Rhiannon Elizabeth Irons
If we’ve learned one thing from John Carpenter’s Halloween, it’s you can’t kill the Boogeyman.
Unleashing the horror that was Michael Myers on the world in 1978, John Carpenter alongside Debra Hill created a force of nature so powerful that 45 years later, fellow creators are still paying homage to this indisputable classic.
Seeing as the next final tournament for QUIZarenaLIVE features 10 multiple choice questions all about the Halloween franchise, I thought it was a perfect time to indulge in my darker side and bring forth a new Top 13 list focusing on Michael Myers and his body count.
Let’s face it, he’s offed more than 13 people across 13 movies, but to be considered for this list, the kill has to be impactful to the storyline, the characters, and the audience, and it has to be committed by Michael Myers. So as great as Corey Cunningham was in Halloween Ends, his victims don’t count.
If you haven’t seen the Halloween films yet, this is your only warning – there will be spoilers.
Let me know what you think in the comments below. Did your favourite Michael Myers kill make the list?
13: The Firefighters – Halloween Kills (2021)
Okay, I’m cheating with this one, but what an impact this scene had on the beginning of Halloween Kills, the first sequel in the new trilogy.
As Laurie’s compound is burning to the ground, the firefighters descend on the scene. What comes next is pure carnage. Michael Myers has hidden himself in a closet in the basement. When one of the firefighters falls through the floorboards, Michael steps out from the closet and kills him quickly. Then when his buddy is reaching through the hole in the floor, it’s Michael’s hand he grabs.
For the next few minutes, all hell breaks loose as Michael emerges from the burning house and dispatches the remaining 10 firefighters with ease, often using their own equipment against them.
While we might not have cared as much about the characters in this scene as some of the others on this list, you cannot deny seeing Michael rip through an entire emergency crew with ease was greatly satisfying.
12: John Strode – Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
The abusive patriarch of the Strode household, John Strode is probably the most deserving victim on this list.
John returns to the family home, which just so happens to also be Michael’s childhood home, completely intoxicated and screaming for his wife, Debra.
Upon hearing a noise from the basement, John descends the stairs and makes his way to the washing machine. Opening the lid, he discovers bloody sheets and the head of his now deceased wife.
In shock, he steps back, right into the path of Michael who picks him up and pins him to the fuse box, electrocuting him and causing his head to explode. It is worth noting that the head explosion doesn’t happen in the Producer’s Cut of the film, but regardless of if it explodes or not, you can't deny that this was a damn good, and deserving, kill.
11: Vicky – Halloween (2018)
Did you know that Halloween was originally entitled The Babysitter Murders? This was a nice homage to the original film with Vicky (Virginia Gardener) babysitting Julian on Halloween night.
Julian sneaks down the stairs and tells Vicky that he’s seen the Boogeyman standing in his room. Not believing him, Vicky heads back upstairs to check and to tuck him back into bed. Though Vicky initially toys with Julian, pretending to speak to his boogeyman before giving him a jump scare, it’s only a few seconds later when Vicky faces off against the real Boogeyman of Haddonfield.
Checking Julian’s closet, Vicky comes face to face with Michael and he stabs her. Julian flees the scene as Vicky is fatally stabbed repeatedly by Michael. And in another homage to the original film, Michael covers her with a sheet, leaving her sitting in a chair.
10: Marion Whittington – Halloween H20 (1998)
This was the first death for Marion who would be resurrected for Halloween Kills as Marion Chambers (what she was originally known as in Halloween and Halloween II). While her appearance in Halloween Kills was welcomed, her death that time around was rather lacklustre.
In Halloween H20, Marion had her home broken into. As someone who saw Loomis’ obsession with Michael first-hand, as well as what Michael was capable of, she immediately raced next door.
The kids next door agreed to call the police and check out the damage. Jimmy tells her that her office had been ransacked and leaves with his friend, Tony.
Feeling a bit safer, Marion enters her home to find her power is switched off. Using a flashlight, she sculks around her own home, entering her office. Inside, the files on Laurie Strode had vanished.
After seeing her back door is wide open, Marion gets a sense that she’s not alone and races back next door. Unfortunately for her the Jimmy and Tony are now dead and Michael is in the house.
As the police arrive at her home, Marion puts up a fight, striking Michael with a fire poker before smashing the window to get the attention of the officers. Sadly, Michael gets to her before she’s able to alert them and slits her throat.
A worthy battle for a Halloween OG.
9: Nurse Karen Bailey – Halloween II (1981)
No one is safe from Michael’s reign of terror. Especially not nurses. For this entry, I was tempted to go with Nurse Jill Franco who received a scalpel to the back as the scene is quite iconic, but as far as deaths at Haddonfield Memorial Hospital go, none is greater than that of Karen.
Karen was destined to fall victim to Michael when she was seen flirting early with her paramedic boyfriend, Bud.
In the therapy room, taking a plunge in the water therapy tub, Michael cranks the heat up until the water is boiling. Karen complains that it’s too hot and Bud gets out to check. Michael dispatches of Bud pretty quickly before setting his sights on Karen.
With her back to him, Michael places a hand on her shoulder. Karen mistakes the touch for Bud and begins speaking to him, lightly touching his hand before moving his fingers towards her mouth and kissing them. Michael pulls away and Karen finally turns around. She screams as Michael grabs her and begins dunking her head into the now-boiling water of the therapy tub.
Her cries of anguish go unheard as Michael repeats the process until the flesh begins peeling from her face, her lungs burned by the scolding water.
Satisfied with his job, Michael discards the body, dropping Karen to the cold floor and moving on to his next victim.
8: Corey Cunningham – Halloween Ends (2022)
This one is sure to cause a stir, but then again, the entire movie did that. If you’ve read my Halloween Ends review, you’ll know of my displeasure when it comes to this film. Except for John Strode, never have I cheered harder for Michael to get a kill.
Corey Cunningham is a controversial character as during the events of Halloween Ends, he takes over the boogeyman mantle that Michael Myers once owned. There’s a scene where Corey fights Michael and succeeds in putting Michael down with his bare fists, but also manages to steal his mask.
Corey goes on a killing spree dressed as Michael before descending on Laurie’s house. Knowing that he’s coming for her, Laurie is prepared and fights back, sending Corey over the railing of the stairs.
Corey knows how to hurt Laurie where it counts and proceeds to stab himself in the neck. Laurie removes the knife just as her granddaughter, and Corey’s now-girlfriend, Allyson walks in. Allyson blames Laurie’s paranoia for how she’s acting and leaves. Distraught, Laurie turns and notices her backdoor is now open. Sensing her boogeyman has returned for good, she hides.
Michael steps into the hall where Corey is lying, still alive. As Corey reaches for him, pleading with him to help, Michael reaches down, placing both hands on the side of Corey’s head. With a quick twist, he snaps the neck of the man who has masqueraded as him. Subtle yet effective, this kill proved that you should never fuck with the original.
7: Brady – Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
This death is definitely a personal choice for this list, but it’s rare in a horror movie to see a character get a full redeeming storyline arc before being brutally slain.
Brady was the boyfriend of Rachel Carruthers, who fell under the classic trope of horror movie boyfriend. Rachel was built up as the final girl for the fourth instalment in the franchise which meant that Brady was destined to become one of Michael’s victims by default.
When Rachel has to tell Brady of the change of plans for their Halloween evening, he gets annoyed. Rachel now has to look after her adopted sister, Jamie Lloyd, instead of going out with him. Following his hormones, Brady makes a bad decision to hook up with his co-worker, Kelly, who also happens to be the sheriff’s daughter.
While taking Jamie trick or treating, Rachel visit Kelly’s house. Kelly opens the door wearing nothing more than a t-shirt and a pair of panties. Rachel stares past her and sees Brady emerging from the stairs. Shattered by his betrayal, she flees the porch with Brady in hot pursuit.
When things start going south in Haddonfield, the sheriff orders everyone back to his house which acts as a fortress. The only downside to that is Michael is already inside. He dispatches of a cop and the sheriff’s daughter quickly before Brady realises what’s going on.
Brady, using a shotgun, puts two bullets into the front door in a bid to get Rachel out. The door is solid metal, meaning they’re trapped. As they race upstairs, Rachel finds Jamie and comforts the little girl as Brady locks eyes with Michael who has just casually strolled into the living room.
Telling Rachel to get up the stairs and find a way out of the second story, Brady aims the shotgun at Michael as the boogeyman ascends the stairs. Realising that the gun is empty after his initial firing into the door, Brady stumbles as he reloads. When he looks up, Michael is now in front of him. He gets a shot off, but Michael pushes him back, knocking him off his feet.
Rachel is still calling for Brady to follow them but Brady refuses as he charges Michael again, this time using the shotgun like a baseball bat and smacking the masked intruder with it in the head repeatedly. Michael grabs the shotgun, gives Brady another shove in the chest, sending him backwards, and discards the gun over the railing of the landing.
In a last-ditch effort, Brady attempts to use his fists, giving Rachel and Jamie a little extra time to escape. He gets a couple of punches in before Michael grabs his head, lifting him off the ground, putting his thumbs into Brady’s eyes before snapping his neck in a sickening crunch.
From loving boyfriend, to cheating bastard, Brady came full circle to die a hero.
6: Tommy Doyle – Halloween Kills (2021)
Regardless of what you think of Anthony Michael Hall’s performance as Tommy Doyle, you can’t deny that losing one of the original characters of the franchise hurt.
Tommy Doyle was introduced back in the original Halloween as the young boy that Laurie Strode was babysitting that fateful night. Ignoring his reappearance in The Curse of Michael Myers, Halloween Kills brought him back, showing that his initial encounter with the boogeyman has left him paranoid.
When it’s revealed that Michael escaped, Tommy bands the town of Haddonfield together to create a vigilante mob.
This proves fatal, not just for the members of the mob, but for an innocent man, who after being harassed and chased through the town, takes his own life by jumping from a high floor of Haddonfield Memorial Hospital.
Despite the guilt he feels for the death of the other patient, Tommy continues to rally those in the community because he knows Michael is back. Sure enough, he’s right.
With the aid of Karen, Tommy lures Michael into the middle of the street where the mob descend on him, beating him with whatever they have available. Irons, guns, baseball bats, lead pipes, the townspeople unleash all their anger onto him.
Michael hits the deck, injured from the assault. But this is where the mob, and in particular Tommy, fail. Rather than continuing to pulverise the serial killer, they stop, allowing the former Sheriff Brackett to check Michael’s pulse.
Michael slashes the throat of the former police chief before getting back to his feet and making quick work of the mob.
With the others now laying slain in the streets, it’s just up to Tommy Doyle. He swings his baseball bat at Michael only to receive a stab wound to the guts. Michael then takes the baseball bat and unleashes his own kind of justice, bashing Tommy’s head in.
Satisfied with the destruction he’s caused, Michael strolls off.
5: Nurse Octavia Daniels – Halloween II (2009)
This one is a bit of a cheat as it stems from a dream sequence, but it doesn’t mean that it wasn’t impactful. Especially considering when I think of Halloween II from the Rob Zombie era, this is one of two deaths that I immediately think of.
Played by the Academy Award winning Octavia Spencer, Nurse Daniels may have had limited screen time, but she left a lasting impression.
Her demise was brutal. During the Rob Zombie era, Michael Myers was beyond a force to be reckoned with. He was larger than life, stronger and angrier than anything we had seen before.
When Laurie ‘awakes’, she attempts to visit the room of her friend, Annie Brackett, who had likewise been brutalized by Michael Myers, but Nurse Daniels forces her to leave. She escorts Laurie about halfway back to her room when her attention is called to another matter.
Moments later, she remerges, her face slashed, blood gushing from her nose and lip. Michael appears behind her and begins stabbing her a total of ten times in the back before landing the final blow, a sickening strike to the head.
She dies in the corridor of the hospital while an injured Laurie looks on in abject horror.
4: Annie Brackett – Halloween (1978) and Halloween II (2009)
Two kills for the price of one entry. Annie Brackett is a character who impacted the Halloween franchise in her limited appearances. But let’s begin with the original.
Annie and Laurie are friends who babysit opposite each other. Annie has plans to meet her boyfriend, Paul, and drops her babysitting charge, Lindsay Wallace, off with Laurie.
But Annie never makes it to see Paul. As she climbs into her car, she notices her front windshield is fogged. Michael sits up from the backseat and immediately begins to strangle her.
In a feeble attempt to alert someone to her ply, Annie honks the horn of her car repeatedly. Michael uses his trusty kitchen knife to slice her throat, letting her body drop onto the horn.
When Laurie discovers her friend is deceased, it’s after Michael has laid her body out on a bed in the Wallace’s house, his sister’s tombstone leaning against the headboard.
In Halloween II, Rob Zombie allowed Annie to make it through the first night of terror. But her demise at the hands of the brutal boogeyman in its sequel was truly shocking.
Preparing to take a bath, Annie fails to notice Michael watching her in the mirror. It took a moment for her to sense someone was there. In a desperate attempt to flee, Annie tries to outmaneuver the masked killer, but he grabs her and slams her into the walls of the house, dropping shelves onto her, and beating her until she’s completely broken and bloody. He drags her back into the bathroom, leaving her naked body on the tiled floor.
Laurie comes home and finds Annie still clinging to life. Annie tells her to go, to save herself, but Laurie is too distraught to move. Annie dies in her arms.
While Annie’s demise in the Rob Zombie era was more intense than in the original film, it’s the impact of her passing on the remaining characters that have left a lasting impression. Watching Sheriff Brackett react to finding his daughter naked on the bathroom floor, barely recognizable after the beating she took broke me. A true testament to the incredible acting skills of Brad Dourif and Danielle Harris, the latter returning to the franchise after playing young Jamie Lloyd in Halloween 4 and Halloween 5.
In the original film, Laurie’s reaction to finding Annie was that of shock and fear. Barely comprehending what had happened, she discovers the bodies of her other friends, upping the fear factor. John Carpenter’s subtly in the way this was directed, the lack of blood, but the atmosphere set by the musical score made for a very different viewing experience and thus the reason why you get two Annie’s for the price of one on this list.
3: Ismael Cruz – Halloween (2007)
I’m not the biggest fan of the Rob Zombie era. Come to think of it, I’m not the biggest fan of Rob Zombie horror in general. But the death of Ismael Cruz showed just how evil Michael Myers truly is.
When Michael is committed to Smith’s Grove Sanatorium as a child, Ismael offers up some friendly advice. The prison guard knew something about being on the wrong side of the bars and befriends the small boy.
He continues to work the cell block where Michael resides. Three months before his retirement, Ismael is training a junior guard, Noel Kluggs, and introduces him to Michael. When Klugg threatens Michael for looking at him, Ismael leaps to Michael’s defense.
When Michael breaks out, murdering the staff of the hospital, Ismael is shocked at the carnage. When Michael appears behind him, he’s startled, but tries to get Michael to surrender peacefully.
Michael seems like he’ll let Ismael go but when Ismael attempts to handcuff him, Michael turns violent, partially drowning him in a sink full of water before crushing his head with a television set.
Ismael’s last words of “I was good to you, Mikey!” are absolutely haunting, cementing his untimely death a place on this list.
2: Rachel Carruthers – Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
When the final girl from a previous entry is killed off in a sequel, it’s shocking. Audiences were excited for Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers in 1988, and while it didn’t do as well as previous entries, it did open us up to Rachel Carruthers and her adopted sister, Jamie Lloyd, who just happened to be the daughter of Laurie Strode, making her the niece of the infamous Michael Myers.
That film ended with Jamie Lloyd seemingly taking over the mantle from her crazed uncle, stabbing her adopted mother with a pair of scissors. By the time the sequel, Halloween 5 was churned out, audiences were miffed. Jamie was now a mute child, traumatized by the events of one year earlier. Rachel, however, seemed unaffected by comparison.
Jamie now has a psychic link to her uncle (yeah, I can’t explain it, which is why this is my least favourite entry in the franchise) and seems to sense whenever he’s lurking around. As his body hadn’t been found after the explosion in the mine shaft, he was presumed dead.
When will these people learn never to presume anything when it comes to the boogeyman?
Rachel is getting ready to take a trip with her family, but Jamie begins having visions. She warns Dr. Loomis who, in turn, warns Rachel. Rachel, who was about to have a shower, exits the house in a towel and runs to a neighbour. The police are called and after going over the house, they can’t find anything amiss.
Rachel returns inside, but the sound of breaking glass catches her attention. She enters a bedroom to find a picture frame that contained a photograph of Jamie has been smashed, and a streak of what looks like blood is on the photo.
Getting the sense that she’s not alone, Rachel turns to see Michael standing behind her, brandishing a pair of scissors which he plunges into her heart. Michael then manages to carry Rachel’s body to his own home, leaving her in the attic where she is later discovered by Jamie, along with the bodies of Max, her dog, and Mike, Tina’s boyfriend.
Rachel’s death was supposed to be more brutal, with reports that the scissors were supposed to be jammed down her throat when she screams, but those involved claimed it was too grisly of a kill for the character. And as much as we love seeing a brutal kill from Michael, I am glad that they opted for something more simplistic when it came to offing the newest final girl.
1: Judith Myers – Halloween (1978)
Was there really any other option for the number one spot on this list? We can’t talk about Michael Myers kills and not mention the one that started it all.
A few minutes to 10:00PM, Michael Myers, still dressed in his Halloween costume, watched from the outside of his home as his sister made out with her boyfriend. As he intently watched them head upstairs, he waited until the light in her bedroom had switched off before making his way around the back of the house, entering through the backdoor in the kitchen.
He grabbed a large kitchen knife from the drawer and began making his way through the house, creeping towards the stairs.
Having finished their illicit activities, Judith and her boyfriend part ways, with her boyfriend descending the stairs promising to call her the next day. Michael waited until the front door closed before making his way up the stairs, grabbing the clown mask that matched his costume which had been left on the landing. Following the trail of clothing to his sister’s room, he found Judith combing her hair in front of her vanity, singing softly to herself. She’s naked except for a pair of underwear.
Judith catches Michael’s reflection in her mirror and turns to face him, calling his name in surprise. It’s then that Michael unleashes his anger, stabbing her multiple times in the chest, and torso.
Judith’s screams fade out as she slumps to the floor, dead.
As Judith lay on her bedroom floor, Michael walks out of the room, down the stairs, and out the front door. A car approaches so he comes to a stop on the front lawn.
It’s his parents. His father calls his name, questioning the sight before him, and removes the mask.
For the first time, the audience gets to see what the characters are seeing. A young boy, age 6, standing on the front lawn on his house, a large kitchen knife coated in blood in one hand and a vacant look in his eyes.
The reveal that such brutality could be conducted by a child was shocking. No rhyme or reason was given for the slaying as Michael sat institutionalized for 15 years in complete silence.
While not the most impressive kill he’s committed, it was the catalyst for what came after. His murder spree began with Judith and therefore lands this kill as number one on this list.
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