Written and Directed by: John Carpenter
Produced by: Mustapha Akkad
Written by: Debra Hill
Featuring:
Jamie Lee Curtis (Film Debut) as Laurie Strode
Donald Pleasance as Dr. Samuel Loomis
P.J. Soles as Lynda Van Der Klok
Nick Castle as The Shape (Michael Myers)
Rating: R
Runtime: 91 mins
Release Date: October 25, 1978
John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978)
In the late 70’s, John Carpenter and Debra Hill set out to make a horror film based on the murdering of babysitters. With nothing more than an idea and some loose pocket change, the duo made one of the largest impacts in moviemaking history. This phenom of a film shows how hard work and dedication are what truly achieves goals. It also breathed life into the careers of many people still in Hollywood today, as well as kick-starting a whole new era in motion pictures…the “slasher” show. Love it or hate it, you have to give this devil its due.
This
review may get a little lengthy due to the fact that it is such a huge success,
and it is the blueprint for up and coming movie makers that would like to make
a good classic horror film without all the fancy digital effects that everyone
seems to rely on these days. There are many versions of this film, but the 25th
Anniversary Edition DVD and Blu-ray versions have a documentary called, “Halloween:
A Cut Above the Rest” which delves deep into the history of this film, and what
made it work. It is very informative and even if you’re not a film maker but
just a fan of the arts, I would strongly suggest you check it out.
Halloween
starts out with a first person view of someone watching, through a window, a
horny young couple making out on the couch. Then they retreat to the bedroom
for, what I would say is, the shortest most unfulfilling romp of sex ever
implied on film. The boy then comes downstairs and leaves, as the person
watching finds a clown mask and grabs a butcher knife. The peeping pervert
makes their way to the teen girl’s bedroom and watches her brush her hair in
the nude. She looks up and yells out “Michael!” in disgust. Then she is stabbed
repeatedly by “Michael”.
Making
his way downstairs and out the front door, Michael is greeted by his parents.
They take off his clown mask and reveal a small 6 year old boy... Flash forward
17 years to the same old quiet town of Haddonfield Illinois. Michael has
escaped the asylum he was filed away in and has headed home for another
murderous rampage, or is he there with an agenda? It turns out the 17 year old
girl he murdered as a child was his older sister, Judith Myers.
The
girls run into Annie’s dad, the sheriff in town, as he is finishing up
investigating a burglary in a local General Store. He is certain that kids did
it since they just stole a mask a knife and some rope; I would be more worried
about a psycho trying to make a rape kit, but hey, that’s why I’m not a sheriff
in Illinois. Anyway, the girls take off to work glad that Mr. Brackett didn’t
smell the weed they were smoking in the car. They arrive to the neighborhood as
the sun is going down; the evil continues to creep in with the darkness, and
sparks one of horror’s most famous film franchises.
Michael
Myers has become a household name. It’s rare to meet someone that doesn’t know the
chalky faced unstoppable force that has chilled horror fans for over 30
years. In this first installment of the
franchise there is a lot left to the imagination. Who is Michael Myers? What
makes him want to kill? Where does he get his superhuman power? Most times this
would be perceived as loop holes in the plot or poor writing; however, I
believe this stigma is the exact reason for the film’s success. It was a completely believable story that
left the audience in the dark and craving answers.
John
Carpenter didn’t want to use a lot of blood and gore to portray his vision, and
that also played into the mystery of the film. In an age where films were
beginning to show more vulgarities, more bloodshed and more mayhem, why would
this film be so appealing to audiences? It flipped the script. Audiences would
come in expecting one thing and get caught completely off guard. Now this
sounds like a fairly simple concept, but it took a lot of hard work and the
backing of a foreign film producer (Moustapha Akkad 1930-2005), that didn’t
exactly like the idea of the film, but was convinced to help by one of the film’s
Executive Producers, Irwin Yablans.
John
Carpenter’s masterpiece was highly inspired by his love for Hitchcock films. He
believed Psycho to be the film that modernized horror and brought it out of the
castles and medieval times and brought them up to speed. Well, Mr. Carpenter, I
believe you have brought the horror genre right to neighborhoods almost anyone
can relate to, suburban America. He was
lucky to find a great cast that would work for little pay and double as the
crew; a crew that would go above and beyond to make this film happen; and just
over $325,000. The benefits to come out
of this little low budget film are practically endless. The worldwide return on
this film was around $55 million; It sparked a film franchise that has birthed
6 sequels and a 2 part remake; and a horror icon that has more drive and spark
than anything of this earth.
Most
everyone has seen this film, or at least knows of it. I would say, going into
the Halloween season and with the recent release of the films on Blu-ray, now
is the perfect time to take another look at these classics and fulfill a guilty
pleasure that has been around for over 30 years and will be remembered forever.
Nude Points: 4
Honorable
Mentions:
1.
Donald
Pleasance for taking a role for such little money, for the simple fact that his
daughter liked John Carpenter’s musical score on his previous film, Assault on
Precinct 13.
2.
Moustapha
Akkad for giving this film a chance, and later becoming the Godfather of
Michael Myers’ films.
3.
Jamie
Lee Curtis! I have never found her attractive; I have never found her as a good
actor; and I have never enjoyed any of her movies outside of the horror realm, but I could never see anyone
playing a better Laurie Strode.
4.
Michael
Myers for being such a quiet and unemotional man, but still managing to throw a
little comedy in his routine…