I love horror movies.

While I enjoy watching them all throughout the year, October for me has become the time when I take in as many as possible.

Whether they’re about ghost, goblins, leprechauns (just not in space), or anything that makes your skin crawl, I’ve probably watched it.

One of my favorite types of movies was always slasher flicks.

My personal favorite slasher was always the one, the only, Michael Myers.

For those of you who agree, I bump fists with you, because you clearly understand the genius behind such a character.

For those who don’t allow me to explain myself, and maybe you to will see the light, or the shadow… whatever, you get my point.

1. Lack of Personification

Michael Myers never speaks, in fact he barely ever makes a sound.  No matter what you do, shoot, stab, burn, bash, whatever.  He’s even quieter than a church mouse.

I haven’t taken a tally, but I’m pretty sure you can count on one hand the amount of times ol’ Mikey’s actually made a sound in almost a dozen films made about him.

I love this for one reason.

The filmmakers do everything they can to NOT personify him as a character.

I mean yeah, we have the back story of him killing his sister, which was wonderfully expanded upon by Rob Zombie’s version of the movie, but he still sticks to the lack of speech.

Think about it, he wears a mask which totally covers his face.  This mask has the most common hair color in the world, and for his outfit he wears a jumpsuit and work boots.

He barely has a personality.

What is awesome about this?

By not personifying him at all, they have personified him as evil incarnate.

The man needs no identity.  He is the indiscriminate, invincible, and ultimately immortal incarnation of evil.

As many examples we have of evil, evil really doesn’t have a face that every person in the world can identify.

It allows us to fill in the blanks on our own, which will scare us more than anyone else ever could.

2.  He Never Runs

By all rights, Michael Myers should have died by old age while he was moseying down the highway, before he ever got a chance to kill Laurie Strode in one of the many sequels.

All jokes aside, do you know why Michael never runs?

Evil doesn’t have to chase you.

Why?

Because evil will get you eventually, usually by your own doing.

The same way the characters in the movies were filled with paranoia with terror every time Halloween swung around, is the same way we look over our shoulders for evil today.

ISIS, school shootings, crime, whatever.

There is a type of basic fear in humans that means we will fear SOMETHING, whether it’s a product of our imagination or not and that’s what John Carpenter and Debra Hill knew when they wrote the original script in the ’70’s.

They preyed upon this, not only revealing this part of human nature but rubbing our noses in it the entire time.

It was excellent writing and an even more excellent high concept.

And this is why I think, pound for pound, Michael Myers is the Heavy Weight Slasher Champion of the World.

So as usual, what do you think?  Agree/disagree/think I’m nuts?  Please, leave your reactions in the comments below and remember:  Creativity is King.

I own no rights to the pictures used in this post, or the featured image.  If you own the photos, and want them taken down, please contact me.