Michael Myers Challenge

About

The Michael Myers Challenge is an internet challenge and game where one participant plays the role of Halloween villain Michael Myers and another plays the role of a survivor tasked with running to a door, unlocking it and closing it behind them before Michael Myers, who approaches them from behind at a slow pace like in the movies, reaches and stabs them. The challenge was popularized on TikTok and YouTube in June 2022 and saw a second wave of popularity in October 2023 leading up to Halloween night.

Origin

The earliest known example of the Michael Myers Challenge was posted by TikToker^[1] @legacy.h on June 3rd, 2022, garnering over 8.7 million views in a year (shown below). In the video, several people attempt to outrun a person playing the role of Michael Myers, who approaches them slowly from behind, by running to the front door, unlocking it and securing themselves inside in order to see if they would survive.

Spread

The trend spread over the course of June 2022 as other TikTokers began participating in the Michael Myers Challenge. For example, on June 6th, 2022, TikTokers^[2][3] @thegreats_ and @tateandfamily posted videos playing the game, garnering over 16 million and 4.4 million views respectively in a year (shown below, left and right). That day, Newsweek^[4] reported on the challenge. On June 7th, YouTuber^[5] KEEMOKAZI posted a video doing the challenge, garnering over 18 million views in the same span of time.

On November 24th, TikToker^[6] @golden_blondiee posted a video doing the challenge with her family that gained over 37 million views in 11 months (shown below).

The challenge saw a resurgence in popularity in October 2023 leading up to Halloween. On October 7th, 2023, TikToker^[7] @slashersiblings posted a video doing the challenge, garnering over 3.8 million views in three weeks (shown below, left). On October 13th, TikToker^[8] @its.adama posted a video doing the challenge that gained over 2.4 million views in two weeks (shown below, right).

During an October 30th YouTube^[9] stream that gained over 460,000 views in a day, the H3 Podcast did the challenge during their Halloween episode (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References