My Ranking of the Halloween Movie Franchise

I was late to the horror genre.  I always stayed away from it, but in the last 20 years and even more so in the last few years, I’ve become more a fan of it and am still discovering horror movies.

Having said that, Halloween is definitely my favorite horror movie franchise.

There is just something about it that really grabbed me.

And I’ve been showing my girlfriend Mariah all of the Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Friday the 13th movies (yes she’s been patient watching these) and we discussed ranking them so I decided to do just that on this site.

Of course, these are only opinions and it’s OK to agree or disagree.

I really like most of them, I’ll admit, but there are few that I’m not wild about.

So, here is my ranking of the Halloween movies:

1.  Halloween (1978)-This is the first movie of what became a franchise.  It will always be the template.  Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, all the cast are great.  The killer, Michael Myers, is human, but yet, he’s unstoppable, and he gets more unstoppable as these movies go on.  Directed, co-written (along with Debra Hill), and scored by John Carpenter.  It’s just a straight up thriller with a simple but solid story.  For such a low budget movie, it was still ambitious with great camera work and editing.  Even the mask of Michael Myers is a William Shatner mask, which I love.  I will say after having revisited these movies, the mask kept getting changed and it should not have been.  I’m fine with them, but the first one, and a few of the way later ones are the only ones that truly got it right.  Anyway, back to this movie.  To be a horror movie, there’s almost no blood at all in this.  No gore.  And it works!!!!  And it stands alone.  You really don’t need to see any of the others because it’s it’s own story.  However, if you like this, I recommend watching the others.  Great movie and no other Halloween movie will top this.
2. Halloween 4:  The Return of Michael Myers-This is my 2nd favorite.  After a solid sequel and a movie that had NOTHING to do with the franchise, other than it’s on Halloween night (I do like it though), the franchise hit the reset button with this movie.  Like the first, I think the story is solid and the actors are good.  Donald Pleasence returned after being absent in the 3rd movie.  And if you’re a fan of Halloween as a franchise and of the killer, Michael Myers, then I think you should like this one.  If not, fair enough.
3. Halloween:  The Curse of Michael Myers-This is the 6th Halloween movie.  It was also Donald Pleasence’ last movie.  There are two versions of this movie.  The theatrical cut, which most people probably know if you’ve seen these, but there is also “The Producer’s Cut”, which was heavily bootlegged for years, but eventually, was released.  Personally, I really like The Producer’s Cut more than the theatrical one.  The story is mostly the same, however, there are big differences, especially the endings of both.  I think The Producer’s Cut flows better, and there is more of Donald, which is always welcome.
4. Halloween 3:  Season of the Witch-The 3rd movie of the franchise, HOWEVER, it has nothing to do with the first two or any of the later ones.  It really is it’s own story.  The only mistake I see with this movie is the title.  It should’ve just been called Season of the Witch and maybe it would’ve been more successful.  But at this point, you had two hit movies featuring the killer Michael Myers, Donald Pleasence as Dr. Loomis, and Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, and none of them are in this.  It has nothing to do with those movies.  That doesn’t bother me, but it bothered a lot of people.  I’ve seen trailers of this movie and this is very clear, but somehow, the audience did not get that message and went into theaters with expectations and got none of them.  Having said that, I think it’s a great, scary movie.  Everyone did a great job in front of and behind the camera.  I was hooked immediately.  I think it’s one of the scariest.  Luckily, this movie has become a cult hit with a lot of people, but many will always hate it because it has nothing to do with Michael Myers.  Fair enough, but I think if you watch it as a stand alone horror movie, then I think you would like it.
5. Halloween 2 (1981)-This is the 2nd Halloween movie, if you hadn’t guessed.  It picks up right where the 1st one left off, continuing the story of Michael Myers, Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) and Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis).  I’m actually ranking this one higher than I initially intended because it was never one of my favorites, but in more recent times, I’ve given it a little more attention and I think it is a very good sequel, but not as good as the first one.  Jamie Lee is in it a lot less, which I don’t like, but all the kills that Michael does in this are very good.  His mask looks very wicked in this one. This one is definitely more explicit in it’s violence.  And the storyline definitely changes and I don’t mind it.  It’s not my favorite and I don’t love it like many do, but it is a very good sequel and could have been the end.  It was intended to be the end.  Hence why Halloween 3 is so different.  But the reset button was pushed for 4 and beyond.
6. Halloween 5:  The Revenge of Michael Myers-Many people seem to dislike this one, but I still think it’s good and a good follow-up to Halloween 4.  Some of the actors from 4 return in this one and it picks up where 4 left off.  Donald Pleasence’ character Dr. Loomis is wayyy more aggressive in this one, but I think it works because he’s always been obsessed with tracking down Michael and either wanting to kill him or putting him back into the asylum.  So I’m fine with it.  I like it and I’m not apologizing for it.
7. Halloween H2O:  Twenty Years Later-This movie is set 20 years after the first one (and it was released 20 years later in 1998).  Jamie Lee Curtis is back as Laurie Strode for the first time since Halloween 2 and this movie ignores every movie past 2, in terms of storyline.  I really like this one.  And I especially love the ending.
8. Halloween (2018)-This movie ignores every Halloween movie past the first one, again Jamie Lee Curtis returning as Laurie Strode for the first time since Halloween:  Resurrection.  This was a great return to the franchise after Rob Zombie’s interpretations of the characters from the original first two movies.  It’s simple, straight forward, definitely bloodier than the original, but a very good story and seeing Jamie Lee back is great.
9. Halloween Kills-The perfect sequel to the 2018 Halloween.  Continues that storyline but goes further with it.  Anthony Michael Hall is awesome in this.  I really like this one a lot.  I could rank this one higher, but I give some of the others seniority.  But ask me some other time and I’ll probably rank this one higher.  I did rank it higher recently, but for this post, this is my ranking of it.  But it is great and I thoroughly enjoyed this one.  These first two movies of this latest trilogy I think are great.  The last one not so much, but I’ll save it for last because that’s where it belongs.
10. Halloween (2007)-This is Director/Writer Rob Zombie’s interpretation of John Carpenter’s original classic.  Rob added a lot more to the story, but also told the original story as well.  He did a great job, I think.  I really like this one.  
11. Halloween 2 (2009)-The sequel to Rob Zombie’s first Halloween movie.  Great follow-up, although I definitely prefer the Unrated Director’s Cut, particularly with it’s ending.  Initially, I didn’t like this one, but after seeing Halloween Ends, I thought it can’t be that bad, and I was right.  It’s actually very good.  The originals are the best, as they usually are (I HATE remakes) but if you do something different with it, which Rob did, then I appreciate that.  I’m glad Rob did these.
12. Halloween Ends-The final movie of this new trilogy.  I have rewritten my thoughts on this movie three times because I keep changing my mind.  When I first saw this movie, I was very excited because I loved the previous two and the Halloween movies are my favorite horror franchise.  However, within about 10-15 minutes of watching the movie, I was browsing the internet because I was bored and not into it at all.  For a long time, this movie has frustrated me because even though I liked parts of it, I did not love it by any means.  However, I re-watched it recently (June 18 of 2025) and I must say that even though there are still moments I’m not wild about, I like the movie a lot more.  All the actors do a really good job.  I initially hated the writing, but now I think the writing was well done.  The look of the movie is really good.  Michael’s mask and whole look is awesome.  I initially hated the fact that a new character that had not been in any other movie was the star of this one.  And even though I still don’t completely get it, I like it so much more now.  It is still a Halloween movie.  Michael is not in it a lot, but when he is, it’s important.  Jamie Lee Curtis is great as always.  The music is phenomenal.  All the kills in the movie are really good.  I hope this movie grows on me even more, but either way, I can honestly say that I really like this movie now.  I never thought I could say that.  In fact, it impressed me so much that I moved it up one ranking on this list.  I could maybe move it up more and who knows I may do that someday, but I still like all the others more.  But regardless, I really like Halloween Ends now.  Well done to everyone who made it.  I’m sure it’s not the last movie, but if it was, I’m actually OK with it.
13. Halloween:  Resurrection-This is the follow-up to Halloween H2O:  Twenty Years Later.  Actually let me rephrase that:  the first 10 minutes is a follow-up.  The rest of the movie is something else.  Jamie Lee Curtis returns for the beginning and (spoiler alert) her character is killed by Michael Myers.  Then the movie is basically about a bunch of students doing an internet reality show inside Michael Myers’ home and he just happens to be there.  It’s silly, but it’s fun, so I still enjoy it.  It’s definitely the most laughable of the franchise, but it’s still fun so I dig it.

OK that is my ranking of my favorite horror franchise.  I could say so much more about them, but I’ll leave it at that.

I hope the future Halloween movies are good and I look forward to seeing them too.

How would you rank these?  Thoughts?