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Directed By
John Carpenter
Written By:
John Carpenter, Debra Hill
Cast:
Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Nancy Loomis, P.J. Soles, Charles Cyphers, Kyle Richards, Nancy Stephens, Arthur Malet, Sandy Johnson, David Kyle, Nick Castle, Mickey Yablans, Brian Andrews, John Michael Graham, Mickey Yablans, Brent Le Page, Adam Hollander, Robert Phalen
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Halloween (1978)
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Movie Review by Chris
October 12th, 2008
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Directed by John Carpenter, 'Halloween' is one of the greatest horror films ever made. It ignores pointless nudity and teen sex, along with gratuitous amounts of gore and focuses mainly on suspense and plain terror, something all horror films should have. Not only did 'Halloween' begin what is now called the "horror" genre, even today in 2008 are people still terrified of this movie. With a recent remake or re-imagining of the film by Rob Zombie, which I have to admit was'nt bad at all, 'Halloween' still gives us nightmare and will always be remembered as a classic in not only the horror genre but the world of film.
15 years ago, 6 year old Michael Myers brutally killed his older sister. The silent child was incarcerated in the Smith's Grove Sanitarium under the care of psychiatrist Sam Loomis. The town of Haddonfield had slowly began to forget the tragic crime, until Loomis returned to the town to warn of Myers escape from Smith's Grove. With Michael set on killing a group of high school students, Loomis seeks the help of the hesitant town sheriff to stop him before it's too late.
To be truthful, after looking at Jamie Lee Curtis's filmography, it seems that 'Halloween' was one of her first major films which actually put her name into Hollywood. Laurie Strode is such a realistic and simplistic character, she was written to remind teens of themselves so it makes the movie seem more real. She does remind me of some girls I even know today, but she gets the feel down for how teenagers acted and talked back in those days. Instead of talking dirty and cussing every chance they get, girls were respectful and even though some things they did were wrong, they still had some form of respect. Laurie is quiet and kind, sweet and respectful, which makes her a lovable character. Since this was one of the first major horror movies to be released, she set an example for future characters that were going to be seen in film.
One of the most well known characters in this film franchise besides the notorious Michael Myers is Dr. Sam Loomis. Played greatly by Donald Pleasance, he set an example for Malcom McDowell in the remake, but Loomis is a love/hate character, your opinion depends on the way you see the movie. He does want to help Michael but theres this insane and uncontrollable side to him which we see towards the end when he shoots Michael off the porch ledge. Donald Pleasance is a fantastic actor whom is hard for me to rat on, even for the littlest things. He just does such a great job with this character its surprising, and he is the only actor I will ever see as Loomis, though Malcom Mcdowell played his role, Donald is the real Loomis.
John Carpenter and Debrah Hill both wrote the screenplay for 'Halloween' and since a lot of the film is dialogue, the screenplay must be write to help the film with it's success. One thing I really liked about the script and how it helped the movie out was the way the characters were portrayed. Though there is not much background on Michael or anything like that, its great to see that they tried to make a lot of the teenage characters real. When the opening scene kicks in with young Michael butchering his sister and such, then the dialogue and all kicks in and this is where we see how good the script really is.
Since we are dealing with a John Carpenter film, you can't expect normality at all. One of the best shots of the film is seeing young Micheal outside of his house with the knife and the clown costume on, which was both laughable and creepy at the same time. Also, since it is a John Carpenter movie, many people will expect gallons and gallons of blood, which he took advantage of in Ghosts of Mars. 'Halloween' isnt a violent movie what so ever, most of the shocks were left to our imagination or sounds and such. I found it a lot more disturbing this way then splashing objects in blood and guts. The suspense kept piling on, especially for a horror movie. I found myself glued to the screen while on the edge of my seat. You know you have a good horror film when your audience is caught in both suspense and terror, then it takes a long time to get over all that.
'Halloween' is a masterpiece and anyone that hates this movie really dont know film. Unforgettable.
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