Halloween is one of the pre-eminent slasher and horror film franchises. While no film has recaptured the lightning in the bottle of the 1978 original, the franchise is still going strong – 12 installments under its belt with a 13th on the way.
Despite the franchise’s middling quality, most of them stick the landing. Most. Halloween Ends is set to bring the modern franchise to a close, but the series' history with lackluster finales might not bode well for the trilogy's conclusion.
12 Halloween: Resurrection Ends Like A Dozen Other Slashers
The cheapest ending for a horror movie of any sort is the seemingly-dead monster reawakening – the evil isn't as vanquished as the heroes thought. Halloween: Resurrection, reputed as the worst film in the series, ends this way. Michael, charred and burned after being electrocuted, is taken to the morgue. Resurrection ends with a close-up on him on the slab, his closed eyes shooting open.
11 Halloween 6 Practically Has The Same Ending As Resurrection
Halloween 6: The Curse Of Michael Myers is neck-and-neck with Resurrection for the dubious honor of "Worst Halloween" film. Coincidentally, the films have practically the same ending. Michael is seemingly defeated, but Halloween 6 ends with a close-up of his discarded mask and the sound of Dr. Loomis screaming. Loomis was the most consistent character in the series next to Michael himself, so this offscreen demise is quite ill-fitting.
10 There's Not Much Merit To Halloween 5, Ending Included
Halloween 5 reeks of both a hasty production and a series bereft of clear direction. The film mostly consists of Michael roaming around Haddonfield in search of his niece, Jamie. In the third act, Loomis captures Michael by using Jamie as bait – the killer is arrested, but a mysterious "Man In Black" frees him. Halloween 5 ends with Jamie in despair after seeing Michael's cell open. The film function as a big circle, with no real character or story progression.
9 Halloween Kills' Ending Makes The Movie Feel Pointless
Halloween Kills conjures up unpleasant memories of Halloween 5. The film's closing minutes see Michael cornered by a mob, led by Tommy Doyle. After some catharsis of seeing Michael finally overcome by the community he's terrorized, the film cuts back to Laurie. She remarks, "the more [Michael] kills, the more he transcends." Her words play over Michael rising up and slaughtering the mob, up to Laurie's daughter Karen. Killing the story's most likable character is definitely not the best sequel hook.
8 Halloween II's Ending Is Tidy, But Doesn't Work Well With Future Sequels
Now things start getting good. Halloween II doesn't come anywhere near the quality of the original, but it honors its spirit – barring the hokey twist of Michael and Laurie's sibling relationship – and serves as a respectable conclusion. After Michael corners Laurie in Haddonfield Hospital, she blinds Michael with some stray gunshots. Loomis sacrifices himself by filling the room with gas and lighting a match. The burning Michael stumbles from the room and collapses, finally dead. Halloween II's closing shot is his burning corpse, accompanied by The Chordettes' "Mr. Sandman."
7 Rob Zombie's Halloween Has An Ok Climax, But A Great Closing Moment
After a completely original first act delving into Michael's origins, Rob Zombie's Halloween becomes a broad remake of John Carpenter's original. The film subverts the ending of the original, however. After Loomis saves Laurie, Michael returns, knocks out the doctor, and continues his pursuit of Laurie. The extra chase feels like treading water, but it leads to an emotional ending: with Michael knocked out and Loomis' gun having one shot left, Laurie aims the gun at Michael's head and pulls the trigger. Michael's eyes open just as the shot goes out, and while Laurie screams, the film cuts to a shot of the two as happy children.
6 Halloween (2018)'s Ending Is Satisfying, If A Tad Abrupt
The Laurie Strode of David Gordon Green's Halloween has spent 40 years preparing for Michael's return, to the detriment of her relationships with her daughter Karen and granddaughter Allyson. In the third act, the hunter becomes the hunted, culminating in Michael being locked in Laurie's basement before she sets it ablaze. As the fire consumes him, Michael takes one last look at his prey, now just out of his reach. Three generations of the Strode clan stumble to victory, Laurie having finally seemingly put her past behind her by burning it away. The choice to close on a shot of Allyson's hand holding a bloody knife is a curious one, though.
5 Halloween 4's Ending Comes Out Of Nowhere, But Is Still Effective
Halloween 4 may have been The Return Of Michael Myers, but it wasn't the return of Laurie Strode. Without Jamie Lee Curtis, Laurie was written as having died between films. The new protagonist, and Michael's new quarry, was her daughter Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris). Halloween 4 ends with Michael seemingly dead, but a traumatized Jamie stabs her adoptive mother. Loomis screams in horror as the rest of Jamie's family looks on.
The scene mirrors the opening of the original Halloween, where Michael killed his sister Judith, down to Jamie's clown costume and the POV shot through the mask's eyelids. Jamie's turn would serve as a respectable ending on its own – Michael is victorious even in death, for his evil has infected his family. It also points towards a much riper path which Halloween 5 could have gone down.
4 Halloween H20's Ending Has Unequaled Catharsis
Halloween: H20 was the first film to star Jamie Lee Curtis since Halloween II. While overall rather mediocre, the last minutes sport the perfect ending for Michael and Laurie's story. Laurie decides to finally stop running away and take the fight to Michael. Even after he's defeated, she steals the ambulance holding him. A crash caused by Michael's awakening leaves him pinned between the car and a tree. He reaches out to his sister, but she meets him with a swing of a fire axe, decapitating him.
3 Halloween III Proved You Don't Need Michael Myers For A Terrifying Ending
Halloween III: Season Of The Witch is the series' oddball. John Carpenter and Debra Hill envisioned Halloween as an anthology series, and it was only after this film's failure that Michael Myers was cemented as the star. Despite its initial failure, Season Of The Witch has become a cult classic, and has one of the most chilling endings in the franchise.
The villains, led by Conal Cochran (Dan O'Herlihy) plan to broadcast a message which will kill all children wearing their "Silver Shamrock" masks on Halloween night – the ultimate Halloween prank! Hero Dan Challis (Tom Atkins) manages to convince all but one TV station to stop the broadcast. As he shouts in vain for the signal to shut off, Season of the Witch ends with a smash to black. Apparently, the cut was supposed to be accompanied by the sound of children's screams, but this was too gruesome an ending.
2 The Ending Of Rob Zombie's Halloween II Is Beautifully, Hauntingly Abstract
Rob Zombie's Halloween II is the most unconventional film in the series, and one of the best. Laurie struggling to come to terms with herself, what happened to her, and Scout Taylor-Compton's performance are genuinely compelling – the film is at its most rote whenever it focuses on Michael and his slashing.
Halloween II ends with Michael once again capturing Laurie and Loomis failing to save her. In the aftermath, Michael is felled by a police shot. Depending on whether it's the theatrical or director's cut, Laurie either finishes off Michael herself and is sent to a sanitarium, or is killed by friendly fire and has a dying vision of her and Michael's mother, Deborah (Sheri Moon Zombie). Both versions end with a close-up of Laurie flashing a menacing grin, scored to Nan Vernon's "Love Hurts." It sure does.
1 There's No Beating The Original Halloween's Ending
There's no beating the classics. The original Halloween ends with Loomis shot by Michael, but when the doctor turns away for a moment, the Shape is gone. Loomis stares off forebodingly as Halloween ends with a montage of locations throughout Haddonfield, accompanied by the main theme and Michael's breathing. Now that he's escaped, he could be anywhere. Michael Myers not human, after all, but the very Shape of evil.