Horror Icons: Michael Myers

On Halloween night 1978, he came home to the town of Haddonfield and after that he never left. His name is Michael Myers aka The Shape. He is the butcher of Haddonfield and Halloween is his favorite day of the year.

Born October 19, 1957 in Haddonfield, Illinois, Michael was the middle child and only boy born to a family of three children. Michael was a mysteriously quiet child and nothing could initially be said about him that made him stick out. That all changed on Halloween night in 1963 when the six year old Michael dressed up in a clown suit and stabbed his older sister Judith to death. After the shocking murder of his older sister Michael was remanded to the Smith’s Grove Sanitarium and placed in the care of psychiatrist Samuel Loomis.

While Michael was locked away his family life fell apart and his younger sister Laurie ended up in foster care, eventually being adopted by the Strode family. 15 years after murdering his sister Judith, Michael came of age and tracked down his younger sister Laurie on Halloween night and murdered several of her friends while she was babysitting for her neighbors. Eventually Laurie and Dr. Loomis both stabbed and shot him, nearly to death before seemingly killing him later that night at a hospital in Haddonfield.

Over the 40 plus years course of the Halloween franchise Michael’s history plays out in several alternate storylines. His story is generally centered around him stalking his baby sister Laurie, portrayed by Jamie Lee Curtis, and all of her close acquaintances and relatives with a bloodlust to end them all.

Created by John Carpenter and Debra Hill in 1978 and portrayed by a number of actors including: William Castle, Brad Loree and Tyler Mane, Michael Myers first appeared in Halloween (1978) along with 9 of its sequels and two remakes that followed in the franchise. What would be the best way to describe Michael’s identity? Well he famously wears a mask that is Star Trek legend William Shatner’s face. He’s also what we can refer to as the slow walking silent killer. He never speaks, never removes his mask and never has to run after his victims because no matter how slow he walks, he always manages to catch them, even if they’re fleeing at full speed.

“Michael Myers is the most dangerous patient I have ever observed. He's covering up. This catatonia is a conscious act. There is an instinctive force within him. He's waiting” - Dr. Sam Loomis.

How can one describe Michael’s motivation behind why he kills like he does? Not many can, in fact Sam Loomis was the only person he could. In lamens terms, Michael’s mind is just a psychotic hollowed abyss of nothingness. His choice of weapon was of course a butcher knife which he butchered many with. Michael has an empty soul, one that can’t be reasoned with, bargained with or appealed to. He also refuses to die because he lives to kill. Michael is perhaps the epitome of what our subconscious fears: evil for absolutely no reason.

“I met him fifteen years ago. I was told there was nothing left; no reason, no conscience, no understanding in even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, of good or evil, right or wrong. I met this... six year old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and... the blackest eyes - the devil's eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized that what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... evil.” - Sam Loomis.

Growing up, I loved watching Michael in the Halloween movies with my dad and loved ones who loved horror movies. Michael was always pure tough guy energy to me, the baddest horror icon ever, and it always seemed like no one could beat him because he was just that crazy. His silently, but deadly demeanor was also the icing on the William Shatner mask cake. As a kid my favorite Halloween movies were the original film, Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers (1988), Halloween: H20 (1998) and Halloween: Resurrection (2002). I also love how even in my adulthood he had a whole new generation of films that captivated for the genre. For all of this legacy is Michael THE true horror icon.