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The character was named Michael Myers after the head of Miracle Films, a now defunct distribution company that helped release [[John Carpenter]]'s ''[[Assault on Precinct 13 (1976 film)|Assault on Precinct 13]]'' in the U.K.
The character was named Michael Myers after the head of Miracle Films, a now defunct distribution company that helped release [[John Carpenter]]'s ''[[Assault on Precinct 13 (1976 film)|Assault on Precinct 13]]'' in the U.K.


==Appearances==
==Halloween (1978)==
<!-- ATTENTION! PLEASE READ BEFORE EDITING! Please help keep these sections brief. Every detail about the plot of Halloween or Michael Myers' life does not need to appear here. -->
On Halloween night 1963, six-year-old Michael Myers (Will Sandin) stabs his seventeen-year-old sister Judith (Sandy Johnson) with a kitchen knife at their home in Haddonfield, Illinois. He is sent to Smith's Grove - Warren County Sanitarium in Illinois and placed under the care of psychiatrist [[Dr. Sam Loomis]] ([[Donald Pleasence]]). After 15 years of treatment, Loomis begins to suspect that there is more to Myers than meets the eye and plans to have him committed indefinitely. Loomis, sensing that a tremendous amount of rage and emotion stir behind Myers's blank stare, describes Myers as evil. Myers escapes from Smith's Grove while being transferred and returns to Haddonfield. Loomis pursues Myers.
Michael Myers made his first appearance in the original 1978 film, ''Halloween'', although the masked character is credited as "The Shape". In the beginning of the film, a six-year old Michael (Will Sandin) murders his older sister, Judith ([[Sandy Johnson]]), and is taken to a [[Smith's Grove - Warren County Sanitarium]]. Fifteen years later, Michael ([[Nick Castle]]) escapes the sanitarium and returns to [[Haddonfield, Illinois]]. Michael procedes to stalk and murder several teens. When he attempts to kill [[Laurie Strode]] ([[Jamie Lee Curtis]]) she manages to fend him off long enough for [[Dr. Sam Loomis]] ([[Donald Pleasence]]), Michael's [[Psychiatry|psychiatrist]], to find him. Loomis shoots Michael six times in the chest, before Michael falls over the house's second-story balcony ledge. When Loomis goes to check Michael's body, he finds it missing.<ref name="H1">{{cite video|people=[[Debra Hill]] (writer) and [[John Carpenter]] (writer/director)|title=[[Halloween (1978 film)]]|medium=[[DVD]]|publisher=Falcon International Productions|year=1978}}</ref> Michael's second appearance was in ''Halloween'''s sequel, ''[[Halloween II]]'' (1981). The film picks up directly where the original ends, with Loomis still looking for Michael's body. Myers ([[Dick Warlock]]) follows Laurie Strode to the local hospital, where he wanders the halls in search of her. Loomis discovers that Laurie Strode is Michael's younger sister, and goes to the hospital to find them. Loomis causes an explosion in the [[operating room]], and Laurie escapes as the flames engulf Loomis and Myers.<ref name="H2">{{cite video|people=Debra Hill, John Carpenter (writers) and [[Rick Rosenthal]] (director)|title=[[Halloween II]]|medium=DVD|publisher=Dino De Laurentiis Corporation|year=1981}}</ref>
In Haddonfield, Myers stalks teenager [[Laurie Strode]] ([[Jamie Lee Curtis]]) and some of her friends. Laurie glimpses a man in a white mask (Michael Myers) from her classroom window, behind a bush while she walks home, and in the clothesline from her bedroom window.
Later in the evening, Laurie meets her friend Annie Brackett ([[Nancy Kyes]]) who is babysitting [[Lindsey Wallace]] ([[Kyle Richards]]) across the street from where she is babysitting [[Tommy Doyle]] ([[Brian Andrews]]). After arranging to pick up her boyfriend, Annie sends Lindsey to stay with Laurie at the Doyle house but is murdered by Myers (who had followed them). Tommy sees him carrying Annie's body into the Wallace house and thinks Myers is the Boogeyman. Laurie dismisses the boy's terror and sends Tommy and Lindsey to bed. Myers later murders Laurie's other friend [[Lynda Van Der Klok]] ([[P.J. Soles]]) and Lynda's boyfriend, Robert "Bob" Simms ([[John Michael Graham]]), in the empty Wallace house.
Laurie worries after receiving a strange phone call from Lynda at the Wallace house. She walks across the street and discovers the three bodies and Judith Myers's missing tombstone. She is attacked by Myers but escapes back to the Doyle house. Laurie stabs Myers with a knitting needle, a clothes hanger and a knife, but he continues to pursue her. Eventually, Loomis spots Tommy and Lindsey running from the house and finds Myers in the upstairs hallway. Loomis rescues Laurie, shooting Myers six times and causing him to fall from the house's second-story balcony. Upon looking out the window for Myers' body, however, Loomis discovers that he is nowhere to be found.


''[[Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers]]'' (1988) picks the story up ten years after the events of ''Halloween II''. Michael ([[George P. Wilbur]]) is revealed to have survived the explosion, but he has been held at the Ridgemont Federal Sanitarium. Michael wakes from his coma when he learns Laurie Strode was killed in a car accident, but that her daughter is still alive. Michael escapes and immediately heads to Haddonfield to kill Laurie's daughter, Jamie ([[Danielle Harris]]). The state police find Michael and shoot him several times before he falls down a [[Shaft mining|mine shaft]].<ref name="H4">{{cite video|people=[[Alan B. McElroy]] (writer) and [[Dwight H. Little]]|title=[[Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers]]|medium=DVD|publisher=Trancas International Films|year=1988}}</ref> ''[[Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers]]'' (1989) begins immediately after the fourth film ends, with Michael Myers ([[Don Shanks]]) escaping the mine shaft and being nursed back to health by a local [[hermit]]. The next year, Michael kills the hermit and returns to Haddonfield to find Jamie again. Michael is eventually captured and taken to the local police station, but an unseen figure kills the officers and frees him.<ref name="H5">{{cite video|people=Michael Jacobs, Dominique Othenin-Girard, Shem Bitterman (writers) and Dominique Othenin-Girard (director)|title=[[Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers]]|medium=DVD|publisher=Magnum Pictures Inc.|year=1989}}</ref> ''[[Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers]]'' (1995) takes place approximately six years after the events of ''The Revenge of Michael Myers''; both Jamie ([[J. C. Brandy]]) and Michael (George P. Wilbur) have disappeared from Haddonfield. The [[Cult of Thorn]] impregnate Jamie, in an effort to control Michael Myers. Michael kills Jamie, but not before she hides her [[newborn]]. [[Tommy Doyle]] ([[Paul Rudd]]) discovers Jamie's baby. While trying to protect the baby from Myers, Tommy learns that the [[Curse of Thorn]] is the cause of Michael's obsession with killing his entire family.<ref name="H6">{{cite video|people=Daniel Farrands (writer) and Joe Chappelle (director)|title=[[Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers]]|medium=DVD|publisher=[[Miramax Films]]|year=1995}}</ref>
==Halloween 2 (1981)==
After the film replays a re-shot version of the last scene of Halloween, it moves on to [[Dr. Sam Loomis]] warning Sheriff Leigh Brackett ([[Charles Cyphers]]) that although he has shot Myers six times, Myers still lives. Meanwhile, Laurie Strode is taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital and Myers wanders Haddonfield in search of her. One of the EMS drivers, Jimmy Lloyd ([[Lance Guest]]) begins to show an interest in her.
Jimmy tells Laurie that the man who attacked her was Michael Myers, infamous for murdering his older sister fifteen years earlier on Halloween night. After this, Laurie drifts in and out of consciousness, having strange flashbacks about her adoption by the Strodes and visiting an unpleasant boy in an institution. Myers learns that she is at the hospital. He goes there and murders the hospital's staff one by one. Laurie manages to elude him, but she is limping badly and sedated and is thus unable to move very quickly.
Dr. Loomis and the Haddonfield police continue to search the town for Myers. At the local elementary school they discover that Myers has broken into a classroom and scrawled the word Samhain in blood on the chalkboard. Loomis explains that it is a Celtic word that means "lord of the dead," the "end of summer," and "October 31" (Samhain's symbolic importance is not elaborated on until later films). Nurse Marion Chambers (Nancy Stephens), Loomis's assistant, arrives and tells Loomis that she has discovered a secret file on Myers to which he was not privy. The file reveals that Laurie is actually Myers's sister, adopted by the Strodes after Myers killed his older sister, Judith. Chambers also informs Loomis that he has strict orders to return to Smith's Grove.
Instead, Loomis forces the marshal ([[John Zenda]]) and Chambers to drive to the hospital, knowing that Myers will have already tracked Laurie there. Once again, Loomis shoots Myers several times, but to no avail. After Myers kills the marshal, Loomis and Laurie retreat into an operating room, and Laurie shoots Myers in the eyes after Loomis is stabbed. Loomis is able to turn on the oxygen tanks in the operating room, causing an explosion that engulfs him and Myers. An alternate version of the film shows Jimmy and Laurie holding hands at the end.


Ignoring the events of the previous three films, ''[[Halloween H20: 20 Years Later]]'' (1998) follows Michael (Chris Durand) as he searches for Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), and her teenage son John ([[Josh Hartnett]]). Michael tracks Laurie to the private boarding school where she is headmistress and murders John's friends. After ensuring the safety of her son, Laurie battles it out Michael, and succeeds in decapitating him.<ref name="H7">{{cite video|people=Robert Zapia, Matt Greenberg (writers) and [[Steve Miner]] (director)|title=[[Halloween H20: 20 Years Later]]|medium=DVD|publisher=[[Dimension Films]]|year=1998}}</ref> ''[[Halloween: Resurrection]]'' (2002), which picks up three years after ''H20'', [[retcon]]s Michael's death, establishing that the man Laurie decapitated was a [[paramedic]] whom Michael had attacked and swapped clothes with. Michael tracks Laurie to a mental institution, where she was placed after she learned the truth of her actions. Michael kills Laurie and returns to his home in Haddonfield. There, he finds a group of college students filming an internet [[reality show]] inside his house. He begins killing each of them before being caught in an electrical fire.<ref name="H8">{{cite video|people=Larry Brand, [[Sean Hood]] (writers) and Rick Rosenthal (director) |title=[[Halloween: Resurrection]]|medium=DVD|publisher=[[Dimension Films]]|year=2002}}</ref>
==Halloween 4 The Return of Michael Myers (1988)==
Michael Myers has been in a coma since the events of Halloween II, when his massacre was stopped by [[Dr. Sam Loomis]] and [[Laurie Strode]]. At the beginning of this film, Myers is being transferred from Ridgemont Federal Sanitarium to Smith's Grove Sanitarium. He awakens when he hears that Laurie Strode, his sister, is deceased, but her daughter is alive and well in Haddonfield. He kills the ambulance crew and escapes. Dr. Loomis races to Haddonfield in an attempt to bring Myers' killing spree to an end once and for all.
In Haddonfield, his niece [[Jamie Lloyd]] ([[Danielle Harris]]), has been adopted by the Carruthers family. She has frequent nightmares about Michael, though she does not know who he is. On Halloween night, Jamie goes out trick-or-treating dressed as a clown (a costume that is very similar to the one worn by young Michael Myers at the beginning of the first Halloween film) with her teenage foster sister Rachel Carruthers ([[Ellie Cornell]]). Her uncle, Michael, follows them.
Dr. Loomis, meanwhile, arrives in Haddonfield after an exhausting journey, and contacts the police department to inform them of Myers' disappearance. He and Haddonfield's new Sheriff Ben Meeker (played by Beau Starr) begin to search the town for Michael and Jamie. They find that Myers has singlehandedly annihilated the entire police force. The girls hide in the Sheriff's house, where Michael follows them. They escape and leave Haddonfield, but Myers hides in the back of the truck that they use to escape. The sheriff's deputies catch up to them and shoot Michael relentlessly. He falls into an abandoned mine shaft which collapses on him when the deputies throw dynamite down the shaft.
Back at the Carruthers house, Jamie puts on her clown mask and stabs her foster mother. It turns out that she was possessed by Myers' rage. Dr. Loomis attempts to shoot her, but Sheriff Meeker prevents it. The film ends with a shot of Jamie, wearing the clown mask, holding bloody scissors. This shot is very similar to the shot near the beginning of the original Halloween, where young Michael Myers is seen holding a bloody knife after killing his older sister, Judith. Except he has a mild shocked look and she doesn't.


Michael's latest appearance is in [[Rob Zombie|Rob Zombie's]] ''[[Halloween (2007 film)|Halloween]]'' (2007), a remake of the original film.<ref>{{cite news|author=Borys Kit|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002613063|title=Zombie plots new mayhem for 'Halloween'|publisher=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|date=[[2006-06-05]]|accessdate=2007-08-11}}</ref> Zombie's film focuses more on Michael's psychology. The film follows the basic premise of the original film, with Michael ([[Daeg Faerch]]) killing his sister Judith ([[Hanna R. Hall]]), escaping Smith's Grove, and stalking Laurie Strode ([[Scout Taylor-Compton]]). In this film, Laurie is shown to be Michael's sister from the beginning, something not revealed until the original's sequel in 1981. Michael is shown to have an interest in killing animals, and with Halloween masks. During his time at Smith's Grove, he takes up the hobby of creating [[papier-mâché]] masks, which he wears constantly. Michael's ([[Tyler Mane]]) motives for coming after Laurie were altered to show that he was attempting to reunite with his sister, the one person in his family he cared for, instead of simply being out to kill her.<ref name="H9">{{cite video|people=[[Rob Zombie]] (writer/director)|title=[[Halloween (2007 film)]]|medium=DVD|publisher=Dimension Films|year=2007}}</ref>
==Halloween 5 The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)==
The film begins with a recap of Michael Myers being shot at and falling into a mine shaft, from the end of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, but Michael finds a way out and stumbles into a nearby river. He stumbles into a small shack by the river owned by a local hermit. Once there Michael collapses and remains in a comatose state for a full year. On October 30th, 1989, Michael reawakens, kills the hermit and returns to terrorize Haddonfield, where his young niece, [[Jamie Lloyd]] ([[Danielle Harris]]) continues to live after nearly being killed by Michael the year before.
Jamie has been unable to speak since attacking her foster mother in a state of shock at the end of part four, but exhibits signs of a telepathic link with her evil uncle. Dr. Sam Loomis realizes that this link exists, and plans to use it to put an end to Michael. Michael begins stalking Rachel (Jamie's foster sister) and her friend Tina ([[Wendy Kaplan]]). After both are killed Jamie agrees to put herself in danger to help Loomis stop Michael for good. With Jamie's help, Loomis lures Michael back to the old Myers House.
Michael makes many attempts to kill Jamie, finally getting the chance to kill her in the attic. Jamie in a desperate move, tries appealing to Michael's humanity by saying "Uncle." This causes Myers to pause. When Jamie asks to see his face, he takes off his mask. A lone tear runs down his face. Jamie reaches up to wipe it away, and Michael is thrown into a rage. The killer pursues Jamie who runs into Loomis. The good doctor seems to turn on the girl as he shouts for Michael to come and take her. It turns out that he has used the girl as bait and Michael walks beneath a heavy chain net that is dropped over him. After two ineffectual shots from a tranquilizer gun, Loomis ends up beating him repeatedly with a 2 x 4. They take Michael to the local sheriff station. However, a mysterious stranger, dressed in all black, has come to Haddonfield. Jamie, sitting in a patrol car outside, hears an explosion. Jamie walks through the station finding the bodies of the dead officers. She goes over to Michael's jail cell to discover that it's empty. As Jamie sobs realizing Myers is once again able to get to her, she says No...NO!. The scene then goes black.

==Halloween The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)==
For seventeen years, the town of Haddonfield, Illinois has been haunted by a night when evil roamed the street. Everyone knows his name. Now, everyone will know the truth!
It's now six years since the last Halloween celebration in Haddonfield. Michael Myers, his niece [[Jamie Lloyd]], and the mysterious Man in Black all disappeared after the explosive end of Part 5. Everyone assumes them all to be dead...but actually, Jamie has been captured by the Man In Black, who has her impregnated. The baby arrives on Halloween night, and a kind midwife named Mary helps Jamie and her baby escape. However, Michael Myers is close behind her, and catches up to Jamie a short time later, viciously impaling her upon a grotesque piece of farm machinery.
Meanwhile, [[Tommy Doyle]] (the child Laurie Strode sat for in the first film) has his eye on a family who's moved into the old Myers house. Tommy has become obsessed with Michael Myers. After hearing Jamie screaming for help on a radio show, Tommy finds her baby and hides him. The people living in the Myers' house are relatives of [[Laurie Strode]]...included is Kara Strode, and her illegitimate son, Danny - who "hears the voice" that Michael heard. Michael stalks each of the Strodes, trying to get to Jamie's baby. Across the street, Tommy reveals that Michael has been marked with a runic symbol called Thorn, an ancient Druid curse that drives a young man to wipe out his entire family for the good of civilization. The plot takes a turn when the Man in Black reveals himself to be a major character. He has been experimenting with pure evil all these years...and has kept it all secret in the bowels of Smith's Grove Sanitarium. Tommy and Dr. Loomis follow this madman to the mental hospital, where an all-out battle occurs with Michael. The film concludes with everyone getting out safely, except for Dr. Loomis, who walks back inside the hospital to "take care of unfinished business," never to return again.

==Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)==
[[Laurie Strode]] is now revealed to be living under the assumed name "Keri Tate". As Tate, Laurie has a seemingly perfect life with an intelligent son and a dedicated boyfriend, a great career (as a head mistress at a private boarding school in Northern California); however, Laurie Strode is far from happy. The tragic events from 20 years previous still haunt her mind, and strongly take effect on her parental capabilities. To everyone, this is "just another Halloween," however Laurie Strode still lives in constant fear.
But this year is different. To mark the 20th anniversary of the happenings of [[1978]], her psychotic brother, serial killer Michael Myers, appears, and starts killing off her co-workers and students one by one. And for the first time in two decades, they meet again. Laurie manages to escape, but instead of leaving, chooses to go back, in an attempt to restore her life, to the school to challenge Michael in a fight to the death. She finds him and attempts killing him several times. She finally pushes him off a balcony, causing him to fall to his death, similar to the first film.
The police come and clean the mess and put Michael's corpse in a body bag, and in an ambulance. Laurie steals the ambulance with Michael's body in the back. However, Michael is still alive and escapes the body bag, and again tries to kill her. She slams on the brakes, throwing him through the windshield. She then tries unsuccessfully to run him over. The vehicle tumbles down a cliff but she escapes, while Michael is trapped between it and a tree. He reaches out to her. She reaches for his hand, then pulls back. And while remembering everything he's done to her, she chops his head off with an axe. Michael's head then rolls down the hill.

==Halloween Resurrection (2002)==
The film begins three years after the events of Halloween: H20. [[Laurie Strode]], the main character of the first two installments as well as H20, has been confined to a mental institution on the counts of murder. A retcon is established in which Laurie did not really decapitate Michael Myers at the end of the previous film, but rather a paramedic with whom Myers forcefully switched clothing and his mask. Laurie pretends to be heavily medicated, but in reality dodges her pills and prepares herself for the inevitable confrontation with Michael Myers. When Myers does appear, Laurie lures him into a trap, but before she can kill him for good, he turns the tables on her and she presumably dies after being stabbed and falling from the roof of the institution, giving a kiss to Michael before falling. Just before telling him she will see him in hell.
A year later, a group of six college students win a competition to appear on a reality show on which they are to spend Halloween night in the childhood home of Michael Myers. Their mission is to find out what led him to kill. The investigation is done in the style of the [[MTV]] reality show, Fear and is broadcast live on the internet. The participants think the show is entirely for entertainment purposes and that the stunt will earn them some publicity and scholarship money. While in the house, the event goes horribly wrong as Michael returns home and one by one, kills the students and the crew involved in the broadcast. Soon, all but one of the college students are murdered. Using her PDA and penpal on the outside, Sara escapes. Ultimately, only Sara Moyer and Freddie Harris, the host of the show, survive. Toward the end Myers dies of electrocution and is taken to a morgue, where a frightened female mortician slowly opens his body bag. He opens his eyes and the mortician screams as the screen goes black and the final credits begin to roll.

==Halloween (2007)==
On Halloween in Haddonfield, Illinois, Deborah Myers ([[Sheri Moon Zombie]]) is called into her son Michael's ([[Daeg Faerch]]) school after the principal becomes concerned with Michael's behavior, as well as the discovery of a series of Polaroids of dead animals Michael keeps in his locker. Present at the meeting is Dr. Sam Loomis (Malcolm McDowell), a child psychologist, who informs Deborah that Michael displays the warning signs of a psychopath and urges her to allow him to further assess the boy. Earlier that day, Michael had been bullied in the bathroom over a flier advertising Deborah's strip club, where she was a star dancer. Michael followed one of the bullies ([[Daryl Sabara]]) into the woods and brutally beat him to death with a sturdy tree branch. That night, Michael goes home and murders his mother's boyfriend Ronnie ([[William Forsythe]]), his sister Judith ([[Hanna R. Hall]]), and her boyfriend Steve ([[Adam Weisman]]). Deborah returns home to find Michael bloodied and sitting on the porch with his baby sister Laurie in his arms. Michael is convicted of first degree murder and taken to Smith's Grove Sanitarium, where he is placed under the supervision of Dr. Loomis. For the first eleven months, Michael cooperates with Dr. Loomis, claiming no memory of killing anyone. Deborah visits him regularly, where he shows her the papier-mâché Halloween masks he has been constructing in his room and wearing all day. One night, Michael befriends orderly Ismael Cruz ([[Danny Trejo]]), an ex-con who teaches Michael to cope with incarceration by internalizing himself. Michael takes the advice literally, entering a state of semi-catatonia. Shortly thereafter, he kills a nurse ([[Sybil Danning]]) who claims he couldn't be related to Laurie through a picture; Deborah Myers, who saw the event, returns home that night and kills herself. For the next fifteen years, Michael ([[Tyler Mane]]) continues making his masks and not speaking to anyone. Dr. Loomis, wanting to move on with his life, retires, deeming his former charge a true psychopath and writing a book about his time working with Michael. Michael is scheduled to be transported to maximum security, but breaks free of his chains, murdering all of his guards, and escapes. He finds his way to a truck stop and murders a driver ([[Ken Foree]]) for his clothes. Michael returns to his childhood home and retrieves a kitchen knife and a Halloween mask he stole from his sister's boyfriend from underneath some floorboards.
The story shifts to [[Laurie Strode]] ([[Scout Taylor-Compton]]), and her friends [[Annie Brackett]] ([[Danielle Harris]]) and [[Lynda Van Der Klok]] ([[Kristina Klebe]]) on Halloween. Throughout the day, Laurie witnesses Michael watching her from a distance. That night, she heads to the Doyle residence to watch their son Tommy, who persistently asks her about the boogeyman. Meanwhile, Lynda meets with her boyfriend Bob (Nick Mennell) at Michael's childhood home, where they drink beer and have sex. After they finish, Michael appears, murders them, and then heads to the Strode home, where he murders Laurie's parents. Having been alerted to Michael's escape, Dr. Loomis comes to Haddonfield looking for Michael. After obtaining a .357 Magnum handgun, Loomis approaches Annie's father, the town sheriff, telling him that Michael has returned home and that people's lives are in danger. Sheriff Brackett (Brad Dourif) and Dr. Loomis head to the Strode home, Brackett explaining along the way that Laurie is actually Michael Myers' baby sister. He was the responding officer the night of Deborah Myers' suicide; not wanting the infant to grow up with the stigma of being related to Michael, he faked her disappearance and left her at a nearby hospital.
Meanwhile, Laurie gets a call from Annie, who is babysitting [[Lindsey Wallace]] (Jenny Gregg Stewart) across the street from the Doyle home; Annie convinces Laurie to watch Lindsey long enough so she can have sex with her boyfriend Paul ([[Max Van Ville]]). Annie and Paul return to the Wallace home; during sex, Michael murders Paul and beats Annie until she is unconscious. Bringing Lindsey home, Laurie finds Annie on the floor, bloodied, and calls 911. She is attacked by Michael, who chases her back to the Doyle home. Sheriff Brackett and Loomis hear the 911 call and head to the Wallace residence. Michael kidnaps Laurie, and takes her back to his home. At the Myers home, Michael approaches Laurie and tries to show her that she is his younger sister. Unable to understand, Laurie grabs Michael's knife and stabs him before escaping the house; Michael chases her, but is repeatedly shot by Dr. Loomis. Loomis and Laurie are just about to leave when Michael grabs Laurie and heads back to the house. Loomis intervenes, but Michael kills him by crushing his skull. Laurie takes Loomis' gun and runs upstairs; she is chased by Michael, who, after cornering her on a balcony, charges her head-on and knocks both of them over the railing. Laurie finds herself on top of a bleeding Michael. Aiming Loomis' gun at his face, she repeatedly pulls the trigger until the gun finally goes off just as Michael's hand grips Laurie's wrist.


== Characteristics and abilities==
== Characteristics and abilities==
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Although not mass media, the character was parodied in an episode of the [[Angry Video Game Nerd]] series, released 31st October 2007.
Although not mass media, the character was parodied in an episode of the [[Angry Video Game Nerd]] series, released 31st October 2007.


==References==

{{Reflist}}


== External links ==
== External links ==

Revision as of 04:54, 12 November 2007

Template:Film-in-universe

Halloween character
File:Michaelmyers2007.JPG
Michael Myers
Classification: Mass murderer[1]
Signature weapon Kitchen knife
Location Haddonfield, Illinois
Created by: John Carpenter
Debra Hill
Portrayed by: Nick Castle, Tony Moran & Will Sandin (child)[2]
Dick Warlock & Adam Gunn (child)[3]
George P. Wilbur[4][5]
Don Shanks[6]
Chris Durand[7]
Brad Loree[8]
Tyler Mane & Daeg Faerch (child)[9]

Michael Myers is a fictional character from the Halloween film series. The character has appeared in seven of the eight Halloween films, as well as in several comic books and other media forms. He also appeared in the newest version of the film, made by Rob Zombie, in Halloween (2007)

One of the first slasher villains, his murders occur on Halloween, with some films depicting him active in the preceding day or so, targeting family members, but willing to kill everyone that comes in his way. In some of the later movies, Michael decides that anyone living in his old home is his family, and goes after them as well. Michael Myers is absent from Halloween III: Season of the Witch, although he makes a small appearance on a TV screen at a bar that the main character goes to.

Some fans and even cast and crew of the films sometime call the character The Shape, which is what some of the actors playing the character are credited as. This dates back to the script for the first film in which Michael Myers is referred to by name only twice, in the beginning and end scenes; at all other times, with the exception of dialogue, he is simply referred to as a "shape" due to his face not being visible.

The character was named Michael Myers after the head of Miracle Films, a now defunct distribution company that helped release John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 in the U.K.

Appearances

Michael Myers made his first appearance in the original 1978 film, Halloween, although the masked character is credited as "The Shape". In the beginning of the film, a six-year old Michael (Will Sandin) murders his older sister, Judith (Sandy Johnson), and is taken to a Smith's Grove - Warren County Sanitarium. Fifteen years later, Michael (Nick Castle) escapes the sanitarium and returns to Haddonfield, Illinois. Michael procedes to stalk and murder several teens. When he attempts to kill Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) she manages to fend him off long enough for Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence), Michael's psychiatrist, to find him. Loomis shoots Michael six times in the chest, before Michael falls over the house's second-story balcony ledge. When Loomis goes to check Michael's body, he finds it missing.[2] Michael's second appearance was in Halloween's sequel, Halloween II (1981). The film picks up directly where the original ends, with Loomis still looking for Michael's body. Myers (Dick Warlock) follows Laurie Strode to the local hospital, where he wanders the halls in search of her. Loomis discovers that Laurie Strode is Michael's younger sister, and goes to the hospital to find them. Loomis causes an explosion in the operating room, and Laurie escapes as the flames engulf Loomis and Myers.[3]

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) picks the story up ten years after the events of Halloween II. Michael (George P. Wilbur) is revealed to have survived the explosion, but he has been held at the Ridgemont Federal Sanitarium. Michael wakes from his coma when he learns Laurie Strode was killed in a car accident, but that her daughter is still alive. Michael escapes and immediately heads to Haddonfield to kill Laurie's daughter, Jamie (Danielle Harris). The state police find Michael and shoot him several times before he falls down a mine shaft.[4] Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989) begins immediately after the fourth film ends, with Michael Myers (Don Shanks) escaping the mine shaft and being nursed back to health by a local hermit. The next year, Michael kills the hermit and returns to Haddonfield to find Jamie again. Michael is eventually captured and taken to the local police station, but an unseen figure kills the officers and frees him.[6] Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) takes place approximately six years after the events of The Revenge of Michael Myers; both Jamie (J. C. Brandy) and Michael (George P. Wilbur) have disappeared from Haddonfield. The Cult of Thorn impregnate Jamie, in an effort to control Michael Myers. Michael kills Jamie, but not before she hides her newborn. Tommy Doyle (Paul Rudd) discovers Jamie's baby. While trying to protect the baby from Myers, Tommy learns that the Curse of Thorn is the cause of Michael's obsession with killing his entire family.[5]

Ignoring the events of the previous three films, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) follows Michael (Chris Durand) as he searches for Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), and her teenage son John (Josh Hartnett). Michael tracks Laurie to the private boarding school where she is headmistress and murders John's friends. After ensuring the safety of her son, Laurie battles it out Michael, and succeeds in decapitating him.[7] Halloween: Resurrection (2002), which picks up three years after H20, retcons Michael's death, establishing that the man Laurie decapitated was a paramedic whom Michael had attacked and swapped clothes with. Michael tracks Laurie to a mental institution, where she was placed after she learned the truth of her actions. Michael kills Laurie and returns to his home in Haddonfield. There, he finds a group of college students filming an internet reality show inside his house. He begins killing each of them before being caught in an electrical fire.[8]

Michael's latest appearance is in Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007), a remake of the original film.[10] Zombie's film focuses more on Michael's psychology. The film follows the basic premise of the original film, with Michael (Daeg Faerch) killing his sister Judith (Hanna R. Hall), escaping Smith's Grove, and stalking Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton). In this film, Laurie is shown to be Michael's sister from the beginning, something not revealed until the original's sequel in 1981. Michael is shown to have an interest in killing animals, and with Halloween masks. During his time at Smith's Grove, he takes up the hobby of creating papier-mâché masks, which he wears constantly. Michael's (Tyler Mane) motives for coming after Laurie were altered to show that he was attempting to reunite with his sister, the one person in his family he cared for, instead of simply being out to kill her.[9]

Characteristics and abilities

  • Michael is tall and slender; in Rob Zombie's re-imagining he is portrayed by Tyler Mane who is 6'8". In Halloween: Resurrection he is clearly taller than 6'1" Busta Rhymes (Fred Harris). He has scars from burns after being set on fire by Dr. Loomis at the conclusion of Halloween II. In the Zombie film, Michael has blue eyes and long blonde hair. In the original movie, young Michael is shown to have brown eyes and dirty blond hair, and later with black hair and brown eyes as an adult, during his unmasking. In subsequent films, mainly one eye is seen, due to being shot in both eyes, by his sister Laurie Strode in Halloween II. He is generally depicted in coveralls worn by automobile mechanics. He also wears a white mask (originally a William Shatner mask with the facial hair removed and spray painted white) during his murders with very few exceptions. In the 2007 remake, Michael, as a child, often wears masks to school and while at home. He wears a clown mask most often and tells his mother, after he is incarcerated for killing his sister, her boyfriend, and his mother's boyfriend, that he doesn't like his appearance and thinks he's ugly. He even orders her to put back a mask she took off of his face. As an adult, Michael, while not in therapy with Dr. Loomis, spends much of his time creating masks made out of papier-mâché that he hangs on the wall of his cell and is almost always wearing one of them.
  • Michael also has a rudimentary and near-genius mentality. In the 1978 film, Michael is only six-years-old when he kills his sister, meaning he may not have been in school for long. He never receives any school while incarcerated. In his escape, he is able to commandeer the vehicle Loomis and Chambers were driving, and operated it well; he was never instructed how to drive a motor vehicle (however, Loomis addresses this point by saying that Michael "had the run [of the hospital]", and could have intimidated anyone there into teaching him how to drive). There are also times he has been seen operating complex devices. One aspect writer Rob Zombie consciously removed from the mythology in his remake is Michael's inexplicable ability to drive, as he is seen traveling on foot.
  • Michael almost never uses firearms or explosives to kill people. The rare exception is in Halloween 4 where he uses a shotgun to impale a victim. Typically, Michael prefers stabbing and cutting instruments like knives and scalpels (as in Halloween II) or blunt force such as his bare hands.
  • Michael never runs no matter how fast his victims run when he pursues them. He usually walks with a distinctive gait, but in the 2007 remake of Halloween Michael is seen charging at his younger sister, though he doesn't actually run. His primary weapon is a kitchen knife, but has also used several other weapons to accomplish his work, including a pitchfork in Halloween 5 and an axe in Halloween 6. In Halloween 4, he also appears to take a run up to jump/break through a door, which is somewhat out of character for Michael. He crushes the skull of victims with his bare hands in The Return of Michael Myers, Halloween (2007) and Halloween: Resurrection. He even drives his thumb through a victim's forehead in the beginning of The Return of Michael Myers. He often looks directly into his victim's eyes with his head shifted to the side as if to study them as they die or shortly thereafter. In the 2007 Rob Zombie movie, he kills his sister's boyfriend with an aluminum baseball bat and a nurse with a fork.
  • While Michael is mute, he seems to understand what people say to him. There have been brief glimpses of hesitation or even remorse in Michael, an example of which is in Halloween II. Michael approaches Laurie with the intention of killing her, when she screams his name. Michael stops and turns his head slightly in confusion; this hints that Michael may not be entirely sure of his intentions. Many consider this a true interpretation of Michael's hesitation, as it is in a film made by John Carpenter, the creator of the character, and not a different writer who hoped to fill in the gaps of Michael's origin with their own ideas. Another example is Halloween 5 when Jamie climbs into the coffin, she cries out "uncle" and Michael stops his attack and then she says "let me see", at which point Michael removes his mask and a tear falls out of his eye. This seems to show remorse, or perhaps simply a moment during which Michael's true soul takes hold before the curse silences it once more, suggesting Michael is not a psychopath. In the 2007 remake, Michael displays psychopathic tendencies such as regularly torturing and killing small animals and is described in the film as being psychotic, however after brutalizing everyone he comes across instead of automatically killing his baby sister after finding her he first shows her a picture of him and Laurie when they were younger showing he still had a fondness for her.
  • Michael has displayed limited psychic abilities with his family, most noticeably his 7 year old niece Jamie. He was able to mentally command his niece Jamie to attack her adoptive mother in The Return of Michael Myers. Also in Halloween 5, Michael and Jamie have developed a special psychic link, which allows Jamie to instinctively know when and where he will strike next.
  • Michael has displayed many feats of superhuman strength including lifting large men off their feet by their heads. One of his greatest feats occurred in The Curse of Michael Myers; after pursuing a Thorn doctor through a tunnel and trapping him behind jail-like bars, Michael slowly presses the doctor's head into the bars, crushing it, causing the bars to fall to the floor in the process. In the 2007 remake, Michael demonstrates superhuman levels strength sufficient to lift a man off the ground by the throat with one hand, breaks steel chains, and lift and move his mother's tombstone, which is said in the movie to weigh over 1,000 lbs. In H20 and Resurrection Myers is able to raise and lower himself from pipes in the ceiling with just one arm. He does this feat slowly without any apparent sign of strain. Myers would easily weigh 200lbs. being as large as he is.
  • Michael apparently eats food. It is not known how often he needs to eat, but it seems very infrequent. It was insinuated he lived in part off rats in Halloween Resurrection. In The Revenge of Michael Myers, he is apparently catatonic for an entire year as he laid in the fisherman's cabin. It is unknown if he partook of any sustenance during that year.
  • Michael possesses superhuman recuperative abilities. He has withstood being shot several times, including 6 times at point blank range in the original film. He has also withstood being burned, stabbed, beaten, hanged and electrocuted. In Halloween II, there's a scene where he grabs the nurse's neck into a hot tub (over 100 degrees) while his hands touching the water. While the nurse's face was burnt, his hands didn't. Also in the final scenes of Halloween II, he is shot in both eyes by his sister, Laurie; in later films he has regenerated both eyes, though most of the sequels only show one eye in close-ups. However, given the common occurrence of unlikely events in horror films, it is possible that Laurie's shots did not actually hit Michael in the eyes, but rather in a close vicinity to his eyes, and the flow of blood simply blinded him temporarily. After acting comatose for nearly 10 years, he displays no ill physical effects when he escapes from the ambulance in The Return of Michael Myers. In the 2007 remake, there is no mention of Michael being supernatural though displays superhuman levels of resilience throughout the film such as being stabbed in the chest, shot in the chest by a police officer and three more times later by Loomis. At the end of the film, Laurie shoots him in the face and is splattered with his blood, though the movie quickly ends without revealing if Michael survives.
  • Michael is also quite cunning, able to sneak up on intended victims or trick them consistently. He has an uncanny ability to escape detection.

In mass media

The stop motion animated television show Robot Chicken episode nineteen, "That Hurts Me", Michael appears (voiced by Seth Green), this time a housemate of "Horror Movie Big Brother", alongside other famous slasher movie killers such as Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, Leatherface, Pinhead, and Ghostface. There he plays Charades with the other mute killers and wages a practical joke war with Jason against Pinhead. Unable to win the veto in the Challenge, it was Michael and Ghostface who were voted on to be evicted. When pleading their cases, Ghostface gives a decidedly more heartfelt speech than Michael, who just stabs Freddy several times. Michael is evicted, and is revealed to be comedian Mike Myers before stabbing his interviewer to death while spouting Wayne's World quotes.

He also appears in an "Andy Milonakis" feature called "Andy goes to Hollywood" where Andy is attacked by Michael and Ralphie (another character) and it ends with Ralphie saying "I want a doughnut" and a group hug in which Michael Myers joins in.

Additionally, the Michael Myers character has been and continues to be one of the inspirations for The Undertaker character in the WWE. The most prominent example of this has been seen in nearly every match The Undertaker has had over the last 15+ years, where he lies flat on his back, giving his opponent the illusion that he's unconscious or otherwise unable to continue, and then after a few moments, without warning he sits straight up and turns his head to one side (usually in the direction of his opponent). As with Michael Myers, the idea is to further emphasize and reinforce the seemingly indestructible nature of the character.

Although not mass media, the character was parodied in an episode of the Angry Video Game Nerd series, released 31st October 2007.

References

  1. ^ Stuart Fischoff, Alexandra Dimopoulos, FranÇois Nguyen, Leslie Hurry, and Rachel Gordon (2003). "The psychological appeal of your favorite movie monsters (abstract)". ISCPubs. Retrieved 2007-07-24.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ a b Debra Hill (writer) and John Carpenter (writer/director) (1978). Halloween (1978 film) (DVD). Falcon International Productions.
  3. ^ a b Debra Hill, John Carpenter (writers) and Rick Rosenthal (director) (1981). Halloween II (DVD). Dino De Laurentiis Corporation.
  4. ^ a b Alan B. McElroy (writer) and Dwight H. Little (1988). Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (DVD). Trancas International Films.
  5. ^ a b Daniel Farrands (writer) and Joe Chappelle (director) (1995). Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (DVD). Miramax Films.
  6. ^ a b Michael Jacobs, Dominique Othenin-Girard, Shem Bitterman (writers) and Dominique Othenin-Girard (director) (1989). Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (DVD). Magnum Pictures Inc.
  7. ^ a b Robert Zapia, Matt Greenberg (writers) and Steve Miner (director) (1998). Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (DVD). Dimension Films.
  8. ^ a b Larry Brand, Sean Hood (writers) and Rick Rosenthal (director) (2002). Halloween: Resurrection (DVD). Dimension Films.
  9. ^ a b Rob Zombie (writer/director) (2007). Halloween (2007 film) (DVD). Dimension Films.
  10. ^ Borys Kit (2006-06-05). "Zombie plots new mayhem for 'Halloween'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2007-08-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

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