H20 sought to retcon the “Cult of Thorn” trilogy, which had killed off Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode (though a deleted scene would actually acknowledge Halloween 4-6, and claim Laurie faked her death only to enter witness protection under the name “Keri Tate”). In H20, only Halloween and Halloween II ever happened. Rob Zombie’s Halloween was a much more straightforward reboot that remade 1978’s Halloween. And David Gordon Green’s newest trilogy, which recently concluded Laurie Strode and Michael Myers’ showdown in Halloween Ends, only acknowledged the original Halloween as canon.

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David Gordon Green’s trilogy, despite being mostly divorced from its continuity, ironically mirrors the reception to the original three Halloween films. The first is considered the best, by far, the second is shakier in reputation and features Laurie Strode in the hospital for most of its runtime, and the third is considered widely to have gone off the rails to focus on controversial new characters rather than series icon Michael Myers. Arguably, all of the continuity reboots failed to really tread interesting new ground and eventually went off the rails in varying ways.

Part of the problem with a continuity reboot is that, eventually, the problem of Michael Myers’ longevity and endurance arises again. The first Halloween featured a grand total of five human kills attributed to Michael Myers. He’s wounded several times, but it’s not impossible that he’s just got a high pain tolerance. Bringing him back for a sequel isn’t impossible. He’s simply a man - a serial killer full of malice and evil, but a man nonetheless.

H20 is followed by Halloween: Resurrection, which features Myers surviving death as though he’s simply an immortal. Halloween Kills features Myers once again surviving impossible odds. Laurie Strode gives a speech on Michael’s nature, attributing him to the concept of fear, and fear never dies. The speech would hit harder if it was metaphorical, but it serves as a literal justification for Michael’s impossible survival at the end of the film.

It all begs the question: if a reboot is supposed to take audiences back to basics, why bother? Eventually, supernatural elements creep back in by necessity to explain Michael as a horror villain. His feats become downright superhuman. The continuity is not a Gordian knot that can just be cut in half. It only becomes tangled once more.

All of the reboots play on the meta-contextual reputation of Michael Myers. He’s legendary among audiences: an icon of the slasher genre. But once Michael’s killings are cut down to one or two films, his reputation’s context in-universe becomes weaker. Halloween Kills features a frenzied mob killing an innocent man because they think he’s the man under the mask.

But this just makes the audience ask: how are they so afraid of Michael if they do not truly know him? Only 1978’s Halloween and 2018’s Halloween happened in this continuity: Michael’s not necessarily an unstoppable force in this universe. But the townsfolk treat him as though they’ve seen the other films - as though they know he’s impossible to kill.

To be clear, it’s not the fact that a mob is frenzied up by Michael; mobs are not known for their logical, clear thinking. But Michael’s infamous nature in this universe is implied to have been carried on by true crime podcasts and other current internet phenomena. There’s probably a Wikipedia page on the Haddonfield killings, with pictures of Michael’s face. He’d be a very recognizable figure in this world, only a google search away.

But he is portrayed with his original “boogeyman” characterization: mysterious and almost supernatural in nature. In this world, where information on Laurie and Michael is all public and easily available, the facts should be pretty widely known. Michael was a killer who murdered five teens in 1978, and then is rumored to have killed a few more people in 2018. He isn’t someone who’s survived decades worth of horror movies. To the people of Halloween Kills, Michael should just be a dangerous, but elderly serial killer. It’s slightly more understandable in Halloween Ends, when Michael is back and more dangerous than ever, but by that point, he’s hardly focused on at all.

Perhaps Halloween worked best as a duology. The first two films are actually quite meditative reflections on evil inherent to human nature. Michael Myers was seemingly born evil and that’s a question worth asking about: what makes him tick? Eventually, those themes are lost the more sequels are made. At the very least, fans can enjoy the gore, kills, and campiness that some of the sequels provide. There’s some truly weird horror movie sequels in the franchise, but they’re still worth watching. And, after all, who can turn down more of Jamie Lee Curtis? She’s the scream queen for a reason.

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