Reel Fixation (Page 2)

Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode stands in the foreground wearing a green blouse and glasses, looking concerned, while Rohan Campbell as Corey Cunningham stands behind her in a brown jacket

Franchise Fixation: Halloween Ends (2022)

The Shape steps aside, a new evil moves in, and thirteen movies bring us back to the beginning.

Michael Myers stands in front of a wall of flames in Halloween Kills (2021), wearing his dark coveralls and a scorched, partially melted white mask.

Franchise Fixation: Halloween Kills (2021)

Evil dies tonight. Unfortunately, it takes the screenplay down with it.

Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, recoils as Michael Myers reaches his hand through a broken window in a wooden door in Halloween (2018).

Franchise Fixation: Halloween (2018)

Forty years after the original, Laurie Strode returns to confront Michael Myers again. Halloween (2018) has some genuinely effective scares and welcome performances, but I find it much easier to appreciate in pieces than as a whole.

Michael Myers stands with his back to the camera, facing a ghostly Deborah Myers in a flowing white dress beside a white horse against a dark nighttime background in Halloween II (2009).

Franchise Fixation: Halloween II (2009)

Freed from the constraints of remaking John Carpenter's original, Rob Zombie takes Halloween in a direction entirely his own. I just wish I liked where he took it.

A towering Michael Myers, his long hair obscuring his face, is escorted down a brightly lit institutional hallway by two uniformed orderlies.

Franchise Fixation: Halloween (2007)

Rob Zombie brings Michael Myers back to Haddonfield. I wish I had enjoyed the trip more.

Busta Rhymes as Freddy Harris holds an air horn while a camera crew films behind him in Halloween: Resurrection (2002).

Franchise Fixation: Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

A terrible sequel, a strangely watchable movie, and the man who gave Michael Myers a kung-fu lesson.

Franchise Fixation: Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)

Twenty years later, Laurie Strode returns. Twenty-eight years later, I finally appreciate it.

Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) stands in a dimly lit hospital corridor, looking down at Michael Myers lying motionless on the floor in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995).

Franchise Fixation: Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)

Six years after Halloween 5, Michael Myers returns with a new mythology, a troubled production, and Donald Pleasence's final appearance as Dr. Loomis. The Curse of Michael Myers delivers plenty of Halloween atmosphere, but does it deliver any satisfying answers?

Spitz, wearing a Michael Myers costume and holding a knife above his head, pretends to threaten Tina, who kneels in front of him during a prank on the police in Halloween 5: The Revenge of Mi

Franchise Fixation: Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)

Just one year after Halloween 4 brought Michael Myers back from the dead, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers nearly buried the franchise again. A rushed production, baffling creative decisions, and misguided attempts at humor make this one of the series' dullest installments.

Jamie Lloyd, wearing a pink cardigan, stands among Halloween masks in a costume shop, with a white Michael Myers mask behind her.

Franchise Fixation: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)

Michael Myers returns to Haddonfield, but Danielle Harris and Ellie Cornell give Halloween 4 its heart. Franchise Fixation continues with an autumn atmosphere, an increasingly unhinged Dr. Loomis, and an ending that still leaves a mark.

Tom Atkins and Stacey Nelkin stand behind three children wearing Silver Shamrock witch, skull, and pumpkin masks in Halloween III: Season of the Witch.

Franchise Fixation: Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

Halloween III: Season of the Witch took a huge swing by leaving Michael Myers behind. More than four decades later, has this once-maligned sequel gone from underrated to almost overrated?

Michael Myers stands over a hospital bed in Halloween II (1981).

Franchise Fixation: Halloween II (1981)

The night he came home isn't over yet, but three years later, horror had already changed.

Franchise Fixation

Franchise Fixation: Halloween (1978)

The movie that launched a franchise, changed horror, and somehow became my comfort movie.

Welcome to Reel Fixation

Welcome to Reel Fixation—a new home for reviews, retrospectives, franchise deep dives, and probably more than a few movie and TV rabbit holes.

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