Halloween Movies in Order: Release Order, All Five Timelines and a Pick-Your-Path Chooser

Michael Myers has headlined a dozen movies since 1978, and one more film carries the Halloween name without him. Over that stretch the franchise rebooted itself so many times that the 13 films now split into five separate storylines. Below you’ll find the full release order with runtimes, a breakdown of each timeline, and a chooser table that shows how long each path takes.

Halloween movies in release order

This is the order the films reached US theaters. Runtimes are the theatrical cuts, in minutes. They come from the AFI Catalog, the BBFC’s timed cinema classifications, and Universal’s own title pages for the 2018 trilogy.

#	Film	US release	Runtime (min)	Timeline
1	Halloween	Oct. 25, 1978 (Los Angeles)	92	All Michael Myers timelines except Rob Zombie’s
2	Halloween II	Oct. 30, 1981	92	Original, H20
3	Halloween III: Season of the Witch	Oct. 22, 1982	98	Standalone
4	Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers	Oct. 21, 1988	88	Original
5	Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers	Oct. 13, 1989	96	Original
6	Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers	Sept. 29, 1995	88	Original
7	Halloween H20: 20 Years Later	Aug. 5, 1998 (Los Angeles)	86	H20
8	Halloween: Resurrection	July 12, 2002	89	H20
9	Halloween (Rob Zombie)	Aug. 31, 2007	109	Rob Zombie
10	Halloween II (Rob Zombie)	Aug. 28, 2009	105	Rob Zombie
11	Halloween	Oct. 19, 2018	106	2018 trilogy
12	Halloween Kills	Oct. 15, 2021	105	2018 trilogy
13	Halloween Ends	Oct. 14, 2022	111	2018 trilogy

Total for all 13 films: 1,265 minutes, or about 21 hours 5 minutes.

Notes on the dates and times:

• The 1978 film opened in Los Angeles on Oct. 25, 1978, per the AFI Catalog, which lists the general release as Oct. 27. AFI gives a 93-minute runtime, but the BBFC timed the cinema version at 91 minutes 39 seconds, so we use 92.
• H20 opened in Los Angeles on Aug. 5, 1998, according to the AFI Catalog. AFI lists 91 minutes, but the BBFC’s cinema record runs 85 minutes 52 seconds, and Variety’s 1998 review listed 85 minutes. We rounded to 86.
• Universal lists Halloween (2018) at 106 minutes, Halloween Kills at 105 and Halloween Ends at 111.
• Variety reported the Oct. 19, 2018 release date when David Gordon Green signed on to direct. Halloween Kills arrived in theaters and on Peacock on the same day, Oct. 15, 2021, and Universal used the same pattern for Halloween Ends on Oct. 14, 2022.

Pick your timeline: which films belong to which story

Competing guides list the timelines but stop there. This table puts every film against every continuity, so you can see at a glance which entries overlap. “Yes” means the film belongs to that storyline.

Film	Original (Jamie Lloyd)	H20	2018 trilogy	Rob Zombie	Standalone
Halloween (1978)	Yes	Yes	Yes	-	-
Halloween II (1981)	Yes	Yes	-	-	-
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)	-	-	-	-	Yes
Halloween 4 (1988)	Yes	-	-	-	-
Halloween 5 (1989)	Yes	-	-	-	-
The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)	Yes	-	-	-	-
H20: 20 Years Later (1998)	-	Yes	-	-	-
Resurrection (2002)	-	Yes	-	-	-
Halloween (2007)	-	-	-	Yes	-
Halloween II (2009)	-	-	-	Yes	-
Halloween (2018)	-	-	Yes	-	-
Halloween Kills (2021)	-	-	Yes	-	-
Halloween Ends (2022)	-	-	Yes	-	-

How long does each Halloween timeline take?

Use this chooser to pick a path by mood and time budget. Totals add up the theatrical runtimes from the release-order table.

If you want…	Watch this path	Films	Total runtime
The modern Laurie Strode saga	2018 trilogy	1978, 2018, Kills, Ends	414 min (6 hr 54 min)
The longest classic run with Dr. Loomis	Original timeline	1978, II, 4, 5, Curse	456 min (7 hr 36 min)
Laurie’s first comeback, 20 years on	H20 timeline	1978, II, H20, Resurrection	359 min (5 hr 59 min)
The H20 story without the weakest link	H20 timeline, trimmed	1978, II, H20	270 min (4 hr 30 min)
A grittier remake of Michael’s origin	Rob Zombie duology	2007, 2009	214 min (3 hr 34 min)
Something different on Halloween night	Standalone	Season of the Witch	98 min (1 hr 38 min)
The shortest complete Laurie story	Minimum path	1978, 2018	198 min (3 hr 18 min)
Everything	Release order	All 13	1,265 min (21 hr 5 min)

The 1978 original anchors three of the five paths, so start there unless you’re going straight to Rob Zombie or Season of the Witch.

The five Halloween timelines explained

Original timeline: Halloween, II, 4, 5 and The Curse of Michael Myers

Halloween II opens with footage from the end of the first film and continues the same night in Haddonfield, Illinois. Halloween 4 then jumps ahead. The AFI synopsis sets it on Oct. 30, 1988, ten years after the first attack, with Michael hunting his young niece, Jamie Lloyd, the orphaned daughter of Laurie Strode.

Halloween 5 picks up one year later. AFI’s history notes say producer Moustapha Akkad wanted to restore Michael Myers after Season of the Witch dropped him, and to make the films more of a serial, each starting where the last ended. The Curse of Michael Myers (88 minutes) closes this run.

Donald Pleasence plays Dr. Loomis in all five films here. The BBFC cast listings for Halloween 4 and Halloween 5 also show Danielle Harris as a constant in the middle chapters.

Keep or skip: keep 4 if you like this run at all. Watch 5 and Curse only if you want to see the Jamie Lloyd story through to the end.

H20 timeline: Halloween, II, H20 and Resurrection

H20 brings Jamie Lee Curtis back as Laurie, now living under a new name, Keri Tate, 20 years after the first murders. Variety’s review put it plainly: the script acts as if Michael’s killing stopped with the 1981 sequel. That means Halloween 4, 5 and Curse do not exist in this version.

Halloween: Resurrection (89 minutes) follows H20, with Curtis back as Laurie Strode, and is the last film in this line. Keep or skip: H20 works as an ending on its own, which is why the chooser lists a trimmed three-film version.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (standalone)

According to AFI’s history of the film, Universal’s 1982 publicity called it an “entirely original” entry with nothing in common with the earlier films. John Carpenter and Debra Hill produced it, and Tommy Lee Wallace, who edited the 1978 film, directed it. There is no Michael Myers and no Laurie Strode. You can watch it at any point, or on its own.

Rob Zombie timeline: Halloween (2007) and Halloween II (2009)

Rob Zombie wrote and directed a remake that AFI credits as based on the 1978 film by Carpenter and Hill. Malcolm McDowell plays Loomis and Tyler Mane plays Michael. The 2007 film runs 109 minutes in theaters. The director’s cut, as classified by the BBFC for UK home video, runs about 116 minutes. Zombie’s Halloween II (105 minutes) followed in 2009. Neither film connects to any other timeline.

2018 trilogy: Halloween, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends

David Gordon Green’s Halloween ignores every sequel and picks up 40 years after the 1978 original, with Curtis as Laurie and Nick Castle back under the mask. Variety’s review counted nine earlier films that the new one sets aside: every Halloween movie released after the original and before 2018.

Halloween Kills continues the same Halloween night in 2018. Halloween Ends jumps four years ahead to the final showdown between Laurie and Michael. John Carpenter returned as an executive producer on the trilogy’s first film, Variety reported.

The 2018 film was a hit. It opened to an estimated $77.5 million in North America, far ahead of the $26 million series record held by Zombie’s 2007 remake.

Story order inside each timeline

Within each continuity, release order and story order are the same, so you never have to reshuffle. The in-universe years help if you jump between paths.

Film	Set in	Source of the year
Halloween (1978) and Halloween II (1981)	Halloween night, 1978	AFI notes on Halloween II
Halloween 4	Oct. 30-31, 1988	AFI synopsis
Halloween 5	One year after Halloween 4	AFI synopsis
H20	20 years after 1978	Variety review
Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills	40 years after 1978, the same night	Variety review, Universal
Halloween Ends	Four years after Kills	Universal

What order should a first-timer watch the Halloween movies in?

Start with the 1978 original, then go straight to the 2018 trilogy. That path tells one finished story about Laurie and Michael in just under seven hours, and it skips the tangled continuity of the 1980s and 1990s.

If that hooks you, go back for Halloween II and H20, which together make a tidy alternate ending. Leave the Rob Zombie films and Season of the Witch for last, because they stand apart from everything else.

Fans of other long-running horror series can use the same approach. Our Saw movies in order guide also separates the core story from side entries. The Conjuring Universe in order and Insidious movies in order guides cover two franchises where story order and release order differ.

Is there a new Halloween movie coming?

No new Halloween film or series has an announced release date as of October 30, 2026. The nearest official development dates to October 2023, when Variety reported that Miramax won the franchise’s TV rights from Malek Akkad’s Trancas International Films, beating A24 among other bidders. No studio or major trade has since announced a title, cast or premiere date for that series. Until one does, Halloween Ends remains the most recent entry.

Planning a horror night around a birthday? Look up which horror stars share a date with yours in our Famous Birthdays Finder, or start with October 30, the day Halloween II opened in 1981.