Because It's Ridiculously Confusing, Here Is Every Movie in the Halloween Franchise

Written and directed by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, the slasher film that began the Halloween franchise starred then-unknown actress Jamie Lee Curtis as high school student Laurie Strode and veteran actor Donald Pleasence as child psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis. In the movie, a young boy murders his older sister with a kitchen knife on Halloween night and is subsequently hospitalised under the care of Dr. Loomis. Fifteen years later, Michael Myers escapes with the intent to kill again, this time focusing on Laurie, who — unbeknownst to her — is also Michael's sister.

Interestingly, Michael is played by two different actors: Nick Castle when he's masked and Tony Moran when he is unmasked. Despite the low budget, minimal advertising, and Carpenter's little experience, the film launched Curtis's career and nearly a dozen instalments and remakes to follow.

In the sequel to the original, Curtis and Pleasence reprised their roles, with Carpenter and Hill also returning to write and produce. Though Castle and Moran returned for flashback scenes, Dick Warlock took over the role of Michael.

The movie picks up where Halloween concludes, with Michael disappearing and his sister Laurie narrowly escaping his murderous attacks. While Laurie recovers in the hospital, Loomis continues to search for his former patient.

Originally, Halloween II was intended to be the last chapter of the Halloween series to revolve around Michael Myers (spoiler alert: he is seemingly killed by Laurie and Loomis in the end), but Michael would make his return again seven years later.

Though Carpenter and Hill wrote and produced this third instalment, Halloween III is the only entry in the series that does not feature Michael Myers or any plot elements from the first two films. This movie instead follows Dr. Dan Challis (played by Tom Atkins) as he attempts to solve the murder of a patient in his hospital with the help of the patient's daughter.

Carpenter and Hill hoped this third movie might be the start of an anthology series, with each new chapter centred on a different Halloween-themed plot (at one point, a character can even be seen watching a trailer for the first Halloween film), but after the bad reviews and even poorer box office returns, the idea was abandoned and Michael Myers was brought back.

In the fourth instalment, Michael Myers (now played by George P. Wilbur) wakes from a 10-year coma when he hears that Laurie has been killed in a car accident but that she is survived by her 7-year-old daughter, Jamie (played by Danielle Harris). Michael escapes from the hospital where he has been kept to hunt down his niece, while Loomis — once again played by Pleasence — tries to hunt down Michael. In the end, after she attacks her foster mother, it is learned that Jamie may be displaying the same violent tendencies as her uncle.

Curtis was originally asked to reprise her role of Laurie as well, but the rising star declined (though she would return to the franchise again later on).

In this movie, Jamie is impregnated by a crazy cult and, soon after delivering her son, is killed by the ruthless Michael (played once again by Wilbur, who played Michael in the forth film). A young man whom Laurie Strode used to babysit (played by Paul Rudd) finds and takes over care of the baby, and he teams up with Loomis to track down Michael once again. This movie also introduces the "Curse of Thorn," which is the source of Michael's immortality as well as his violence.

Despite a young Rudd in his first starring role, the sixth Halloween film performed nearly as poorly as the third. It marked Pleasence's last time playing Loomis; the actor tragically passed away before the film was released.

Curtis finally returned for the 20th anniversary of the original film, which picks up the story 20 years after the events of Halloween II and reveals that Laurie didn't die but instead had faked her death to go into hiding from Michael. Also, rather than having a daughter, Laurie instead has a son, John (played by Josh Hartnett), basically doing away with chapters four to six of the series.

In the movie, Laurie serves as principal at her son's school and must contend with Michael once again when he shows up and picks off her son's friends one by one. Michelle Williams, LL Cool J, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt also appear in the film, making for an ultimate '90s flick. Though Laurie supposedly kills Michael in the end, you should know better by now than to think she actually succeeds.

Directed by Rick Rosenthal, who also directed Halloween II, this eighth instalment continues to follow Laurie after the events of Halloween H20: 20 Years Later. After learning that she hadn't actually killed Michael in the last film (shocker!), Laurie is killed herself, and Michael returns to his childhood home. Meanwhile, a group of college students win a competition to spend the night in Michael's house on Halloween night, not knowing he is living there, and you can imagine how well that goes.

Following the success of the last film, more big names were added in to the cast, including Tyra Banks, Busta Rhymes, and Thomas Ian Nicholas, and despite the terrible critical reception, the film performed surprisingly well.

Rather than continuing the Halloween: Resurrection story, director Rob Zombie decided instead to remake the 1978 film, with Malcolm McDowell as Loomis, Scout Taylor-Compton as Laurie, and Tyler Mane as Michael. Though the story follows Carpenter and Hill's original plot, Zombie made this film his own by developing the psyche of the masked killer, allowing for a better understanding of what leads Michael to kill (especially since the whole "Curse of Thorn" thing was long abandoned). Harris also returns to the franchise, this time to play Laurie's friend Annie.

Again, despite poor critical reception, this film ended up becoming the highest-grossing movie in the Halloween series.

With Zombie again producing and directing, the sequel strays from Carpenter and Hill's plot. Instead, it focuses the story two years after the events of the first rather than immediately following, with a Loomis who is more concerned with promoting his new book than finding Michael and a Laurie who shares hallucinations with her killer brother. The movie also devotes more time to the character's inner self, focusing on the psychological connection between Laurie and Michael.

McDowell, Taylor-Compton, Harris, and Mane all returned to reprise their roles, and once again, audiences enjoyed the movie far more than the critics did.

This forthcoming film is like a reunion, with Curtis returning as Laurie, Castle returning as Michael, and Carpenter helping to produce. In this movie, Laurie will once again have a daughter, though she's named Karen this time (and played by Judy Greer), as well as a granddaughter (played by Andi Matichak). We don't know how this one will go down yet, as it's not out until October, but we can't wait to see how it continues the never-ending story of the masked murderer Michael Myers!