Multiple reboots, timelines, actors playing the iconic villain, and films outside the core continuity are just some of the factors that have split fans down the line on the Halloween franchise for over 40 years. Jay Bauman of Red letter media fame amusingly referred to the franchise as a Choose Your Own Adventure series.
- The first, and perhaps earliest, form of this fan schism appeared in the notion that there were no films after the original. Period. This was bolstered after the sequel took steps to change core parts of the mythology, namely The Reveal that Laurie Strode is Michael Myers' sister, a twist that was put in by John Carpenter (begrudgingly and for a paycheck, as he's told it over the years), causing fan discontent in the process. It helps that John Carpenter considers the original a stand alone, and the sequels to be an obligation if anything. II & 2018 may be exceptions, as some fans agree they came close to replicating the atmosphere and tone of the original.
- Conversely, there is a segment of the fanbase that claims that while were no films after the first two. Helping that case is that John Carpenter wrote it with the intent to kill Michael off completely.
- Season of the Witch was the only true sequel for many fans given the franchise was supposed to transition from slasher movies to an anthology series afterwords. On the flipside, some fans disavow the film because it’s the only one to not have Michael Myers.
- Only the Cult of Thorn timeline happened after the first 2 (or 3) films and ignore everything afterwords, with many claiming these films captured the atmosphere of the actual holiday of Halloween much better and for being the only timeline to feature fan favorite character Dr. Loomis.
- Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers happened (save perhaps the final scene), but the other two Cult of Thorn movies didn't. This allows for the fourth movie to serve as the final installment of a trilogy with the first two movies. The fact that the fourth film doesn't feature The Man in Black or any of the other cultists, the number of Retcons in the fifth and sixth films, and how hard it is to swallow how Michael survived his death at the end of the fourth film makes this easier to accept.
- Regarding Halloween 6’s existence, many claim the Producer’s Cut didn’t happened due to the explanation of Michael’s murderous origins and its infamous plot twist of Jamie’s baby being her and Michael’s.
- Subsequently the Theatrical Cut doesn’t exist for its removal of the cult elements in favor of a more sci-fi oriented one, jarring editing choices that leads to countless Plot Holes and Fridge Logic and for its mishandling of Dr. Loomis’ scenes (especially since the reshoots for this cut was after Donald Pleasance passed away).
- H20 was the only true follow up after Halloween II. There was nothing else in between and it ended right there with Laurie decapitating Michael for good.
- An Inversion for some. There's other fans who prefer merging the Thorn and H20 timelines together. There were plans to do so that didn't make it into the final cut.
- The Chaos Comics miniseries tried to officially tie them together, but were omitted from canon ironically by the later release Resurrection. A new line of comics were written taking Resurrection into account but no ties with the Thorn trilogy.
- Even people who actually like the Cult of Thorn Trilogy often won't accept Rachel's unceremonious stabbing, which drags down the rest of the fifth movie and is completely irrelevant to the overall story.
- There were no films before Rob Zombie’s duology. Some fans prefer Michael have a realistic origin behind his madness rather than being simply pure evil, or controlled by a mysterious cult.
- Rob Zombie's 2007 film happened but the events of its sequel didn't. This is helped by how there are two cuts of the first movie, a theatrical one and an unrated one, as well as an alternate ending, and the sequel could diverge from any of those versions.
- For many, Halloween (2018) is the first "true" sequel to the original, not only capturing the tone and going back to the roots, but also because it discarded the idea of Michael and Laurie being siblings which some fans never really liked that much.
- Then again, H2018 "didn't happen" simply because they felt it was unnecessary since, once again, H20 provided a better arc and ending for Laurie.
- Some people who acknowledge Halloween (2018) are reluctant to extend the same courtesy to Halloween Kills, given how it has well-liked characters come Back for the Dead and the previous movie works fine as a standalone movie with a Bittersweet Ending. It gets even worse with Halloween Ends, which aside from the ending many people wanted (Laurie killing Michael and sending the body into a metal shredder as It's the Only Way to Be Sure) gave fuel for the arguments that the 2018 movie works better without follow-ups.
- Only the films with John Carpenter’s involvement exist, whether it’s directing, writing, or even composing (1978, II, Season of the Witch, and 2018). Though the contentious reception to Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends. is threatening to derail this.
- Basically, the only thing that the majority of fans of all the timelines have agreed on is that Resurrection never existed and should’ve never been made because of its terrible excuse of a retcon to arguably a perfect end with H20 and for doing the most damaging things to the character’s legacy. note Even Jamie Lee Curtis disowned it and went on to state she considers H20 the ending of that continuity.
