Credit: Universal Studios / Blumhouse Productions / MiramaxHave you ever wondered what Michael Myers does between the Halloween movies? Well, wonder no more, because we have the most enlightening theory about what the Haddonfield bogeyman might get up to when he’s not slaughtering babysitters on October 31.
In every Halloween movie (except for the anthology flick Season of the Witch), Michael Myers “comes home” to Haddonfield with murder on his mind.
But while his arrival is often teased with a few appearances ahead of Halloween night, and though he sometimes outstays his welcome well into the early hours of November 1 to wrap up his kills (1981’s Halloween II, 2021’s Halloween Kills), Michael’s rampage is mostly confined to that one night.
So, what does he do between movies? Well, there are plenty of answers littered throughout the Halloween franchise—so let’s get them out of the way before we dig a bit deeper.
Between Halloween (1978) and Halloween II (1981), there’s no gap—both films take place on the same night. Between Halloween II and Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988), Michael (George P. Wilbur) is in a coma for 10 years after being set ablaze at the end of the 1981 sequel.
He’s also in a coma for one year between Halloween 4 and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989) after he’s shot by the police force and winds up almost drowning in a river, where he’s recovered by a hermit who nurses him back to health.
Halloween 5 and Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) are separated by several years, during which time Michael (George P. Wilbur/A. Michael Lerner) has been living underground with the Cult of Thorn, who broke him out of jail at the end of Halloween 5.
In Rob Zombie’s Halloween II (2009), Michael Myers (Tyler Mane) has been drifting through the country for one year after the events of Halloween (2007), biding his time for reasons unknown before returning to Haddonfield to kill Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton).
Related: Does Michael Myers Actually Talk In ‘Halloween Kills’?!
Halloween (2018), the first film in David Gordon Green’s Halloween trilogy, ignores every film since John Carpenter’s original 1978 classic. In this timeline, Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney) has been incarcerated for 40 years following his killing spree on Halloween night 40 years ago.
Like the first two films, Halloween (1978) and Halloween II (1981), Halloween (2018) and its sequel, Halloween Kills (2021), take place on the exact same night.
However, in Halloween Ends (2022), which is set four years after Kills, we learn that Michael, who has suffered significant injuries after his encounter with the mob in the 2021 sequel, has been living in a sewer beneath an overpass in Haddonfield’s industrial area.
So, there are a few answers about what Michael does when he’s not terrorizing Haddonfield—and it’s usually because he’s injured in some way. But you might be wondering why we missed Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) and Halloween: Resurrection (2002).
Halloween H20 is a sequel to Halloween II (1981), and, as such, removes the Thorn trilogy (Halloween 4 through 6) from canon.
The 1998 sequel finds Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) now living under the alias of Keri Tate, the principal of a prestigious private school in Northern California, after faking her own death to escape her evil brother. But, of course, in true Halloween fashion, Michael Myers (Chris Durand) returns. After 20 long years.
And herein lies the million-dollar question for this franchise: what has Michael been doing for the past two decades? The last time we saw him in this timeline, he was burning to a crisp in Haddonfield Memorial Hospital after being blown up by Dr. Samuel Loomis (Donald Pleasence).
Let’s forget the fact that he survived—this is Michael Myers we’re talking about—and try to answer the most important question: where the heck has he been all this time?
Though perhaps unintentionally, H20‘s sequel Halloween: Resurrection seemingly answers this question by revealing that Michael Myers (Brad Loree) has been living beneath his old house in Haddonfield.
However, for many fans, this film simply isn’t canon because of how it completely retcons its predecessor, claiming that Laurie didn’t kill her brother at the end of H20—it was a paramedic whom Michael switched clothes with before disappearing.
Between H20 and Resurrection, which take place three years apart, we know that Michael has been living off rats in a makeshift bedroom beneath his old house (but why he hasn’t returned to try and kill Laurie in that time is another mystery).
What fans have been dying to know for 26 years is what Michael was doing between Halloween II (1981) and H20. While our theory might get a bit silly, hear us out, because we might be onto something concrete.
Despite being horribly burned at the end of Halloween II (1981), Michael Myers appears completely scar-free in H20 (yes, he’s wearing a mask, but it’s the most revealing version he’s ever worn, and his eyes are also completely intact despite being shot in each one by Laurie 20 years ago)—we know that he may possess supernatural abilities but this doesn’t make much sense.
Halloween 4, which also follows the 1981 sequel, at least commits to Michael’s burns. So why does he look like he was never caught in an explosion in H20?
It’s possible that he may have undergone some form of plastic surgery following the incident at Haddonfield Memorial Hospital in 1978. Where, how, and by whom are a total mystery, but if we’re following a logical route, this is the most perfectly logical answer.
However, even more bizarrely, Michael Myers may have gone on to live a “normal life” after terrorizing Haddonfield that night. Again, we don’t know how he would have forged such an existence for himself, but if Michael’s good at anything else besides escaping maximum-security facilities and killing people, it’s disappearing and becoming elusive for years at a time.
So, as truly bizarre and wild as it sounds, Michael Myers may have lived the life of a normal human being in the 20 years that separate Halloween II (1981) and Halloween H20. Perhaps he has a secret family somewhere, who’ve absolutely no idea that, around October 31 each year, their father/husband becomes a deranged, voiceless, psychopathic killer.
It’s certainly food for thought, and who knows—maybe the upcoming Halloween television series, which will wipe the slate clean for the franchise once again (although plot details are being kept under wraps), will explore this uncharted territory for the bogeyman.
Let’s be honest—it can’t be any weirder than bizarre cults that worship Stone Henge. Right?
What’s your take? What do you think Michael Myers gets up to between Halloween movies? Let us know in the comments down below!