In a horror franchise as expansive as the Halloween series, it can be difficult to decide when choosing the most disturbing kill scene. Spanning 13 films, the franchise has a long list of brutal deaths, mostly perpetrated by Halloween’s antagonist, and one of the biggest horror icons of all time, Michael Myers. From legendary kill scenes in the first film, with Myers dressing up like a sheet ghost, to the more devastating and wince-causing murders of the Rob Zombie and David Gordon Green film timelines, the franchise has no shortage of memorable deaths. However, one seems to stick out as being particularly disturbing, even for the Halloween series.
Michael Myers has more than 80 kills across the entire Halloween franchise, including the four different timelines, of course. His most kills, 69 in total, come from the 2018 timeline, which includes the first film and the David Gordon Green trilogy. Surprisingly, kills per film go to the Rob Zombie duology, which contained 31 kills in just two movies. Brutal kill scenes are expected from a Rob Zombie movie, but the most disturbing death comes from the franchise’s first sequel, 1981’s Halloween II.
Halloween II Has a Kill Scene That Viewers Just Can’t Forget
Ben Tramer Dead in Halloween IIImage via Universal Pictures
Halloween II picks up directly where the original 1979 Halloween finishes. Michael Myers has evaded police capture, 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 being treated in Haddonfield Memorial Hospital and Myers finds his way there, Dr. Loomis and the Haddonfield PD are still searching the town for any sign of the masked killer.
The most disturbing death in the Halloween franchise belongs to Ben Tramer. Tramer is just a normal 17-year-old who is out trick-or-treating and happens to be wearing the same mask and a similar jumpsuit to Michael Myers. He’s also mentioned in the first film as being the classmate whom Laurie has a crush on, which makes his death even sadder. When Dr. Loomis and Sheriff Brackett are out hunting Michael Myers, they spot Tramer, mistake him for Myers, and start chasing him down the street, wielding a gun. Afraid for his life, Tramer hustles into the street, where he’s promptly run down by an approaching police car at top speed. The car slams Tramer up against a van and explodes, pinning Tramer while he’s 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 including the barely affiliated Halloween III: Season of the Witch), but there are essentially zero consequences for the massive screw-up by the Haddonfield police. In fact, once they later identify that Tramer isn’t Myers at the morgue, he’s never mentioned again in the original franchise timeline. The idea of someone’s child being run down and slowly burned to death on a public street while trick-or-treating is horrifying, especially when no justice is ever seen to the perpetrators. Luckily, the events of Halloween II aren’t canon in the newest timeline, and Tramer is mentioned to be alive in David Gordon Green’s sequel trilogy.
Halloween II Still Remains the Best Sequel in the Franchise
Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween II (1981)Image via Universal Pictures
Even with 11 more movies and three more timelines, Halloween II remains the strongest sequel in the franchise. It’s the only other Halloween movie that actually feels like it’s directed by John Carpenter, not only because it picks up immediately where the first film ends, but also because Carpenter again wrote the screenplay with Debra Hill and scored the soundtrack himself.
Aside from having some extremely memorable kill scenes and sharing the classic vibe of the original Carpenter film, Halloween II goes on to develop several characters from the universe, including tapping more into Dr. Loomis’ obsession with Michael. The film also opens up one of the franchise’s better plotlines, the twist about Laurie Strode being Michael’s half-sister, which would continue into the timeline that includes Halloween 4, 5, and 6. Unfortunately, those three films had a huge fall in quality compared to the first two movies.
Many Halloween fans believe the David Gordon Green trilogy would have worked out better if it had picked up after Halloween II or slightly tweaked the aftermath in the way Halloween (2018) did with flashbacks. Keeping the sibling storyline could have benefited the last two movies, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends, which were panned by both critics and audiences alike for lack of story direction. The inclusion of Ben Tramer’s death could have even been used to better justify the absolutely absurd mob mentality and recklessness of Haddonfield’s people in Halloween Kills. It’s a shame that the franchise’s most disturbing death was in such vain.
Release Date
October 30, 1981
Runtime
92 minutes
Director
Rick Rosenthal
Producers
Dino De Laurentiis, Irwin Yablans, Joseph Wolf
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Jamie Lee Curtis
Laurie Strode
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Donald Pleasence
Dr. Sam Loomis
