The Most Disturbing Death In The Halloween Franchise Has Nothing To Do With Michael Myers

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The Most Disturbing Death In The Halloween Franchise Has Nothing To Do With Michael Myers

In a horror franchise as vast as the Halloween series, it can be difficult to decide when choosing the most disturbing murder scene. Spanning 13 films, the franchise has a long list of brutal deaths, mostly perpetrated by HalloweenThe antagonist of and one of the greatest horror icons of all time, Michael Myers. From the legendary murder scenes of the first film, with Myers disguised as a ghost, to the most devastating and frightening murders in Rob Zombie and David Gordon Green’s film timelines, the franchise has no shortage of memorable deaths. However, one of them seems particularly worrying, even for Halloween series.

Michael Myers has over 80 kills overall Halloween franchise, including the four different timelines, of course. His highest kill count, 69 in total, comes from the 2018 timeline, which includes the first film and David Gordon Green’s trilogy. Surprisingly, the kills per film come back to the Rob Zombie duology, which contained 31 kills in just two films. Brutal murder scenes are expected in a Rob Zombie film, but the most disturbing death comes from the franchise’s first sequel, 1981’s. Halloween II.

Halloween II has a killing scene that viewers just can’t forget

Image via Universal Images

Halloween II picks up right where the 1979 original Halloween ends. Michael Myers has evaded the police, even after being shot multiple times by Dr. Loomis, and is once again on the prowl across Haddonfield to find and murder Laurie Strode. While Laurie is treated at Haddonfield Memorial Hospital and Myers goes there, Dr. Loomis and the Haddonfield police are still searching the town for any signs of the masked killer.

The most disturbing death of Halloween the franchise is owned by Ben Tramer. Tramer is just a normal 17 year old who goes on a hunt and wears the same mask and suit as Michael Myers. He is also mentioned in the first film as the classmate Laurie has a crush on, which makes his death even sadder. When Dr. Loomis and Sheriff Brackett are looking for Michael Myers, they spot Tramer, mistake him for Myers, and begin chasing him down the street, brandishing a gun. Fearing for his life, Tramer rushes into the street, where he is quickly hit by a speeding police car. The car slams Tramer against a van and explodes, pinning Tramer as he is engulfed in flames, killing him slowly and horribly.

Not only is Tramer the only death in the franchise that isn’t caused by Michael Myers or Corey Cunningham (not counting the barely affiliated character). Halloween III: Season of the Witch), but there are virtually no consequences for the Haddonfield police’s huge mistake. In fact, once they later identify that Tramer wasn’t Myers at the morgue, he is never mentioned again in the original franchise timeline. The idea of someone’s child being run over and slowly burned alive in a public street during a candy hunt is horrifying, especially when no justice is ever served for the perpetrators. Fortunately, the events of Halloween II are not canon in the most recent timeline, and Tramer is mentioned as being alive in David Gordon Green’s sequel trilogy.

Halloween II still remains the best sequel in the franchise

Even with 11 films and three additional timelines, Halloween II remains the strongest sequel in the franchise. It’s the only other Halloween a film that actually feels as if it were directed by John Carpenter, not only because it immediately picks up where the first film leaves off, but also because Carpenter once again wrote the screenplay with Debra Hill and composed the soundtrack himself.

In addition to having extremely memorable murder scenes and sharing the classic vibe of Carpenter’s original film, Halloween II continues to develop several in-universe characters, including further exploiting Dr. Loomis’ obsession with Michael. The film also opens up one of the franchise’s best storylines, the twist that Laurie Strode is Michael’s half-sister, which will continue in the timeline that includes Halloween 4, 5And 6. Unfortunately, these three films saw a huge drop in quality compared to the first two films.

A lot Halloween fans think David Gordon Green’s trilogy would have worked better if it had picked up after Halloween II or slightly modified the consequences of the way Halloween (2018) did this with flashbacks. Keeping the brotherly scenario could have benefited the last two films, Halloween kills And End of Halloweenwhich were criticized by both critics and audiences due to the lack of story direction. The inclusion of Ben Tramer’s death could even have been used to better justify the absolutely absurd mob mentality and recklessness of the people of Haddonfield in Halloween kills. It’s a shame that the franchise’s most disturbing death was so futile.