5 Ways Michael Myers Is The Best Slasher (& 5 Ways It’s Freddy)

There have been many iconic slashers and slasher movies throughout the years. But at the forefront remains two key figures – Michael Myers and Freddy Krueger. The antagonists of Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street, respectively, Michael and Freddy have become synonymous with the horror genre and iconic symbols of the horror movie industry.

Both have their pros and cons, of course. Both are vastly different in terms of personality and approach, and their movies wildly differ in tone. In many ways, it’s exceedingly difficult to choose one over the other. In many ways, they are equally terrific and ghoulish.

10 Michael: Imposing Silence

Michael Myers was one of cinema’s first horror movie slashers, and he set the template for most that followed. Michael never speaks throughout the entirety of Halloween. This gives him an incredibly eerie and mysterious persona, as it makes him appear more as a universal boogeyman than a flesh and blood serial killer.

By giving fictional killers a personality, filmmakers risk making them seem more humane, and therefore, less threatening. But Michael is all silent, and this trait has carried over to countless movie slashers – including Jason Voorhees just a few years later.

9 Freddy: Wisecracking Taunts

Wes Craven and his team took an enormous risk in their depiction of Freddy Krueger. For one thing, Freddy isn’t particularly large, or even tall – Robert Englund supposedly stands at a solid, if not imposing, 5’10”.

He is also a bit of a wisecracker, and that personality can seem incredibly grating and unthreatening in the wrong directorial hands. However, Craven and Englund imbued Freddy with just the right amount of sass and pitiful condescension, allowing him to come across more threatening than goofy. There’s nothing scarier than a killer who openly taunts their victims.

8 Michael: The Mask

Freddy’s burnt, disfigured face is certainly revolting and scary, but nothing will ever beat Michael Myers’ white mask. All slashers have some sort of identifying feature, including Freddy’s disfigured face and Jason’s iconic hockey mask. But there’s just something about the elegant simplicity of Michael’s mask that makes it work so well.

The featureless face adds an element of the mysterious and “unreadable” to Michael, again making him seem like more of a specter than a real person. By lacking expression, Michael becomes a symbol – a walking harbinger of death.

7 Freddy: His Imaginative Kills

If there’s one problem with Michael, it’s that his kills aren’t particularly imaginative. People come to slasher movies to watch the killer dispose of his victims in imaginative and exceedingly bloody ways, and in that regard, Michael disappoints. The first Halloween in particular is rather bland and bloodless.

On the other hand, Freddy is levitating people, sucking them through their beds, and killing them in a way that appears suicidal. He has imagination, and in that regard, he is far more “entertaining” (if that’s the right word) than his predecessor.

6 Michael: Accompanying Music

This one doesn’t have anything to do with Michael himself, but it’s still an aspect of the movie worth noting. Halloween, and by extension Michael Myers, has been intrinsically linked to its score. The Halloween score is not only one of the best in horror movie history, but it’s an iconic piece of movie music.

Freddy and A Nightmare on Elm Street don’t share the same connection to music, and therefore, the public consciousness. When people hear the Halloween music, they immediately think of Michael hunting someone from the shadows.

5 Freddy: The Violence

This one goes hand in hand with the imaginative kills. As was stated previously, slasher fans love them some blood and gore. And while Halloween is certainly scary, it is completely bereft of those two important qualities.

Despite its legacy, Halloween is practically bloodless. On the other hand, A Nightmare on Elm Street proves far more visceral. Freddy’s kills are far more gruesome, with blood often soaking his victims and their rooms. In Glen’s case, it literally soaks through the floor. Gorehounds undoubtedly prefer Freddy’s style.

4 Michael: The Menacing Walk

Another trope that Michael helped invent was the slow, menacing walk. Michael does have a few predecessors, including Billy from Black Christmas and Leatherface from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. But neither of them did that slow walk that many movie slashers have since come to adapt.

That was entirely Michael. While it doesn’t really make any sense within the logic of the movie’s world, Michael’s slow walk proved incredibly eerie and disturbing. No matter how slow Death may be, it will catch up to you eventually. In many ways, Michael is a zombie…

3 Freddy: Invading Dreams

A Nightmare on Elm Street took another major risk by having its antagonist live in the dream plane. In the wrong hands, that would make for a really goofy and unintentionally hilarious movie.

However, Craven and his team managed to pull it off, and the concept of a serial killer invading his victims’ dreams proved unimaginably terrifying. This places Freddy above the rest, as there’s literally no escaping him. You can outrun Michael or Jason. But you have to sleep eventually. And when you do, Freddy will be there, waiting…

2 Michael: Indiscriminate Killing

There’s nothing scarier than a killer without a motive. The Halloween sequels undoubtedly bungled the series’ lore and the character of Michael Myers. The recent reboot/sequel realized as much and completely ignored everything after the original.

That’s because making Michael Laurie’s brother was a really dumb idea. In the original Halloween, Michael doesn’t have a motive. He’s been sick ever since he was a child, and he chooses his victims without rhyme or reason. He just likes to kill people, and there’s nothing scarier than that.

1 Freddy: He Makes It Personal

On the other hand, some people may find the concept of a personal serial killer to be even scarier. Freddy has a motive, and he knows exactly who it is he’s targeting. If that’s not all, he also taunts his victims (being fully aware how powerless they are within the dream world) and openly calls them by their names.

Michael doesn’t care who you are, and he’ll kill you regardless. Freddy has targeted you, he wants you dead, he knows your name, and he will use it in his verbal taunting. Which is scarier? It’s very hard to say.

About The Author

Nathan Sharp
(852 Articles Published)

Nathan Sharp is a writer from outside Toronto, Ontario. He has a love of movies and television, having enjoyed them for more than twenty years. His preferences include drama, action, and horror, with the former being a particular point of interest and fascination.

He also has a love of video games, particularly those of Rockstar.

Whether it be about film, television, or video games, Nathan loves a good discussion and has written hundreds of articles for Screen Rant.

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