Michael Myers continues to terrorize Haddonfield in the John Carpenter’s Halloween, which wasn’t well-received when it was released, but with time, it has become one of the most influential horror movies ever.
Halloween introduced the audience to the story of Michael Myers, who on Halloween night 1963, when he was six years old, murdered his older sister, Judith. Michael was then sent to Smith’s Grove Sanitarium, where he stayed for over a decade and never said a word, becoming the subject of many studies and the patient of Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence), who concluded that he was “evil”. Fifteen years later, on October 30, 1978, Michael escaped and returned to his hometown Haddonfield, Illinois, where he began to stalk Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her friends. Laurie became the only survivor of Michael’s killing spree, but “the boogeyman” couldn’t be defeated, and he continued to haunt different people for years.
The Halloween franchise has been retconned a couple of times, with Michael Myers’ targets also changing (as Laurie was left aside for a while), but something that hasn’t changed is how much Michael Myers can resist. The Boogeyman seems to be invincible as he has gone through a lot over the years, and he survived an impossible scenario once more in Halloween Kills – but how? Here’s what happens with Michael Myers in the Halloween franchise.
How Michael Myers Survives Halloween Kills
At the end of Halloween, the Strode women – Laurie, her daughter Karen (Judy Greer), and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) – trapped Michael Myers in the basement of Laurie’s heavily guarded home, which she designed for this specific purpose. Laurie set fire to the house and left Michael to die in it, but at the beginning of Halloween Kills, it’s shown how the firefighters arrive at Laurie’s home and had a hand in Michael’s survival and escape, though he ended up killing most of them. Michael continued his killing spree through Haddonfield on his way to his family home, where he was lured by Karen (who took off his mask) into a trap by the mob led by Tommy Doyle (Anthony Michael Hall). Michael was then shot, beaten, and stabbed, but just when the residents of Haddonfield were starting to breathe in some peace as Michael was unconscious and seemingly dead on the floor, he rose again and killed everyone around him, including Tommy.
The key to understanding how Michael Myers survived this brutal attack by the mob (and that should have definitely killed him) is in Laurie’s voiceover during that scene. Laurie, still at the hospital, tells Hawkins (Will Patton) that she thought Michael Myers was flesh and blood, but no mortal man could have survived everything he has gone through, and the more he kills, “the more he transcends into something else, impossible to defeat”. Laurie adds that the true curse of Michael is the fear he has spread in Haddonfield and he can’t be defeated with brute force. Exactly Halloween Ends, and until then, it doesn’t matter how many times he’s shot and stabbed, he will continue to rise and kill.
Has Michael Myers Ever Died?
Michael Myers has supposedly died various times through the Halloween franchise, but he’s always brought back, even if it doesn’t make sense at all. Carpenter’s 1978 movie saw him being stabbed in the chest by Laurie and later shot six times by Loomis, falling off a balcony in the process, but just seconds later, when Loomis looked down, Michael was gone. In Halloween II, Laurie shot Michael in the eyes, leaving him blind, and Loomis caused an explosion at the hospital, but Michael was seen walking through the flames moments later. Halloween III: Season of the Witch took a break from the Michael Myers storyline and told a completely separate story, but The Boogeyman returned in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, where he was hit by a truck and shot multiple times. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers saw Michael being nursed back to health by a hermit (who he later killed), and he was later beaten repeatedly and left unconscious, but he survived.
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers left Michael’s fate even more ambiguous by having Tommy Doyle (now played by Paul Rudd) inject him with corrosives and beating him unconscious with a lead pipe, but it was later implied that he was still alive and attacked Loomis. Halloween H20 could have had the best ending for Laurie and Michael, as Laurie stole the coroner’s van that was taking Michael away. Michael attacked Laurie and she stopped the van, causing Michael to fly through the windshield, and she then drove the van into him, pinning him between the car and a tree. Laurie finally decapitated him with an axe, putting an end to their stories – until Halloween: Resurrection happened. Resurrection explained Michael exchanged places with a paramedic and he was the one Laurie decapitated, and at the end of the movie, Michael was electrocuted and burned, but he awoke right at the end as the coroner prepared to examine his body.
Is Michael Myers Human, Immortal, Or Supernatural?
The Halloween franchise has gone through a couple of retcons and with that have also come various changes to Michael Myers and his true nature. Carpenter’s Halloween established him as a man who killed for no particular reason, which made him a very scary character as he could literally target anyone. However, as the Halloween franchise evolved, more and more elements were added to Michael’s story, and with that came some supernatural explanations to why he does what he does. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers revealed that Michael Myers killed because he was under the control of the Cult of Thorn and a curse that was placed on him when he was an infant. The curse granted him supernatural gifts, which is how he survived so many attacks and why he went after Laurie, as she was part of a sacrifice he had to complete.
In the H20 timeline, he wasn’t supernatural but perhaps immortal as he survived the fire in Resurrection (or, simply, he was extremely lucky), and in Rob Zombie’s Halloween movies he was more of a mentally ill man rather than a supernatural one. The reboot trilogy, however, began with a more human Michael Myers but has now gone back to the supernatural path with the above explanation by Laurie on how he transcends when he kills and can’t be easily defeated. Whether Michael Myers is immortal in the Halloween reboot timeline or there’s still a way to defeat him for good is to be seen in Halloween Ends.
Will Halloween Ever Kill Michael Myers?
As mentioned above, the Halloween franchise has been close to finally Michael Myers is defeated in Halloween Ends, he could rise again right at the very end. Halloween Ends has a lot of explaining to do about Michael Myers, his survival, and his real nature, and because of this, it risks falling into past mistakes.
