‘Behind the Monsters’ Recap: ‘Michael Myers’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the series premiere of ‘Behind the Monsters’.
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One would think that fans of popular culture… would be captivated by the hero of the story they’re enjoying, and the hero alone. For they are a champion of all that is right in the universe, and they risk life and limb and their sanity in order to defeat evil and keep the world safe. But alas, while pop culture fans do indeed gravitate toward heroes and celebrate the wonder of them often… sometimes the villain is quite captivating as well… and they manage to suck fans into their mythos and their motivations, despite the fact that they are as evil as they come and eager to do harm to the innocents of the world, and their ability to do that, does leave a great deal of us wondering… why?
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Why would everyday people be captivated and fascinated by fictional evil characters that have no redeeming value? Well as it turns out, there are some actual answers as to why people gravitate to monsters and a brand-new series on Shudder is eager to explore the why behind this. Which makes Behind the Monsters quite the fascinating new show, one that really does give us great insight into our obsession with monsters and how they rose to pop culture prominence and the first monster that this series opted to spotlight, just so happened to be ‘Michael Myers’. The very being that just enjoyed his latest release in a long-standing franchise of films and well, as it turns out, our obsession with him and his incredible longevity stems from the fact… that he is a mystery. 

After all, outside of what we saw develop in the opening minutes of the original Halloween, we know nothing of the man. We only know that when he returns to Haddonfield on that fateful October 31, he has nothing but bloodlust on his mind and he is eager to satiate it and that leads to a powerfully frightening film. One where Michael is nothing more than a force of nature and it is his ability to kill with impunity, without breaking a sweat or cracking a one liner, alongside his seeming superhuman strength and unremarkable appearance… that fascinates us. For he is pure mystery and unfettered motivation and that was something that was fresh back then and is fresh now. But while his mysterious nature definitely draws a viewer in, in Michael’s case, our obsession with his franchise and his mythos expands beyond the mystery his character provides.

For the Halloween franchise is in a way, its own Marvel Cinematic Universe, complete with its own multiverse. Since there are now four divergent timelines stemming from the original film and a bonus alternate timeline. Since Halloween III: Season of the Witch opens up a whole new Myers-less world to the audience where magic is real and of course, the cult grounded timeline tries to put answers to his powers, and there’s even a universe where he dies at the hands of his sister and there's Rob Zombie's alternate universe and now there’s a whole new timeline that resets everything beyond those chilling closing moments of the original film… and promises to bring closure to forty years of wild storytelling. If anything, the fact that you can pick your path in this saga and go down a route where answers await or where the story gets infinitely darker and more violent… captivates a viewer and demands our obsession. 

But of the many reasons that we love Michael Myers and villains in general, is the purity of their stories. For in many ways, Michael, and Laurie’s long-standing battle, represents the never-ending struggle of good versus evil, and Michael’s desire to sow chaos in suburban America… represents some long standing and xenophobic fears in our culture and makes Michael an icon of subtle commentary. Plus, the movies just plain kick ass and entertain to no end and well… all of these lessons made this premiere supremely worthwhile and engaging and truly… this writer is hooked. Because this is a series unlike any other horror documentary out there since it celebrates and educates and geeks out, all at the same time, and it will be quite interesting to learn more fascinating lessons about the monsters that captivate us as this series continues along. Until next time.  

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