Michael Myers

"I met him, fifteen years ago. I was told there was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding; even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, 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."

- Sam Loomis

Michael Myers is a fictional serial killer and the recurring antagonist of the Halloween film franchise. Often referred to in script treatments as The Shape, Michael has appeared in all of the films except Halloween III: Season of the Witch, which takes place in an alternate continuity. In modern cinema, Michael Myers is one of the most popular serial murderers and has become an icon of the entire horror genre. The character has been played by multiple actors throughout the series including Tony Moran, Nick Castle, Dick Warlock, Brad Loree, Tyler Mane and many others. The central focus of the character is that he is a silent, masked figure who returns to his home town of Haddonfield, Illinois in order to murder members of his family; specifically, his sister Laurie Strode.

Childhood
Even from a very young age, Michael Myers was a disturbed little boy. The road signs for what would later become a lifelong psychosis had its roots as early as 1961. Young Michael discovered his older sister Judith's diary and defaced it by drawing macabre images of acts of murder. His mother, pregnant with her third child, criticized Michael's behavior, but his mind was filled with images of Judith's death.

By 1963, when Michael was six-years-old, he claimed to have suffered from bizarre, inexplicable nightmares and heard a "voice" in his head that would tell him to do things. The voices "tell me to say I hate people", says Michael. His dreams were filled with images of actual events that took place several centuries ago at the dawn of the Celtic age. He dreamed of a disfigured fifteen-year-old boy named Enda who, after being rejected by his true love Deidre, brutally murdered her during the feast of Samhain on Halloween night. These visions would have a much greater impact on Michael later on in his life.

On October 31st, 1963, Michael committed his first act of murder. His parents were away, and he was at home with his sister Judith who was supposed to be babysitting him, but cared more about spending an intimate moment with her boyfriend, Danny. After Danny left, Michael, dressed in a clown costume, went into the kitchen, picked up a butcher knife, walked up the steps and stabbed Judith to death. He then quietly walked back downstairs and into the front yard where he waited for his parents and the police to collect him. Michael was taken to Smith's Grove Sanitarium where he became the patient of a psychiatrist named Doctor Samuel Loomis. He spent fifteen years with Doctor Loomis, barely moving, never speaking a word.

This is not to say that Michael was completely inactive during these years. Over the span of a decade, a string of bizarre deaths took place, each one involving a patient or staff member who had some form of interaction with Michael Myers. One such incident involved an injury relating to an older patient named Tony O'Malley. Tony suffered many of the same derangements as Myers, but unlike Michael, was prone to violent outbursts and displays of emotion. After witnesses recounted seeing O'Malley bullying the smaller Myers, he was soon discovered with a crayon lodged inside his brain. Nobody suspected that the virtually comatose Michael Myers could be capable of such an attack, but Loomis began to suspect otherwise. Another such incident took place in November of that year when a patient named Adrian Wade ate an entire birthday cake that was intended for Michael. He was later found in the shower room with 2nd degree burns all over his body. He died in the medical wing a short time later. Another boy, Roger, bit off his own tongue and choked to death. There was no obvious evidence linking Myers to these three deaths.

In 1971, admnistrator Doctor Carpenter suggested having a Halloween party in the juvenile ward. Doctor Loomis was vehemently opposed to this idea given the significance of this particular date in relation to Myers. As was his custom, Carpenter dismissed Loomis' concerns and the party went underway. A faulty generator knocked out the electricity during the party and when the power resumed, the staff discovered a girl named Nancy had apparently slipped, hit her head and drowned while bobbing for apples. Loomis noted the irony of the fact that she was seen teasing Michael only shortly before hand.

That same evening, Michael killed Doctor Jennifer Hill. Hill had been a long-time colleague and lover of Doctor Loomis and the two were only two months shy of getting married. Sam found Jennifer's body lying on the ground outside the hospital. It appeared as if she had fallen from the roof of the building and her death was written off as a suicide. This proved to be the breaking point for Doctor Loomis. After spending eight years trying to reach him, he now committed himself towards making sure that Michael Myers never saw the light of day ever again. Acting as Michael's gatekeeper became an obsession with Loomis. He no longer regarded him as a human being, but as a monster and devil, the living epitome of pure evil.

Return to Haddonfield
On October 30th, 1978, something inside of Michael's mind awakened. He broke out of Smith's Grove, setting several patients loose along with him. Doctor Loomis and his assistant Marion Chambers were just arriving at the hospital in preparation of transferring Myers to a county prison so he could stand trial. Myers attacked Marion's car, assaulting her in the process. Marion survived the encounter, but Michael was able to steal the vehicle and escape to freedom.

He drove 150 miles to his home town of Haddonfield. Along the way, he murdered a mechanic and stole his overalls. Arriving in Haddonfield, Michael broke into Nichol's Hardware Store where he stole a Halloween mask, a knife and a length of rope. He then went to the cemetery where he dug up the headstone of his late sister Judith. Michael secured the headstone away for later use.

On the afternoon of October 31st, he went to the old Myers house, which had since fallen into a severe state of disrepair and was on the market. While looking out the windows, he saw his younger sister Laurie Strode, as well as a young boy named Tommy Doyle. Determined to murder his sister, Michael planned to isolate her by killing off her friends one by one. Later that day, Michael followed little Tommy Doyle to school. Being as it was Halloween, nobody thought twice about seeing a grown man in greasy overalls and a Halloween mask walking about the street. After stalking Tommy Doyle, Michael then began driving by Haddonfield High School. He witnessed Laurie once again, this time accompanied by her friends, Annie Brackett and Lynda Van Der Klok. Laurie briefly caught sight of Michael, but upon a second glance, Michael was gone. Michael continued to follow Laurie home and Laurie caught a glimpse of him in the back yard of her home. That evening, Michael struck at the first of Laurie's friends -- Annie Brackett. Annie had been babysitting a girl named Lindsey Wallace, while Laurie was across the street babysitting Tommy Doyle. Michael kept a close eye on Annie and followed her movements throughout the house. Michael hid in the back seat of Annie's car and waited for her to leave. Before she could start the car, he emerged from the back seat, strangled her, then slit her throat with a knife. He carried her body out of the garage and back into the house. From across the street, little Tommy Doyle saw Michael carrying Annie's body and told Laurie that he had seen "the Boogey Man".

A short while later, Lynda Van Der Klok and her boyfriend Bob Simms came to the Wallace house to have sex, not knowing that Annie was dead and that Michael Myers was lurking about the area. After sex, Lynda sent Bob downstairs to get her a beer. Michael attacked him on the landing and shoved a knife through his chest, pinning him against the wall. Michael took a moment to admire his handiwork as Bob's body hung suspended several inches off the ground. He then placed a bed sheet over his head and put on Bob's eyeglasses. When he entered the upstairs bedroom, Lynda believed him to be her boyfriend playing a prank on her. She quickly grew frustrated with "Bob's" behavior and decided to call Laurie. Myers attacked her from behind and strangled her with the telephone call. Afterward, he pulled the bed sheet from his head and picked up the phone cradle to hear Laurie's voice.

Laurie, mistaking Lynda for Annie, felt that something was wrong and went over to the Wallace house to investigate. She found the bodies of Annie, Lynda and Bob prominently displayed in bizarre positions in the upstairs bedroom. Annie's body laid on the bed beneath the stolen headstone of Judith Myers.

Michael came after Laurie directly at this point. Attacking her from behind, he slashed at her arm, sending her tumbling down the stairs, cracking her ankle. Laurie limped away in terror and scrambled across the street to the Doyle house while Michael patiently walked after her. He managed to get inside, but Laurie fought back, stabbing him in the neck with a knitting needle. She then ran upstairs to check on Tommy and Lindsey and Michael followed her. He had Laurie trapped inside of a closet, but Laurie managed to injure him again, this time stabbing him right beneath the eye with the straightened end of a coat hanger. The impact forced Michael to drop his knife, and Laurie picked it up, stabbing him in the stomach. Michael fell to the floor and Laurie was able to get past him. Minutes later however, Michael rose and attacked Laurie on the landing. While choking her, Laurie managed to pull his mask away. Doctor Loomis arrived at this point and fired a shot into Michael's body. Michael stumbled back and put his mask back on. Loomis came up the stairs and fired five more shots into Myers, driving him through the bedroom doors and over the outside balcony. Loomis was confident that Michael was dead, but when he went outside to check the body, Michael was gone.

Massacre at Haddonfield Memorial
Having survived his initial encounter with Doctor Loomis, Michael left the Doyle residence to continue his endless crusade of murder. He walked into the home of Mister and Mrs. Elrod to procure a knife, then went across the yard and killed the Elrods' neighbor, Alice Martin. He then went to Haddonfield Elementary School where he drove the knife into the representation of a "sister" on a child's crayon drawing. He smeared the word "Samhain" in blood on the classroom chalk board.

He then discovered that Laurie Strode had been taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital. He hid inside the car of one of the hospital's staff members who unwittingly drove him to where his sister was no recuperating.

Michael murdered several more individuals in an effort to find Laurie. His first victim at the hospital was a security guard named Mister Garrett, who went into a darkened maintenance shed after Michael had sabotaged the telephone lines. Michael killed him by striking the top of his head with a claw hammer. He later suspended Garrett's body from a hanging light fixture. His next victim was an EMT named Budd. Michael found Budd and a nurse named Karen Baley in the therapy room where they had been spending an intimate moment together. Michael strangled Budd with a garrote wire, then drowned Karen Baley by submerging her face in scalding hot water in the therapy pool. He then killed the chief of medicine Doctor Mixter by stabbing him in the eye with a needle. Following this, Michael cut his way through the rest of the attending staff, which included three more nurses; Janet Marshall, Virginia Alves and Jill Franco. He killed Janet Marshall shortly after killing Doctor Mixter. Approaching her from behind, he injected a needle into her temple, which killed her instantly. He then killed head nurse Virginia Alves in the O/R by strapping her down to an operating table and exsanguinating her. Nurse Jill Franco was unfortunate enough to cross Michael's path and he stabbed her in the back with a scalpel. He eventually found Laurie, who was injured and heavily sedated. Despite this however, Laurie found the strength to evade Michael who pursued her all across the hospital grounds. Doctor Loomis, Marion Chambers and a Federal marshall arrived to rescue Laurie and Loomis emptied his gun into Michael. Myers fell to the floor, but Loomis knew better this time and was not convinced that Michael was actually dead. The marshal leaned over to inspect him and Myers sat up, slicing the man's throat open with the scalpel.

Michael then chased Loomis and Laurie who sequestered themselves inside of a room where Loomis gave Laurie a gun. Michael broke down the door and Loomis opened fire on him. He discovered to his horror however, that he was out of bullets. Michael stabbed him in the stomach with his scalpel then turned towards Laurie who fired two shots directly into Michael's eyes, blinding him. Michael began slashing wildly in Laurie's direction, but was unable to hit her. Loomis, though bleeding, managed to get up and began loosening the valve on a canister of ether. Laurie took his cue and began doing likewise to another set of canisters. Michael continued to blindly swipe his scalpel at every noise he heard. Loomis ordered Laurie out of the room and stoically said, "It's time, Michael". Using a lighter, he ignited the ether in the room causing a huge explosion. Michael stumbled out of the room, his body completely engulfed in flames. He fell to the ground, seemingly dead. Paramedics arrived and Michael's body was taken away.

Revival Series
"These eyes will deceive you, they will destroy you. They will take from you, your innocence, your pride, and eventually your soul. These eyes do not see what you and I see. Behind these eyes one finds only blackness, the absence of light, these are the eyes of a psychopath."

- Doctor Sam Loomis

Childhood
Michael Myers was the second of three children born to Deborah Myers and an unidentified father in the suburb of Haddonfield, Illinois. From an early age, Michael began exhibiting signs of abnormal, antisocial behavior including a complete lack of empathy and a fascination with harming small animals. His family life was completely dysfunctional. His mother worked as an exotic dancer, his older sister Judith couldn't stand him, and his mother's live-in boyfriend Ronnie White, was a callus, abusive man who was always threatening to harm Michael. The only member of the family that Michael had any appreciation for was his infant sister, Boo. Michael was incapable of coping with the world around him and sought solitude by hiding his face behind various masks.

When Michael was ten-years-old, he went to school on the day of Halloween. While in the restroom, he was bullied by an older student named Wesley Rhoades, who teased Michael over the fact that his mother was a stripper at the Rabbit in Red Lounge. Michael railed back against the bully, but Principal Jim Chambers broke the fight up before it could get out of hand. He gave Michael a detention. While searching through Michael's school bag, Chambers discovered a dead cat sealed inside of a plastic bag as well as a stack of photographs depicting dead animals in various states of mutilation. He telephoned Michael's mother as well as a child psychologist named Doctor Sam Loomis and asked them to come to his office to discuss Michael.

After school, Michael followed Wesley Rhoades through the woods and ambushed him. Wearing a clown mask over his face, he repeatedly beat Wesley with a large tree branch until the boy was dead.

That evening, Deborah asked his older sister Judith to take Michael out for Halloween. She warned Michael that she hadn't forgotten about the incident at school, but was completely blind to the deep-seated emotional trauma that was clearly manifesting inside Michael's mind. As it was, Judith dismissed her mother's request and left Michael to his own devices, preferring instead to go up to her bedroom with her boyfriend Steve Haley. Michael went trick 'r treating by himself and returned home fairly early in the evening. After enduring more verbal abuse from his crippled, would-be stepfather Ronnie White, Michael suffered a psychotic break.

Still wearing his clown costume, Michael went into the kitchen to get a butcher knife and a role of duct tape. He found Ronnie White passed out in the living room and bound the man's body to the chair with the tape. He then slit his throat open with the knife and hovered above him so that Ronnie could see the face of the one who killed him. While Ronnie bled out, Michael stabbed him several more times in the face and chest.

He then found Steve Haley in the kitchen eating a sandwich. He clubbed him across the back of the head with an aluminum baseball bat then beat him several more times until he was dead. Michael found a mask that Steve had purchased for Halloween and switched it out with his clown mask. He went upstairs to his sister Judith's room. He hovered above her bed while her back was turned and began running his fingers across her leg. Judith was instantly irate with him and slapped Michael several times across his masked face. Michael then stabbed her in the stomach with a knife. Judith tried to get away, but Michael followed her into the hallway where he stabbed her sixteen more times.

Michael came downstairs, removed his mask and went to the crib housing his baby sister. He kissed her on the forehead, said "Happy Halloween, Boo." and then brought the baby outside. A short while later, Deborah Myers returned home to see a blood-soaked Michael sitting on the sidewalk cradling his sister.

Michael was arrested and remanded to the care of Smith's Grove Sanitarium in Warren County. He became the patient of Doctor Loomis who spent many sessions with Michael, hoping to find a way to help him. As it was, Michael seemed to possess no memory of the incident and had no idea that he was responsible for killing four people.

At first, Michael was a model patient and the hospital staff felt that it was therapeutic for him to make his own masks. A prison guard named Ismael Cruz befriended Michael and tried to keep the boy in good spirits. Deborah Myers visited him once a week, but was still blind to the fact that her son was a psychopathic killer.

Within a year, Michael grew more and more withdrawn. He wore his masks with greater frequency, claiming that they hid his ugliness. He asked Doctor Loomis when he would be able to go home, to which Loomis always reminded him of the terrible things he had done. On one particular visit, Deborah gave Michael an old photograph of himself and his little sister. She thought Michael might like to hang it in his bedroom. Loomis and Deborah walked out of the room, leaving Michael in the care of a nurse named Wynn. Michael snapped and stabbed Nurse Wynn to death with a fork. Loomis and Deborah raced back into the room and she saw for the first time, the monster that her son truly was. Unable to cope with this reality, Deborah Myers took her own life shortly following this incident.

Break-Out
Michael spent the next seventeen years at Smith's Grove, never saying a word. He sat in his cell and made masks which he used to decorate his room. Michael was called in for a parole hearing to determine whether her was mentally fit to stand trial. A city councilman took one look at Michael and determined that he should never be allowed out of Smith's Grove. Administrator Morgan Walker denied him parole.

Immediately following this, Michael decided to break out. While being transferred back to his cell, he broke free of his manacles and killed six prison guards as well as a receptionist named Gloria. He walked out of Smith's Grove and made his way to a nearby truck stop where he killed a truck driver named Big Joe Grizzly in a restroom. He took Grizzly's clothes and discarded his hospital robes.

Michael made his way all the back to Haddonfield. He stopped at his old family home, which as now in a severe state of disrepair. He pulled up a few floorboards and retrieved the knife and mask that he used on the night he killed his sister.

He then went to the cemetery where he stole the headstone of Judith Myers. He replaced it with the crucified remains of a dead animal. He brought the headstone back to the Myers' house and placed it in Judith's old room.

Finding Boo
It was at this point that Michael learned about Laurie Strode. Through a means that is as yet unclear, Michael knew that Laurie Strode was his baby sister "Boo" all grown up. Michael wanted Laurie, but first needed to isolate her by doing away with all elements of Laurie's current life; namely, her friends and family.

On Halloween night, Laurie's close friend Lynda Van Der Klok and her boyfriend Bob Simms broke into the Myers home to drink beer and have sex. Michael bided his time, silently watching them from within the shadows of Judith's bedroom. After the couple were done, Michael followed Bob Simms downstairs. He stabbed him through the chest with knife, pinning him to the wall. He then went back upstairs (with a bed sheet over his head) and strangled Lynda Van Der Klok to death.

Michael then went to the Wallace residence where Laurie's friend Annie Brackett was babysitting a girl named Lindsey Wallace. Annie neglected her babysitting duties and brought Lindsey her across the street to the Doyle house where Laurie was babysitting young Tommy Doyle. She returned to the Wallaces' house where she began having sex with her boyfriend Paul. Michael appeared before them and killed Paul by stabbing him in the back. He battered Annie about and left her bleeding on the floor in the foyer. He hung Paul's body from a noose in the foyer and placed a Jack-o'-lantern overtop his head.

Laurie eventually came over and found Annie screaming on the floor. Laurie screamed and Michael Myers stepped out of the shadows and attacked her. Michael grabbed Laurie and began tossing her about the room. She picked up a chair and threw it through a pair of French doors. She climbed out into the yard and shambled back to the Doyle house screaming for Tommy to let her in. Michael followed her across the street and muscled his way through the locked door. Laurie and the children ran upstairs and tried to lock themselves in the bathroom. Two officers responding to a 911 call arrived, but Michael killed both of them, stabbing them with his large butcher knife. Returning his attention to Laurie, he managed to get a hold of her whereupon Laurie fainted.

Michael carried Laurie back to the house he grew up in. When she awakened, she found herself in the basement of the house, the body of Lynda Van Der Klok and the stolen headstone of Judith Myers lying next to her. Michael silently approached her, dropped to his knees and removed his mask. He set down his knife and pulled an old photograph out of his pocket. The photo was of himself and Laurie when she was still a baby - the same photo that his mother had given him shortly before her suicide. Laurie didn't understand the significance of the photo, but took the opportunity to scoop up Michael's knife and stab in the shoulder with it. Michael was temporarily incapacitated, but quickly revived and followed Laurie into the neighbor's yard. He trapped her inside an empty swimming pool and loomed over her. Doctor Loomis, having been tracking Michael's actions ever since his escaped, arrived on the scene and shot Michael several times in the back. He fell to the floor of the pool and Loomis helped Laurie to climb out.

Michael awakened moments later and climbed out of the pool. He found Laurie nearby inside of a police cruiser and violently yanked her out the door. He dragged her back into the Myers house, but Doctor Loomis tried to distract Michael, pleading with him to let Laurie go. He apologized for failing him and offered himself up as an alternative to killing Laurie. Michael grabbed Loomis' head with both hands and crushed his skull.

This distraction gave Laurie the chance to escape again. She fled deeper into the house and tried to hide from Michael by climbing up into the ceiling. Michael discovered where she was and began poking holes in the ceiling with a broken beam. Laurie crawled across a weak patch of plaster and fell through the ceiling onto the floor. As she stood up, Michael tackled her and they both barreled through a balcony window, falling to the ground below. Laurie revived first, but her face was completely covered in blood. She picked up Doctor Loomis' gun again and aimed it at Michael's face. She pressed the trigger several time with no results. Michael suddenly awakened and Laurie pulls the trigger again. The gun fired directly towards Michael's face and Laurie began howling in fear, pain and terror.

Notes & Trivia

 * The original prop used for Michael Myers' mask was actually a Captain Kirk Halloween mask molded to the likeness of Stark Trek actor William Shatner.


 * In Halloween II, Laurie Strode has a dream where she sees herself as a young girl visiting Michael Myers' room at Smith's Grove. Whether this dream is intended to reflect a repressed memory is unclear.


 * Producer/screenwriter Debra Hill was the hand model in the opening scenes from Halloween (1978) where Michael first picks up the butcher knife in the 1963 flashback, technically making her the first person (and a woman at that) to portray Michael Myers.

Parodies

 * Michael Myers is one of several horror icons parodied in the 2009 comedy Stan Helsing. In the film, Michael's mask has a large smile on it and he wears a yarmulke, suggesting that he is Jewish. Myers participates in and loses a Karaoke contest between his fellow monsters and he against Stan Helsing and his friends.

In Film

 * Halloween (1978)
 * Halloween II (1981)
 * Halloween IV: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
 * Halloween V: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
 * Halloween VI: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
 * Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1998)
 * Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
 * Halloween (2007)
 * Halloween II (2009)

In Comics

 * Halloween Special #1
 * Halloween: Nightdance #1-4
 * Halloween: The First Death of Laurie Strode #1-3