Halloween Reviews: Our Verdict on All 13 Films

Our Halloween reviews cover the Michael Myers films rather than the video game Halloween: The Game, and the verdict is simple: begin with John Carpenter's original, then choose where to go next. These are our own opinions, and a film that other sites love can land lower here.

A Halloween verdict needs a year because the series reuses titles. Halloween (1978), Halloween (2007) and Halloween (2018) are different films, as are Halloween II (1981) and Halloween II (2009). The halloween movies in order guide shows how they connect, and halloween timelines explained covers how the story lines split. I judge each film on its own terms, which is fairer than asking a standalone such as Halloween III: Season of the Witch to behave like a Michael Myers sequel.

Halloween 1978, directed by John Carpenter, is the best film in the series and the right place to begin. Michael Myers kills his teenage sister in Haddonfield in 1963 and escapes the sanitarium fifteen years later, while Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) races home after him and Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) notices a silent figure watching her. It ran 91 minutes on a $325,000 budget and earned about $70 million worldwide. In my opinion, the trick is restraint, because Carpenter's own score and a masked figure standing at the edge of an ordinary street frighten more than any chase does.

Halloween II 1981, directed by Rick Rosenthal, picks up the same night and moves the hunt into Haddonfield Memorial Hospital. It is a competent, narrower film, and I find the corridors tense but less surprising than the open streets of the first.

Halloween 3 Season of the Witch (1982), directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, leaves Michael Myers out of its credited cast and tells a different story. Dr. Daniel Challis (Tom Atkins) and Ellie Grimbridge trace a Halloween mask to the Silver Shamrock factory in the town of Santa Mira. Watched as its own horror story, it holds up better than its reputation suggests.

Halloween 4, subtitled The Return of Michael Myers (1988) and directed by Dwight H. Little, is the best of the middle run. Michael wakes from a coma after hearing he has a niece, and in my opinion Danielle Harris as jamie lloyd halloween gives the film its heart. Halloween 5 (1989), directed by Dominique Othenin-Girard, adds a mental link between Jamie and her uncle, and I find it the most uneven of the original run. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995), directed by Joe Chappelle, ties Michael to a cult and casts Paul Rudd as an adult tommy doyle halloween. It is a tangled film, though it is the last to feature Pleasence.

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), directed by Steve Miner, finds Laurie living in California as Keri Tate, headmistress of Hillcrest Academy, after faking her death. At 86 minutes it is the shortest film in the series, and the brevity suits it. Halloween Resurrection (2002), directed by Rick Rosenthal, sends college students into Michael's childhood home for an internet reality show. In my opinion it is the weakest of the main run, because the show's gimmicks soften the menace rather than sharpen it.

Rob Zombie's two films retell the story from the start. Halloween 2007 Rob Zombie, at 110 minutes, spends its opening on ten year old Michael's troubled home, and I prefer the mystery of the original, though Malcolm McDowell's Dr. Loomis is a real asset. Halloween 2 2009, also by Rob Zombie, follows a traumatized Laurie and a Loomis who has become a celebrity author. It is bleak and divisive, and it feels unlike any other entry.

Halloween 2018, directed by David Gordon Green, is a direct sequel to the 1978 film and the best of the sequels. It finds Laurie in a fortified home, estranged from her daughter Karen, while two podcasters visit Michael at Smith's Grove. It earned about $260 million worldwide on a $10 million budget, and in my opinion Curtis carries the film.

Halloween Kills (2021) starts on the same night, with Laurie hospitalized early and survivors of 1978, including Tommy Doyle (Anthony Michael Hall), gathering to hunt Michael. It is ambitious about a town's fear, though I think it loses the focus of the first film. Halloween Ends (2022) spends its first act on Corey Cunningham, a babysitter shunned by Haddonfield, and I admire the swing more than the landing. It earned about $104 million worldwide on a $30 million budget.

Start with Halloween (1978), then go to Halloween (2018) if you want the modern story, or to Halloween 4 if you prefer the 1980s run. On streaming, Halloween Ends is on Netflix in the US, and Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills are on Netflix in the UK and Australia, according to TMDB listings checked on 3 November 2026. The where to watch halloween guide has the full list, and halloween movies ranked puts every film in order.