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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 Jarrod
July 27th, 2007
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'Halloween' is the greatest slasher flick ever made, endlessly and hopelessly imitated by the likes of Friday the 13th, but never equaled, though it borrows heavily from Psycho, a debt that has been acknowledged openly by its director John Carpenter, who also composed its simple, but incredibly creepy, theme, which is unforgettable and instantly recognizable.
The film is pure style and suspense. There is not much gore, and only a handful of victims, but they are stalked relentlessly by the monolithic Michael Myers, his face covered by a white Captain Kirk mask, expressionless, with black eyes glaring from underneath. As a boy, he murdered his sister, and was committed to an asylum, where he was looked after by Sam Loomis (Pleasance), who concluded that Michael was evil, containing no conscience or remorse, unable to be reasoned with, and had to be locked away forever. Michael escapes in a short, thrilling sequence, one of the movie's best, along with the opening scene, which is seen from Michael's perspective, behind a clown mask, as he calmly walks into his sister's room and stabs her. This is obviously inspired by the shower scene in Psycho, but has its own unique flavor. Michael is scary, no doubt about it, and never speaks, moves quietly, walking, never running, always ducking out of sight before he is spotted. Jamie Lee Curtis was introduced to the world as Laurie Strode, who is babysitting on Halloween night, while her two friends, Annie and Lynda, think of nothing but sex. Laurie's fateful confrontation with Michael is superbly crafted.
Donald Pleasance, the great British actor, became linked for all eternity to the character of Dr Loomis, who feels guilty for letting Michael escape, and intends to stop him, even at the expense of his own life. He comes to rescue Laurie and kill his former patient, following him back to his hometown of Haddonfield, and pursuing him with dogged determination. Pleasance would play this role until his death, appearing in the substandard sequels, right up to Halloween 6. These sequels would explore Michael's past in more detail, and explain why he wants to kill Laurie, but he is largely an enigma here, and we are not sure of his motives, and assume he simply must kill to satisfy some sadistic compulsion.
This is one of my favorite horror movies of all time, and it never gets old. Carpenter would never have as much artistic or commercial success as he did with this film, but he owes his career to it, for good reason.
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 | Steven
Jul 31, 2007 9:30 PM
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| Right on. I love horror films and this one is still I think of the best horror films ever made. |
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