7. Michael Myers – Halloween (2007)
John Carpenter’s Halloween kept exploration of Michael Myers backstory to a minimum, but it was hinted at. Its various sequels, revivals and soft reboots have examined his past more closely, but none as much as Rob Zombie’s 2007 reboot, also titled Halloween, which goes as far as to actually show the events of Michael’s childhood. Whether Rob Zombie was right to offer a peek behind Myers’ iconic mask isn’t the issue: the fact is, he gave Michael Myers a backstory that essentially justified his murderous rage.
In Zombie’s version of the Halloween mythology, Michael Myers is a boy showing psychopathic tendencies who is being bullied at school and ignored and abused at home. His mother is mostly absent as she works as a stripper, and her boyfriend abuses Michael regularly. His older sister is indifferent to his suffering, but Michael is shown to be particularly fond of his infant sister. After a particularly bad day, Michael kills his bully, his mother’s boyfriend, his older sister, and her boyfriend, leaving his baby sister unharmed – proving that he has a tender streak to offset his ultraviolent tendencies.
From there, Myers goes on to kill abusive orderlies that have been sexually assaulting his fellow inmates, further proving that he has a moral code. However, with his young life shaped by violence and indifference alongside his mental illness, it was an impossibility that he would ever have grown up to be well-adjusted, primarily because he didn’t receive the care or attention he needed. Ultimately, in Rob Zombie’s film, the real villain was the society that failed Michael Myers, because it essentially pushed him to his crimes.