Nearly every installment in the Halloween franchise has an ending that shows Michael Myers surviving unlikely situations, but some endings are better than others. Since the introduction of Michael Myers, Laurie Strode, and Dr. Loomis in 1978’s Halloween, the story of Michael and Laurie has changed multiple times over the years, yet Michael has never stopped stalking his number one victim. Regardless of the movie, the endings have a huge impact on the Halloween franchise.
As the most recent installment, Halloween Ends has huge retcons and plot holes like several of the predecessors. Whether shot, set on fire, or decapitated, Michael Myers always seemingly dies at the end of any Halloween movie and yet manages to survive. Based on creativity and impact on the story and franchise, the endings of the Halloween movies can be easily ranked.
13
Halloween 6: The Curse Of Michael Myers (1995)
Dr. Loomis Sacrifices Himself To Stop Michael Myers
As the sixth installment in the Halloween franchise, Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers finally addresses if Michael Myers is human or supernatural, explaining his connection to a cult. Picking up six years after Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, it’s an unnecessary addition which includes Tommy Doyle trying to save the baby Jamie is forced to birth and Dr. Loomis refusing to help a cult leader clone Michael’s evil.
Ultimately, the ending of Halloween 6 falls flat. Tommy injects Michael with a tranquilizer and beats him with a pipe, managing to flee while Dr. Loomis stays behind. The audience never sees Loomis die, but the screams can be heard in the background while the camera stares at Michael’s mask on the floor. There’s no question if Michael is still alive, and the ending doesn’t propel Michael’s story whatsoever.
12
Halloween III: Season Of The Witch (1982)
The Mass Murders Are Not Stopped
Halloween III: Season of the Witch is a muddled movie with little connection to the famous franchise and the ending is no different. Halloween III’s alternate ending would have been horrific, but instead, the film remains hopeful. Daniel contacts TV networks to pull a commercial that would activate microchips in Halloween masks to kill the wearer and release snakes to kill anyone nearby. Daniel only stops two of the three networks from airing the commercial.
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Unfortunately, the ending of Halloween III has no punch and is purposefully left ambiguous. As such, there’s no closure for a movie that will not get a sequel. Furthermore, it doesn’t feel as if Daniel did everything he could possibly do to prevent the third TV station from airing the commercial – he merely yells and pleads over the phone. If he had gone down to the station and interrupted the broadcast himself, it would have been a more interesting ending.
11
Halloween 5: The Revenge Of Michael Myers (1989)
Michael Myers Is Arrested But Breaks Out Of Jail
The ending of Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers finds Michael Myers in jail, but it doesn’t last for long as the police station explodes. Though Halloween 5’s original opening fixes plot holes, the ending still leaves some questions – for instance, Jamie inexplicably runs into the police station to investigate when she’s told to stay put. After everything she has been through, she doesn’t flee the scene, knowing Michael is still alive and free.
Michael being free shouldn’t come as a surprise to Jamie. She’s the one who tells the officers that Michael will never die. She and Michael supposedly have a psychic link, so Jamie should know better than to follow police officers after an explosion and gunfire. Jamie would know Michael is the cause. Halloween 5’s ending just doesn’t make much sense, and, as such, is easily one of the worst Halloween endings.
10
Rob Zombie’s Halloween II (2009)
Laurie Kills Michael But Wears His Mask
- Release Date
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August 28, 2009
- Runtime
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105 minutes
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Malcolm McDowell
Dr. Samuel Loomis
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Scout Taylor-Compton
Laurie Strode
Laurie’s hallucinations throughout Halloween II ruin the ending despite her becoming another Halloween character to wear the Michael Myers mask. In the Halloween II ending, Dr. Loomis and the police surround Michael and Laurie in a shed. Loomis tries to snap Laurie out of her hallucinations, but Michael stabs him and is shot through the shed window. Laurie comes to her senses and stabs Michael before walking out of the shed wearing his mask, only to end up in a psych ward with her mother’s ghost.
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Halloween II’s ending would be better without Laurie’s hallucinations. While director Rob Zombie may be trying to show the connection between Michael and Laurie’s hallucinations, the story relies too much on it to show the similarities between the siblings. The hallucinations are an odd choice that feel out of place. The only saving grace to the ending is Laurie wearing the mask herself, which is an undoubtedly striking image.
9
Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
Michael Is Electrocuted & Left In A Fire
Halloween: Resurrection has four endings, but the theatrical ending fails to redeem an otherwise mediocre installment. The premise has promise, but the execution doesn’t deliver. A group of college students spend the night in Michael Myer’s abandoned childhood home only to discover it’s not abandoned, and Michael is very upset at the intrusion. The survivors escape the house after electrocuting Michael and leaving him to die in a fire.
Halloween: Resurrection’s ending leaves a cliffhanger, but all the characters were original and have no connection to Michael. When his eyes snap open in the morgue during the closing scene, it feels like there should be a sequel, but Michael wouldn’t even know who to go after since Laurie dies at beginning of the movie. Ultimately, it’s just an average, cliché ending for the Halloween franchise to show Michael cannot be killed.
8
Halloween Kills (2021)
Michael Myers Kills Laurie Strode’s Daughter
There are plenty of Michael Myers theories that could have saved the Halloween reboot trilogy. Unfortunately, Halloween Kills couldn’t be saved as the ending misses the mark entirely. Standing outside the Myers home, Laurie’s daughter, Karen, thinks she sees a young Michael in an upstairs bedroom window and goes into the home to investigate, only to be murdered by the serial killer.
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There are cops crawling everywhere outside the home, but Michael kills Karen as Laurie looks out her hospital room window. It’s a poignant moment as it’s clear Michael will kill everyone standing between him and Laurie. However, it doesn’t make much sense for Karen to go into the house alone. She knows what Michael is capable of but chooses to ignore basic common sense, undermining the impact of her death.
7
Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007)
The Movie Ends On A Cliffhanger As Michael Grabs Laurie
- Release Date
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August 31, 2007
- Runtime
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97 minutes
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Malcolm McDowell
Dr. Samuel Loomis
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Scout Taylor-Compton
Michael Myers
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Daeg Faerch
Laurie Strode
After playing Jamie Lloyd in Halloween 4, 5, and 6, Danielle Harris returns as Annie Brackett in Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake. Though the film is a new take on Michael Myers with some creative additions such as Michael’s backstory, Halloween has an interesting ending that gives the original Halloween ending a twist. Instead of only Michael falling off the balcony, Laurie falls with him and lands on top of him. Just as Laurie aims the gun at Michael, he grabs her wrist and the movie ends.
Halloween ends with a cliffhanger as the audience doesn’t know what happens next: if Laurie survives or if she kills Michael. Since it’s a remake, Zombie could take the film in any direction he wanted, so it was truly a mystery what would happen in the sequel. The balcony scene respects the source material while being original.
6
Halloween 2 (1981)
Laurie Shoots Michael Myers In The Eyes
Halloween 2 has another solid ending for Laurie and Michael Myers. Halloween 2 shaped the franchise and is a direct sequel following the events of Halloween as Laurie is recovering from Michael’s attacks in the hospital. The ending finds Laurie shooting both of Michael’s eyes before escaping as Dr. Loomis ignites the operating room. Michael walks out, engulfed in flames, and collapses.
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Michael is always shot in the chest, and nothing ever happens. This is the first time he’s shot anywhere else, and the impact is significant. Michael may not be stopped completely, but he’s brutally wounded for once. The ending of Halloween 2 feels like a good stopping point for Laurie’s story as she’s transferred to another hospital, traumatized from Michael’s attacks.
5
Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers (1988)
The ending of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers shows that history repeats itself. There are plot holes like Michael Myers not being blind in Halloween 4, and the audience doesn’t see Michael get back up after being shot multiple times and falling into a mine. However, there may be a new killer in Jamie as she’s seen wearing a clown costume and holding a bloody pair of scissors like when Michael killed his own sister.
The ending doesn’t focus on whether Michael survives. Instead, it focuses on the youngest relative of Michael and how evil is possibly in her genes. Halloween 4’s ending is unexpected and a refreshing break from Michael surviving. Obviously, Michael is going to survive like he always has, but Jamie’s ending is almost heartbreaking as she follows in her uncle’s footsteps.
4
Halloween Ends (2022)
Laurie Strode Finally Kills Michael Myers
The original ending of Halloween Ends was scrapped, leaving behind a satisfying conclusion to Michael’s story. Though Halloween Ends isn’t a great installment with the inclusion of Corey to take over for Michael, the ending finally shows that the people of Haddonfield have learned their lesson. After years of trying to burn and shoot Michael while assuming he dies, Laurie and Allyson dispose of Michael’s body in an industrial shredder.
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Michael has proved time and time again that he won’t die. An industrial shredder confirms he will not be able to come back and attack anyone ever again. It’s a surefire way to be certain he is dead. Every time Laurie or the police have confirmed Michael to be dead, they have been wrong. It may have taken over 40 years, but Michael is finally destroyed.
3
Halloween (2018)
Laurie Traps Michael Myers & Burns The House Down
Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends feel unnecessary following the ending of 2018’s Halloween. Michael and Laurie have a great ending that shouldn’t have been drawn out over several more years. With the help of Karen and Allyson, Laurie traps Michael in the safe room she created in her basement specifically for Michael. There’s no way out with bars across the entrance as the women set fire to the property.
Laurie is familiar with Michael walking right out of flames and being completely fine, so she fashions her safe room with him in mind. It’s brilliant and shows how far she has come since her babysitting days. The moment proves to her daughter and granddaughter that she’s never been crazy, just prepared for what she knew would eventually happen. Laurie is no longer a victim in Halloween and is so much more than a final girl, highlighting the character’s development.
2
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
Laurie Decapitates Michael Myers With An Ax
Halloween H20 originally kills Michael in a very different way compared to the theatrical version. Though Halloween H20 is essentially retconned in the newer trilogy, it still has a highly gratifying ending that could have been Michael’s final end in the franchise. After enduring attacks from Michael, Laurie steals the coroner’s van and ends up driving off an embankment when Michael awakens. After pinning him with the van, she decapitates him with an axe.
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Michael’s decapitation is a brutal end, but means everything to Laurie as she just wants to confirm he’s actually dead. It’s one moment in the franchise where trying to kill Michael is taken seriously with confirmation. After living with the trauma of that one night back in 1978, Laurie finally vanquishes her demons, literally, and it’s a victorious moment.
1
Halloween (1978)
Michael Myers Escaped After He Was Shot
No ending will beat the original Halloween. Though Halloween lacks blood and gore, it doesn’t stop Dr. Loomis from shooting Michael in the chest only for him to fall off the balcony. Laurie asks if Michael is the “boogeyman” and Loomis looks down to where Michael fell only to see nobody.
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It’s a cliffhanger that introduces Michael as a force to be reckoned with. He’s not easy to take down. Laurie’s comparison to the boogeyman is spot on as Michael will be terrorizing teenagers and adults for years. The ending of Halloween is exciting because it hasn’t been done multiple times, so it’s unexpected. Once it becomes apparent that Michael will never die, the endings of the Halloween franchise are unsurprising and repeated with little new material.
What About Alternate Endings?
Five Halloween movies have alternate endings. These include Halloween II, Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers, Rob Zombie’s Halloween II, Halloween (2018), and Halloween Kills. In Halloween II, an alternate ending was added to the TV cut of the film, in which Laurie Strode reunites with the paramedic Jimmy, and they hold hands and admit they made it through the night. It is the least notable of the alternate endings.
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers has a producer’s cut with a much better ending than the theatrical movie. In the main film, Loomis seemingly dies off-screen, and Michael’s mask is shown, but he is gone. Loomis didn’t die off-screen in the producer’s cut ending, and Tommy didn’t even stop Michael. When Loomis took off Michael’s mask, it was Wynn. He then passed on the Cult of Thorn symbol to Loomis before he died, causing Loomis to scream and have an end worse than death.
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Rob Zombie’s duology has a much darker ending. Instead of Lauri hallucinating in a psychiatric hospital, things took a much darker turn. Michael Myers kills Loomis and then walks out of the shed, where police gun him down. Laurie walks out and picks up the knife and walks toward Loomis’s body, and the police shoot and kill her as well. She is then shown in the ward, but it is clear she is in the afterlife, having died in the end.
The first two David Gordon Green Halloween movies also have alternate endings. In the first one, Laurie and Michael have a knife fight, and it seems he fatally wounds her. Karen then comes out and shoots him with a crossbow, and he falls, seemingly dying as well. In Halloween Kills, there is an extended cut with a new ending where Laurie calls Karen, and Michael answers the phone. His breathing shows what happened, and Lauris threatens to kill him.
Out of the five Halloween alternate endings, the one for Halloween II meant the least, and the one from Halloween (2018) would have ruined the trilogy. Rob Zombie’s ending was a little too dark for the end of his story. Halloween Kills had a great alternate ending because it made the emotional revenge of the third movie mean more. However, the best was The Curse of Michael Myers, which took a disappointing film and ending and elevated it with a great twist.
- Cast
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Jamie Lee Curtis, Nick Castle, James Jude Courtney, Donald Pleasence, Brian Andrews, Anthony Michael Hall, Kyle Richards, Nancy Stephens, Charles Cyphers, Andi Matichak, Judy Greer
Summary
The Halloween franchise, created by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, is one of the longest-running horror franchises in cinema. Debuting with Halloween (1978), it introduced audiences to Michael Myers, a masked killer terrorizing the fictional town of Haddonfield on Halloween night. Spanning over 13 films, including sequels, remakes, and reboots, the franchise centers around Michael’s relentless pursuit of his original target, Laurie Strode. Halloween has become a cultural staple, inspiring the slasher genre and generating comics, novels, and video games, with a new television series currently in development.
