Michael Meyers

Michael Myers is a fictional character from the Halloween series of slasher films. He first appears in 1978 in John Carpenter's Halloween as a young boy who murders his elder sister, Judith Myers. Fifteen years later, he returns home to Haddonfield to murder more teenagers. In the original Halloween, the adult Michael Myers, referred to as The Shape in the closing credits, was portrayed by Nick Castle for most of the film and substituted by Tony Moran and Tommy Lee Wallace in the final scenes. The character was created by Debra Hill and John Carpenter and has appeared in ten films, as well as novels, multiple video games, and several comic books.

## Appearences

Michael Myers made his first appearance in the film, Halloween (1978). In the beginning of Halloween, a six-year-old Michael (Will Sandin) murders his teenage sister Judith (Sandy Johnson) on Halloween, 1963. Fifteen years later, Michael (Nick Castle) escapes Smith's Grove Sanitarium and returns to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois. He stalks teenage babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) on Halloween, while his psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) attempts to track him down. After murdering several of Laurie's friends, Michael finally attacks Laurie herself, but she manages to fend him off long enough for Loomis to save her. Loomis shoots Michael six times, knocking him off the balcony; when Loomis goes to check Michael's body, he finds that he has disappeared.[5] Halloween II (1981) picks up directly where the original ends, with Dr. Loomis still looking for Michael. Michael (Dick Warlock) follows Laurie to the local hospital and kills the staff one by one throughout the night. Loomis learns that Laurie is Michael's younger sister and rushes to the hospital to find them. Laurie shoots Michael in the eyes, blinding him, and Loomis causes an explosion in the operating theater, allowing Laurie to escape. Michael, engulfed in flames, stumbles out of the room before finally collapsing.[6]

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) has no continuity relation to the other films, although Michael briefly appears in a television advertisement for the first film.[7]

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 been in a comatose state since the explosion. Michael wakes from his coma when he learns Laurie Strode has died in a car accident but has a seven-year-old niece, Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris). Returning to Haddonfield, he causes a citywide blackout and massacres the town's police force, before being shot by the state police and falling down a mine shaft.[8] Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989) begins immediately after the fourth film ends, with Michael Myers (Donald L. 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 (Harris) again, chasing her through his childhood home in a trap set up by Loomis (Pleasence). Michael is eventually subdued by Loomis and taken to the local police station, but a mysterious "Man in Black" attacks the police station, kills the officers, and frees him.[9] Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) takes place six years after the events of The Revenge of Michael Myers; both Jamie (J. C. Brandy) and Michael (Wilbur) have disappeared from Haddonfield. Jamie has been kidnapped and impregnated by the Cult of Thorn, led by Dr. Terence Wynn (Mitchell Ryan), Loomis' friend and colleague from Smith's Grove. Wynn is revealed to have been manipulating Michael all along and was his mysterious savior in Halloween 5. Michael attacks Jamie, but not before she hides her infant, who is discovered and taken in by Tommy Doyle (Paul Rudd). While trying to protect the baby from Michael and Wynn, Tommy learns that the cult may be the cause of Michael's obsession with killing his entire family, in addition to his seemingly supernatural abilities. Michael ultimately turns against the cult and is finally subdued by Tommy, who injects him with large quantities of tranquilizers inside the Smith's Grove Sanitarium. The film ends with Michael's mask lying on the floor of the lab room and Loomis screaming in the background, leaving the fate of both men unknown.[10]

Ignoring the events of the previous three films, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) establishes that Michael Myers (Chris Durand) has been missing for twenty years since the explosion in 1978. Laurie Strode (Curtis) has faked her death to escape her brother and is now living in California under an assumed name with her teenage son John (Josh Hartnett). Michael tracks Laurie and her son to the private boarding school where she is headmistress and murders John's friends. Getting her son to safety, Laurie willingly goes back to face Michael, and decapitates him, finally killing him.[11] 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 (Brad Loree) tracks down an institutionalized Laurie and kills her. He returns to Haddonfield, where one year later, he finds and kills a group of college students filming an internet reality show inside his childhood home. Contestant Sara Moyer (Bianca Kajlich) and show producer Freddie Harris (Busta Rhymes) escape by electrocuting Michael. Michael's body and the bodies of his victims are then taken to the morgue. As the medical examiner begins to inspect Michael's body, he awakens.[12]

A new version of Michael Myers appears in Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007), a reboot of the franchise.[13] The film follows the basic premise of the original film, with an increased focus on Michael's childhood: a ten-year-old Michael (Daeg Faerch) is shown killing animals and suffering emotional abuse from Judith (Hanna R. Hall) and his mother's boyfriend Ronnie (William Forsythe), both of whom he later murders, along with a boy who was bullying him. After being committed to Smith's Grove, Michael takes up the hobby of creating papier-mâché masks and receives unsuccessful therapy from Dr. Sam Loomis (Malcolm McDowell). Michael's mother Deborah (Sheri Moon Zombie) commits suicide after witnessing him killing a nurse. As an adult, Michael (Tyler Mane) returns to Haddonfield to reunite with his younger sister Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton), the only person he has ever loved. However, Laurie has no memory of Michael and is terrified of him, ultimately shooting him in the head in self-defense after he kills her friends and adoptive parents.[14] Zombie's story is continued in the sequel, Halloween II (2009), which picks up right where the remake leaves off and then jumps ahead one year. Here, Michael (Mane) is presumed dead but resurfaces after a vision of Deborah informs him that he must track Laurie down so that they can "come home." In the film, Michael and Laurie have a mental link, with the two sharing visions of their mother. During the film's climax, Laurie kills Michael by stabbing him repeatedly in the chest and face with his own knife, with the final scene suggesting that she has taken on her brother's psychosis as she dons his mask.[15]

Halloween (2018) is a direct sequel to the original film, thus retconning Michael and Laurie's sibling relationship. It is established that Michael (James Jude Courtney) was arrested following his killing spree in 1978, spending 40 years in Smith's Grove Sanitarium before escaping again and returning to Haddonfield for another killing spree. Here he comes face-to-face again with Laurie Strode (once again played by Curtis), who has been living in fear of his return. Michael is taken to Laurie's home by his deranged psychologist, where he engages in a showdown with Laurie, who severely injures him and severs two of his fingers. Michael is ultimately trapped in Laurie's burning house by Laurie, her daughter Karen (Judy Greer), and her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak). Michael is heard breathing in a post-credits scene, suggesting that he survived.[16][17][18]