Halloween Movies: Every Film in the Franchise

The Halloween franchise is a horror series about Michael Myers, a masked killer who first terrorizes the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois, and it now covers 10 films plus 3 spin-offs released between 1978 and 2022. Two different films share the title Halloween II, and three share the title Halloween, so every title on this site carries its year. Michael Myers appears in 12 of the 13 films, with Halloween III: Season of the Witch as the only exception.

The starting point is Halloween (1978), directed by John Carpenter and released in the US on October 25, 1978. On Halloween night in 1963, young Michael Myers kills his teenage sister in Haddonfield, and fifteen years later he breaks out of the sanitarium where he has been held, while his psychiatrist Dr. Loomis races to town, sure that Michael is heading home. High schooler Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, goes through her day noticing a silent figure watching her before she takes a babysitting job that evening. The film was originally titled The Babysitter Murders, and it cost $325,000 against a worldwide gross of about $70 million, according to The Numbers, which is more than 200 times its budget.

The story continues with Halloween II (1981), directed by Rick Rosenthal, which starts on the same night as the first film as Laurie is taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital and Michael follows her there. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988), directed by Dwight H. Little, is set ten years after the first film and built around Jamie Lloyd, the orphaned daughter of Laurie Strode. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989), directed by Dominique Othenin-Girard, follows Michael's recovery after a mine shaft explosion and the mental link he shares with Jamie. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995), directed by Joe Chappelle, moves six years on, with a cult pursuing Michael and the adult Tommy Doyle, played by Paul Rudd.

The odd one out is Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, a standalone story with no Michael Myers. Dr. Daniel Challis, played by Tom Atkins, and Ellie Grimbridge trace a Halloween mask back to the Silver Shamrock factory in the town of Santa Mira after her father is killed. It earned $14.4 million at the domestic box office on a $4.6 million budget, well below the $25.5 million that Halloween II (1981) took, and Michael returned to the series in the next film.

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), directed by Steve Miner, brings Jamie Lee Curtis back. Laurie Strode has faked her death and lives in California as Keri Tate, headmistress of Hillcrest Academy, where her teenage son John is tired of her overprotectiveness. The film grossed about $75 million worldwide on a $17 million budget. Halloween: Resurrection (2002), directed by Rick Rosenthal again, follows with a group of college students picked for an internet reality show who are locked overnight inside Michael's abandoned childhood home. It took about $38 million worldwide on a $13 million budget.

Rob Zombie directed the next two films. Halloween (2007) gives Michael a ten year old's backstory in a troubled home before he is sent to Smith's Grove Sanitarium, where Malcolm McDowell plays Dr. Samuel Loomis and Tyler Mane plays the adult Michael. It grossed about $80 million worldwide on a $15 million budget. Halloween II (2009) follows Laurie, played by Scout Taylor-Compton, as Michael comes back after being believed dead, and it earned about $39 million worldwide.

David Gordon Green directed the last three films. Halloween (2018) is a sequel to the 1978 film that departs from its sequels, according to Universal, and it brings back Jamie Lee Curtis as a Laurie Strode who lives in a fortified home and is estranged from her daughter Karen, with Michael held for forty years. It premiered on September 8, 2018 at the Toronto International Film Festival and grossed about $260 million worldwide on a $10 million budget. Halloween Kills picks up on the same night, with survivors of the 1978 rampage including Tommy Doyle, now played by Anthony Michael Hall, deciding to hunt Michael down. Halloween Ends jumps to 2022 and centers on Corey, a babysitter shunned by the town, and it closed the trilogy.

For a count of every title see how many Halloween movies there are, and for the money side of the series see Halloween box office. The full cast is on the Halloween cast page, and the music is covered on the Halloween soundtrack page, where John Carpenter, Alan Howarth, John Ottman, Danny Lux, Tyler Bates and Daniel Davies all appear across the films.

In the US, every Halloween movie has at least one streaming home, mostly on AMC+, Peacock, Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video or Shudder, according to JustWatch data via TMDB checked on November 3, 2026. Streaming catalogs shift often, so the where to watch Halloween page lists every film by country.

In the US, Halloween Ends is on Netflix, and Halloween (2018) is on Peacock Premium Plus through an Amazon channel. Halloween Kills, Halloween (2007) and Halloween II (2009) are on Peacock, with the Zombie films also on AMC+. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Halloween H20 and Halloween: Resurrection are on HBO Max. Halloween (1978), Halloween 4 and Halloween 5 are on Shudder and AMC+, and Halloween II (1981) and Season of the Witch are on Prime Video and AMC+. Halloween (1978) and Halloween (2007) are also free on Fawesome.

In the UK, Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills are on Netflix and Prime Video, Halloween (1978) is on Shudder and free on BBC iPlayer, and Halloween 4 and Halloween 5 are on Shudder. Halloween II (1981), Halloween III: Season of the Witch and Halloween (2007) sit on Lionsgate+ through an Amazon channel, while Halloween II (2009) is on Prime Video. In Australia, Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills are on Netflix, with Kills also on Stan, Halloween Ends is on BINGE and Foxtel Now, and Halloween H20 and Halloween: Resurrection are on Paramount Plus. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers is rent or buy only in both the UK and Australia. If you are deciding where to begin, the Halloween movies in order guide sets out the routes.