Scary movie lovers are all too familiar with the infamous Michael Myers. Straight from the Halloween movies, he is known for his slashing murderous character.
The actions of Michael Myers come from a place of evil. The real question is what made him so evil. What is the why behind his actions? Or is there one? Check out what I found!
Why Is Michael Myers Evil?
1. A Curse Behind The Evil
In the early movies, we never really learn just what is behind this character. All we know is that he walks around chasing and murdering. It seems to be a delight to Michael Myers.
However, as they continue to build on the foundation of the movies, we learn a little bit more about him. In Halloween 2, they shared a short tidbit that perhaps lets us know what’s up.
This was set to be expanded more in a future movie but that one never made it to its premier. For example, Halloween Kills was said to focus on a curse.
The story reveals that perhaps Michael Myers is evil because of a longstanding curse. In that storyline, the curse led him to kill his entire family. It’s certainly an interesting take.
2. Crazy Killer Instinct
The fact of the matter is that there might not be a real answer for anything leading up to evil. In reality, some people just are evil and we never really truly know the cause.
Could it be that is the case with Michael Myers? He may have some innate level of evil rooted within him. Perhaps that crazy killer instinct just took one thing to set it off.
What we do know is that Michael Myers is one expert killer. He seems to thrive off of murder. As he continues to kill, his killer instinct only grows and strengthens.
3. Behold The Mask
Michael Myers is always covered by his mask. There are only a few sporadic images in all of the Halloween movies that reveal his face.
The mask has been in place through more than 40 years of this killing behavior. It’s safe to say that perhaps his mask has something to do with his evil nature.
The mask could simply be disguising what led Michael Myers to become evil or it could hold some innate power that we are unsure of. The mask is certainly spooky if nothing else.
4. Mental Sanitarium
Michael Myers potentially spent a lot of years in a sanitarium throughout his childhood and youth. This is again a storyline that Halloween Kills would have divulged further for us to understand.
If he was cursed or something happened as a child, he needed help. In the staged years for the setting of that timeframe, sanitoriums had a bad reputation.
Who knows what types of horrors Michael experienced while he was in the mental institute? There may have been procedures and torturous activities that he was exposed to.
Again, this is something we can only assume and it’s certainly an interesting take as to whether it could have potentially led to his evil character.
Or perhaps there was nothing the mental institution could do to help his evil mind.
5. Childhood Neglect
Have you ever felt unwanted or alone? This feeling is only intensified when it stems from someone we care deeply about. It can lead to extreme thoughts and actions.
One such background with Michael Myers is an experience with his sister as a child. She was to be babysitting him but instead neglected him to spend quality time with a boy.
This may have led to long-term ramifications of pure evil thanks to the damage it did to his mind. It led Michael to a vendetta against other women in that category.
In many of the early movies of the franchise, Michael Myers is wholly focused on teenage female babysitters. Perhaps his evil stems from the mistreatment of his sister.
6. Cult Or Pagan Ritual
We see several times in the Halloween movies examples of a certain cult or ritualistic practice. We also see the trend of who Michael Myers goes after.
With the thought process of Michael being cursed, perhaps there is something much deeper than just a simple curse.
Michael Myers is plagued by druid magic that entices him to seek specific individuals. The interesting twist is that he does have official ties to those individuals in some way.
7. Evil In Nature
There are times when there is simply no explanation for that evil drive within a person. We all have some level of evil in our blood.
As it turns out, Michael Myers is exceptional and unfortunate. However, in some of the later movies of the series, we are led to believe this might be the case.
Rather than a back story or experience that turned him evil, the plot gives us the indication that he is simply evil at his very core. This is perhaps the scariest and most elusive form of evil.
8. Storyline Persistence
When a franchise such as this carries through the years, there is only so much room to build. While we see small snippets of history that provoked Michael, that’s about it.
However, to keep the storyline alive, Michael Myers must remain alive. He must remain evil and murderous. The movies portray just that.
9. He Is The Victim
The final reason that Michael Myers is perhaps evil is that he is a victim. If you consider the potential of him being cursed, this was not his doing.
If he was cursed, this was done by the druids who were seeking to protect themselves. In doing so, Michael Myers fell victim to their curse.
The curse led to a life filled with evil and terror. The curse leads him to fulfill the Samhain ritual on the night of Halloween.
To learn more, you can also read our posts on why Michael Myers wears a mask, why people like horror movies, and why music is loud in movies.
Conclusion
The movie creators have left it fairly open as to why Michael Myers is evil. There are certainly some interesting scenarios and possibilities.
The evil nature of his character appears to be one that cannot be overcome, which leads to the continuation of his story for more than 40 years.