The Halloween franchise has been an enduring staple of the horror genre for decades. The series' iconic villain, Michael Myers, has amassed quite a body count over the years. With the exception of Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Michael has carved his way through every movie with his trusty kitchen knife.
Michael, like most horror villains, is usually put down for the count at the conclusion of each entry, although it's never been permanent for him. Like the movies themselves, Michael's death scenes have varied in quality over the years. They range, unsurprisingly, from the boringly mundane to the excitingly dramatic.
10 Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers
This movie marked Michael Myers' fifth outing in the series. Overall, it's a bit of a strange film as it doubles down on the supernatural aspect of Michael's character. The plot revolves around a shadowy cult that seeks to study Michael's evil nature.
As far as death scenes are concerned, this one is rather lame considering it had been done before. Michael is weakened with an injection of strange chemicals. Tommy Doyle, a character originally seen as a child in the original Halloween, beats him into submission with a pipe. It comes off as anticlimactic and had already been similarly done in Halloween 5.
9 Halloween: Resurrection
Halloween: Resurrection was a movie that brought very little to the table. Coming off the heels of Halloween H20 many fans viewed this entry as rather stale and repetitive. The film incorporated some elements of the "found footage" genre in an attempt to spice things up a bit. In the end, it proved to be rather poorly executed.
Michael meets his end somewhat like a chump in Halloween: Resurrection. He gets slapped around by Busta Rhymes for a while before being kicked into a bunch of loose wires. Thus, he gets electrocuted to death while a burning building collapses around him. The death is certainly dramatic, but it's not enough to salvage the rest of the movie.
8 Halloween 4
There was a lot of anticipation built around the aptly-named Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. The titular villain returns as the main antagonist after his absence in the series' third entry. This time, Michael seeks to eliminate his young niece and anybody else who stands in his way.
For many fans the movie failed to live up to its expectations. There isn't anything too special about his death in this entry. Michael gets cornered by a squad of policemen, who proceed to mow him down under a hail of gunfire. Considering that Michael had withstood gunshot wounds many times before, it came off as a peculiar way to kill him (which it didn't).
7 Halloween (2018)
The Halloween that came out in 2018 sought to clean up the messy storylines that had preceded it. The original Halloween from 1978 is the only one considered canon as far as this movie is concerned. It continues the story of Laurie Strode and her estranged family as they prepare for the imminent return of Michael Myers.
Although the movie itself isn't terrible by any stretch, the ending is awfully far-fetched. Michael is lured into Laurie's basement safe room underneath her kitchen floor. When Michael tries to leave the basement, metal bars block his way. It turns out the "safe room" was a trap set for Michael, prepared for just such an occasion. It all comes off as rather contrived. The house is lit on fire and Michael supposedly burns to death.
6 Halloween (1978)
The original Halloween arguably delivers the franchise's most effective scares. The feeling of heightening dread is almost perfectly executed. The viewer only catches short glimpses of Michael initially. The first half of the movie depicts Michael slowly and silently stalking his intended victims from a distance. It all serves to intensify the creepiness factor before the inevitable climax.
Michael's death in the first movie is relatively straightforward. Laurie thinks she has killed Michael by stabbing him in the eye with a coat hanger and then in the chest with his knife. He, of course, pops up behind her and attacks once again. Dr. Loomis appears on the scene and shoots him six times with his revolver. The impact sends Michael careening off the upstairs balcony and onto the front lawn.
5 Halloween (2007)
Rob Zombie's 2007 remake of Halloween amped up the violence and gore to a whole new level. The film is notable for its attempt to have viewers sympathize with Michael, at least partially, by expanding on his childhood backstory. It's the only film in the series where Michael is humanized to any extent and the results were divisive.
Michael's apparent death in the Rob Zombie remake is characteristically bloody. Mirroring the 1978 original, Michael careens off a balcony, only this time with Laurie in tow. The pair land on the front lawn and Laurie frantically tries to kill Michael by firing a gun at him. Each chamber in the revolver is successively empty. Michael regains consciousness and grabs Laurie's wrists. She pulls the trigger one last time and shoots Michael in the head, blood splattering across her face.
4 Halloween 5
This movie picks up right after the events of Halloween 4. To the surprise of no one, Michael survives his encounter with the police. It's not long before he resumes his mission from the previous film, which consists of hunting down his niece.
Halloween 5 contains a notable showdown between the series' two longstanding adversaries, Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis. The doctor gains the upper hand by shooting Michael with several tranquilizer darts. In a desperate rage Dr. Loomis proceeds to savagely beat Michael with a wooden board. Although victorious, Dr. Loomis is seemingly felled by a sudden heart attack.
3 Halloween II (2009)
Like his first film in the series, Rob Zombie gave the 1981 version of Halloween II the remake treatment. Although critically injured from his encounter with Laurie in the previous film, Michael continues his homicidal search for her.
The final battle between the two takes place within a decrepit cabin. When it appears Michael is about to kill Laurie, he is shot through the window by the police waiting outside. He stumbles and falls onto an industrial threshing machine, effectively impaling himself. Laurie finishes the job by stabbing Michael repeatedly with a blade.
2 Halloween H20
Set in 1998, the plot of Halloween H20 takes place twenty years after the original. Laurie Strode, now the headmistress of an elite boarding school, is forced to protect her son and his friends from her psychotic brother. Michael's death scene in this movie ranks as one of his most definitive.
After subduing her brother, Laurie still isn't quite convinced that he's dead. She steals an ambulance with him still inside it and, after he eventually regains consciousness, crashes the vehicle off the side of a cliff. Michael is pinned between the ambulance and a tree branch. To make sure Michael stays dead Laurie lops off his head with an axe, decapitating him.
1 Halloween II (1981)
Halloween II stands as a worthy sequel to the critically-acclaimed original. Taking place on the same night it depicts Laurie's struggle to evade her brother within the confines of a nearly empty hospital. The setting is as creepy as it is claustrophobic.
The ending to Halloween II is explosive. Literally. After leaking the contents of several oxygen tanks Dr. Loomis sacrifices himself by striking his lighter. A huge explosion rocks the hospital and both he and Michael get engulfed in flames. A final, haunting shot of Michael still walking down a hallway while enveloped in fire is shown before he finally collapses.