With Halloween Kills recently coming out, I knew it was time to update my ranking of the franchise. We do have one last (supposedly) Halloween movie coming out, Halloween Ends. I’ll probably update this list (again) when that one comes out, but for right now I will rank the movies that are currently out. The movies that are not included in this list are Rob Zombie’s Halloween movies. I have never seen them and I don’t plan on watching them. I don’t consider them to be a part of the franchise since they are a reboot, hence why they are not on this list. But that’s okay because we have 10 Halloween movies to rank and that is more than enough.

10. Halloween: Resurrection

At the very bottom we have Halloween: Resurrection I don’t think I need to explain why this is at the very bottom. Everyone who has seen the entire franchise knows that this is the worst one. It’s just terrible. Often in the Halloween franchise, even in the bad movies, there are redeeming elements that you can enjoy watching. The fact is there are no redeeming elements in Resurrection. The movie kills Laurie, our protagonist. The only reason we are watching the movie off in the first few minutes. There isn’t a quicker way to turn your audience against your film than to kill their favorite character off, and then introduce characters no one likes. If you somehow manage to watch the rest of the film, you’re a real trooper because there’s nothing to like. Halloween: Resurrection is one of the worst horror movies I have ever seen.

9. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Micheal Myers

Next, we have Halloween 5 which is a disappointing follow-up to Halloween 4. If you enjoyed the ending of Halloween 4 and wanted to see what they would do with the twist. You will be left disappointed with Halloween 5. I know I was. The film follows a bunch of characters no one cares about or wants to watch. Loomis is at his worst here in my opinion. He comes off as psychotic and creepy with his behavior toward everyone. Jamie is fine but she doesn’t have much to do. Danielle Harris gives a good performance, but that’s the only thing I liked about this one. The film has no replayability and I avoid it whenever I rewatch the franchise.

8. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers

The Cure of Michael Myers is the weirdest film in the franchise which truly says something. It is so strange especially depending on which version of the film you watch. One version has Michael impregnating Jamie, his niece. It doesn’t get grosser than that. The cult stuff is also bad and silly. It doesn’t have any place being in the Halloween series. The only thing I give this movie credit for is that the cinematography makes the movie feel like fall. It’s a perfect fall watch because it feels like a Halloween movie with its scenery. Besides that, this movie doesn’t have much to offer.

7. Halloween 3: Season of the Witch

Season of the Witch has had a huge turnaround with critics and fans. Many people hated this film for a long time because it didn’t have anything to do with Micheal Myers. I like that they wanted to make Halloween an anthology series and I wish I enjoyed Season of the Witch more than I did. The premise is great, but the issues I have with the film stop me from fully enjoying it. The biggest issue I have is the characters. I don’t care about them and I didn’t care what happened to them. Even worse, I hated the romance between the main character and his love interest. There was a gross age gap between the actors and it shows. I may not have had a problem with it if there wasn’t a long drawn-out sex scene that doesn’t have anything to do with the plot. There’s a great premise in this movie, but I wish the execution was better.

6. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later

I come away from watching H20 every time thinking it’s a great Scream sequel. The problem lies in this is the Halloween franchise, not Scream. H20 obviously took inspiration from Scream which isn’t an inherently bad thing, but it gets to the point where I feel like I’m watching a Scream movie and not a Halloween movie. I love Scream, but I watch a Halloween movie wanting a Halloween movie. Not a Halloween movie trying to be a Scream movie. With that being said, this has the best ending of the entire franchise. It is such a shame Resurrection nearly ruined it.

5. Halloween Kills

I just saw Halloween Kills and I think it is too fresh in my mind to fully know how I feel about it, but I do know it’s worse than Halloween (2018), but it is still better than a lot of other movies in this franchise. The biggest issue with the film is that it feels incomplete. I know this is because they planned the franchise to be a trilogy and everything will be done in the next movie, but that makes Halloween Kills feel like filler. It doesn’t help that some parts of the film feel stupid like the mob subplot. The movie was trying to send a message, but it hamfisted and wasn’t as impactful as the filmmakers probably wanted. Not the worst movie in the franchise, but it could’ve been better.

4. Halloween 2

My favorite part about Halloween 2 is that it picks up immediately after the first. I loved seeing the aftermath of the first movie and seeing all the damage Micheal has left behind being discovered by the rest of the town. Halloween 2 is best to be watched alongside the first. By itself, it isn’t as affecting. The worst thing I can say about Halloween 2 is that it sidelines Laurie too much for my liking. I understand why they did, but I think the movie would have been better served with more of her in it.

3. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers

This may be controversial, but I love Halloween 4 mainly because I love Jamie. Once you get over them killing Laurie off, you realize you are in safe hands because you have a protagonist you will care about, Jamie. Danielle Harris gives the best performance you can ask for from a child actress. She as Jamie is the heart of the film and you are rooting for her to be okay. She makes the film in my opinion, even though Loomis is also pretty good. It’s one of the better sequels in the franchise and well worth watching. Also, that ending is phenomenal right up there with the ending of H20.

2. Halloween (2018)

Halloween (2018) is not a perfect sequel, but it is good enough to have warranted restarting the franchise and kicking off a new trilogy. There is such an improvement in quality over the previous sequels, it feels like a better movie than it actually is. The characters can be stupid, there are a lot of homages to the previous sequels, that it feels like fan service rather than adding anything to the film. Still, this is the best Halloween sequel we have gotten in my opinion.

1. Halloween (1978)

There wasn’t going to be anything else in the top spot, but Halloween (1978). No movie has come close to achieving the greatness the first did. Halloween (1978) being as amazing as it is, is the reason why we keep returning to the franchise hoping for another movie that can replicate how great the first one was. But we all know there will never be another Halloween (1978) no matter how much they try. It’s one of the best horror movies for a reason.