jason Lives (1986) Horror of Dracula (1958)