Many things about Halloween’s Michael Myers make him terrifying, among them that he never runs, yet he always catches his victims. An in-universe explanation as to why Michael Myers never runs hasn’t been given, but a theory gives a believable reason that makes him even more terrifying. Back in 1978, John Carpenter introduced the world to a new slasher killer named Michael Myers, who after killing his sister when he was six years old, was sent to Smith’s Grove Sanitarium, where he stayed for 15 years and never spoke again.

Michael Myers escaped from Smith’s Grove on October 30, 1978, and returned to his hometown Haddonfield, Illinois, on October 31, ready to go on a murder spree as he targeted Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her friends. Michael Myers quickly established himself as one of the scariest and most dangerous slashers in the horror genre, and his methods and motivations have been the subject of countless theories, among them one that explains why Michael Myers walks to get to his victims and never runs, which adds to what makes him so scary.

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Theory: Michael Myers Is All About Fear, Not the Kill

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Michael Myers stalks his targets and attacks them when they are either alone or vulnerable, and though some of them have had the chance to run, Michael always gets to them without having to run after them. A theory (via CBR) explains that Michael Myers never runs after his victims because he’s all about fear rather than the kill itself. Michael Myers was described by Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) as the embodiment of evil, so this theory fits perfectly, as Michael is more interested in haunting and seeing his victims consumed by fear rather than killing them. This explains why whenever a victim manages to get away, he doesn’t get annoyed or frustrated, and he simply turns around and focuses on a different target, and as an example is his encounter with young Lonnie Elam: Michael didn’t kill him because he wasn’t running away from him, so there was no thrill (though this specific case can also be explained by Michael Myers not killing children).

The theory even adds that Michael Myers does all this because that’s how it was when he killed his sister: Judith wasn’t expecting Michael to be home, but once he came in with a knife in his hand, she was trapped, and tension and fear quickly built up as he approached her. This could also explain why Michael "failed" to kill Laurie (at least in the main and reboot timelines), as his goal wasn’t to kill her, but the feeling of power in trapping her and seeing the fear rising up in her.

Michael Myers Might Still Be A Child In His Mind

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Another possible explanation for why Michael Myers never runs to catch his victims is all about Halloween night 1963. As mentioned above, six-year-old Michael Myers killed his older sister, Judith, on October 31, 1963, for no apparent reason (ignoring the whole Cult of Thorn storyline and timeline, that is) and never spoke again after that, so Michael is clearly disturbed and has a lot of unresolved trauma. The theory, then, adds that another explanation could be that Michael Myers never mentally matured, so he’s still that six-year-old boy. As such, Michael believes he won’t catch his victims if he runs, even though he’s now taller and stronger, but that’s not something he’s aware of. While this other version makes sense as Michael Myers was clearly dealing with a lot of trauma and Loomis didn’t manage to make much progress during his time in Smith’s Grove, it actually adds some vulnerability to Michael that, in the end, makes him less scary.

How This Theory Makes Michael Myers Scarier

Michael Myers in Halloween Ends and Halloween Kills

Michael Myers not running after his victims because he prefers the thrill over the kill makes him scarier, because he can go after anyone at any moment, and he moves slowly on purpose just so the victim gets more and more scared. This would also mean that he wouldn’t have stopped after killing Laurie Strode, because that wasn’t his goal, and he would have continued stalking and chasing other victims to get that kick after seeing the fear in his victim grow more and more. There might not be a way to confirm or deny this Halloween theory, but it certainly adds to the mystery of Michael Myers and gives him another layer of danger.

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