Stylishly directed by Carpenter, "Halloween" achieves a prickly, hairs on the back of the neck standing on end feeling of paranoia. Myers is never seen in full shot during the daylight hours, and he is only glimpsed briefly in the corners of shots at night. The effect is greatly enhanced on Carpenter's own heavily synthesized, "stinger" riddled score, which was written and recorded in only two weeks. Inspired by Bernard Hermann's haunting score for "Psycho," the score for "Halloween" and particularly its main theme is still considered by many to be a classic.

It was inevitable, following the unexpected success of "Halloween" that a sequel would shortly follow. But while Carpenter once again scored the music, co-wrote the script and co-produced the film with his longtime partner, Debra Hill, the directorial chores were handed to Rick Rosenthal (who would return to the franchise to direct "Halloween Resurrection" 22 years later). As a result, "Halloween II" is a much more obvious, plodding and heavy-handed film than its predecessor. The body count is much higher, the killings even more senseless, and the methods of murder varied into novelties. A motivation is given for Michael's homicidal quest in "Halloween II," however; as it is revealed that Laurie Strode is actually Michael's younger sister. Why it's so important to him to kill her as he did his older sister, and why he waited 15 years to do it, however is never explained as Michael rampages through a hospital, killing the entire staff, trying to reach her. Even though "Halloween II" begins where "Halloween" left off, and most of the original cast was back, brutality had replaced suspense, and the shine, as they say, was off the bowl.

When Carpenter returned in 1982 with "Halloween III: The Season of the Witch," it was obvious that he was done with Michael Myers. Unwilling to assign his masked maniac to the fate of the Frankenstein monster, namely, a whole series of increasingly sleazy and pointless sequels, Carpenter tried to turn the series into an anthology of different horrors taking place on Halloween. But horror fans neither liked the idea or "Season of the Witch." Without Michael Myers, the film fell flat on its face, and so, it appeared, the series was over.

But "Halloween" had left quite an impact in its wake. Over at Paramount, Jason Voorhees had donned a hockey mask and "Friday the 13th" sequels were being hammered out at lightening speed. Then, in 1984, director Wes Craven gave slasher-film hungry horror fans the ultimate fright in the guise of Freddy Kruger in "A Nightmare on Elm Street." Even Universal Studios tried to jump on the slasher bandwagon by reviving their own homicidal maniac, Norman Bates in three dismal sequels to "Psycho," two that made it to the big screen, and one that showed up as a Showtime original movie for television.

By the end of the decade, with big bucks to be made, "Halloween" producer Moustapha Akkaid decided it was time to revive Carpenter's original masked hulking horror. So in the fall of 1988, "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" hit the big screen. Conspicuously absent from the production was Jamie Lee Curtis, who had played Michael's sister Laurie in the first two films. But Donald Pleasance was back as the dogged (and now beat up and ragged-looking) Doctor Loomis, hunting down Michael as he pursued his niece, Jamie, killing everyone (including the entire Haddonfield police force), along the way. Ending the film with a psychic connection between Michael and his niece, everyone returned in 1989 with "Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers," which followed the storyline of "Halloween 4" with the addition of a mysterious man dressed in black who seemed as dogged in pursuit of Michael as Loomis.

The mysterious kidnapping of both Michael and Jamie was explained (sort of) in 1995 with the release of "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers." Unfortunately, Donald Pleasance died during the filming of "Curse of Michael Myers," so much of the film had to be shot around the scenes already on hand. The result was an uneven film that fails on a lot of levels to make much sense at all. Still, it did provide lots of thrills and one of the best exploding head scenes ever filled.