Michael Myers is the main villainous protagonist of the franchise and cinematographic saga Halloween.
Biography[]
A Halloween night, from the year 1963; Six-year-old Michael Myers, dressed in a clown suit, goes up to his older sister's room and dons a clown mask that his sister's boyfriend wore. He walks up to her and with a huge, sharp kitchen knife stabs her to death. He then walks away from the room and prepares to leave the house when he is surprised by his parents.
15 years later, on the night of October 30, 1978, Dr. Sam Loomis, Michael Myers' psychiatrist, accompanied by nurse Marion Chambers, went to Smith's Grove-Warren County Sanitarium, and upon arrival they realized that that there has been a massive escape of inmates, including Michael Myers now 21 ...
Original story[]
In the original movie Halloween and in its direct sequel: Halloween 2 there are no psychological or supernatural explanations for Michael's behavior. His psychopathy is a mystery to everyone, including his psychiatrist Dr. Loomis who describes him in terms of 'pure evil' , 'inhumanly patient' and 'lacking all understanding, reason and meaning of life and life. death, of good and evil, which makes him remotely inhuman. He describes his eyes as "the eyes of the Devil".
Origin (Halloween 1978) []
In the original 1978 film Michael Myers was born on October 19, 1957. His parents were Donald and Edith Myers.He had two sisters: Judith Margaret Myers, and Cynthia Myers (Laurie Strode). Due to the time that Michael spent alone, he began to hear voices, voices that only he could hear, and that incited him to kill.
On October 31, 1963, Dorris Blankenship (Michael's grandmother) was caring for Michael
age six, and his sister Cynthia age 2. Michael crossed the street and saw his sister Judith and her boyfriend sit and kiss on the couch doing sexual acts, Michael, still dressed in his clown costume, used for that Halloween, entered the house through the kitchen, He took a knife from a kitchen drawer and waited until the boy left the house. Michael walked up the stairs and brutally stabbed her sister to death.
For this crime, Michael is sent to a Smith's Grove Sanatorium, a psychiatric hospital, where he remains for fifteen years in the charge of Doctor Samuel Loomis. On October 30, 1978, Michael, already 21 years old, escapes and returns to Haddonfield (Illinois) to kill his sister, Cinthia, now 17 years old and to finish what he started 15 years ago.
A different twist[]
Myers has gone through three different versions or continuities. In Carpenter's original version he is a psychopathic murderer by nature with no rational explanation behind his actions beyond what appears to be intrinsic evil, as described by Dr. Loomis played by Donald Pleasence. Several sequels create the arc of the "Curse of the Thorn" which gives a magical and supernatural explanation of Michael's behavior linked to black magic and Celtic rites.
Violent origin[]
Starting with the movie "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" the producers decided to opt for a darker and more supernatural explanation of Michael's origin and his motivations.
Michael is a "human being" of more than two meters in height with supernatural powers, essentially evil and indestructible, and who contains within him an evil spirit comparable to that of the Devil himself, who despite having some psychological traumas originated in his childhood, and product of domestic abuse together with the contempt of his father, exceeds the understandable limit of revenge and deviates from the mere ordinary explanations commonly used to justify its perverse essence. He denotes a relentless and accurate action, and shows off enormous physical strength, comparable to that of a bear.
"Curse of the Thorn" []
One of the possible explanations of the reason for his behavior is given through the involvement of a Celtic cult, which in the Myers Case sheds new light on possible explanations about his supernatural strength, and even his incredible gift of survival, thus As for his motivations, Myers has a rune of "Evil" engraved on his arm, hence various conjectures are made about what the "Curse of Thorn" is, which things move him to completely exterminate the members of their lineage, a consequence of pagan rituals that the Druids once performed on "All Saints Nights", which is explained in "Halloween 6."
Immortality[]
The cause for which he recovers from deadly experiences, and which gives him his own natural rage and murderous instincts, is more commonly accepted to be caused by the curse of the thorn, as indicated in the sixth film. This curse possesses and forces Michael to kill everyone in his family, and everyone in his path. According to myth, this is supposed to save the village that Michael inhabits from a form of plague or disaster.
With that in mind, it is possible that Michael only reluctantly accepts his job duties, and feels that by killing these people, he is doing what is best for humanity. The curse uses Michael as a puppet and a guide to the appropriate victims. The spine seems to provide Michael with powers that in a way go beyond any ordinary human capacity, since he was totally mobile, regardless of the fact that his muscles were virtually useless. It is also theorized that Michael himself, the man behind the mask, feels remorse for killing him.
Possession[]
In "Halloween 5," he seemed to fight the curse and when he removed the mask from him, Michael cried (seemingly remorseful). It was as if he himself was not in control of his actions, or was forced to act by the curse. He perhaps took the moment to reflect on everything that he had been through, allowing old Michael Myers, the shy little boy to wake up. In H20, the moment is also observed when he hesitates in front of Jamie Lee Curtis, and this indecision ends up being detrimental to him.
This is one of the theories by which Michael is immortal, but we must not forget that they said it in one of the 3 Halloween movies that they decided to exclude from the saga, due to his failure. Another theory that is used in those that are accepted, is that Michael's very evil is what makes him so strong and practically.
Powers and abilities[]
Michael possesses superhuman strength, stealth, endurance, and durability of an unknown limit. He has been known to be able to lift a large tombstone out of the ground and carry it for long distances by hand, penetrate an adult human skull with his thumb easily, lift, hold and strangle an adult human male with one arm effortlessly, impale an adult human male through a solid wooden door with a blunt object, and rip apart a human male limb by limb with his bare hands, among other feats. He can sneak up on his victims without attracting attention or making noise. He can survive injuries that would result in death for a normal human, such as being shot and or stabbed multiple times in internal organs (brain and heart included), along with any other form of impalement, high voltage electrocution, or severe scalds over his body. He might have a healing factor that would enable him to regenerate tissue and even vital organs, such as his skin and eyes.
It seems possible that fire or decapitation could kill him. Since the H20 Timeline ignores the Curse of Thorn and the Cult, his ability to withstand injuries is never really explained. His superhuman abilities could be granted to him by the magical nature of the Curse of Thorn as the cult members assert that evil never dies, but this remains unconfirmed. However, it is supported by Samuel Loomis when he declares that Hell will not accept Michael, meaning that Michael cannot die, be killed or enter the afterlife in any way.
In the 2018 Timeline, Michael is able to withstand severe injuries such as multiple gunshot wounds. He seemingly has supernatural strength because despite being 61 years old, he is still able to fight and kill a much larger, decades younger man, and lift a female reporter in the air with one arm. He also displays extreme durability: He is shot in the shoulder by a handgun, shot by a rifle in the neck, struck across the head with a crowbar, hit by a SUV at full speed, and gets his fingers blown off, but still continues unabated. He also displays a preternatural tolerance to pain, and is able to escape a burning house.
'Teleportation': it may be argued that Michael has some unnatural form of movement, an example being that he always has the capability of sneaking up on people that are running, even though he does not run himself. He usually ends up outpacing people even though he only walks, and can also catch up to people by appearing to them without expending any effort. The extent of this ability is unknown, but he has been known to travel far distances in limited time. An example of Michael using this teleportation would be in Halloween and his escape from the "cage" that Laurie Strode had trapped him in.
The adaptation of Rob Zombie []
In his remake of the year 2007. Michael's origins as a murderer have more psychological and social explanations. Michael comes from a dysfunctional family with a mother who is a stripper and a prostitute, an alcoholic and verbally abusive stepfather who also sexually harasses his stepdaughter and it is implied that he may have abused her in the past, a promiscuous and neglectful sister who does not carry him to ask for candy on Halloween for having sex with her boyfriend and who also suffers from bullying at school by other children.
Michael also shows classic psychopathic behaviors such as torture and murder of small animals, a strange obsession with his mother and violent behaviors. His first victim is one of the bullies who tease him at school whom he kills in the woods with a branch.
Movies[]
- Halloween (1978)
- Halloween II (1981)
- Halloween III: The Night of the Witches (1982) (This would be a saga although Michael is only mentioned)
- Halloween IV: The Return of Michael (1988)
- Halloween V: Michael's Revenge (1989)
- Halloween VI: Michael's Curse (1995)
- Halloween H2O: 20 Years Later (1998)
- Halloween VIII: Resurrection (2002)
- Halloween: The Origin (2007 - Reboot)
- Halloween 2 (2009)
- Halloween (2018)
- Halloween Kills (2021)
- Halloween Ends (2022)
Main Victims[]
Michael Myers is one of the most dangerous murderers, in the late 70's. that he murders because of his psychological problems (or is what they believed). Below will be a video of all the victims of him.
Trivia[]
- Michael Myers, served as the inspiration to create Jason Voorhees.
- There has been a strong hypothesis that Michael Myers is inspired by Ronald DeFeo, Jr. a real serial killer who claimed that he heard voices in his head inciting him to kill; this murderer was responsible for the murder of his family in the Amytiville home.
- The original idea of John Carpenter, was to convey how a misunderstood child was gradually transforming into a monster; there was even a deleted scene of how he was beaten by his older sister and his parents as well. This idea was used in the Halloween remake.
- Michael Myers appears as a downloadable character in the game Dead By DayLight.
External Links[]
- Michael Myers in the Villains Wiki