Halloween (1978)
HORROR-THON 2021 • THEY’RE HERE
10/10
DIRECTOR: John Carpenter
STARRING: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis
RELEASED: 1978
RUNTIME: 1 hour, 31 minutes
WATCH ON: Shudder, AMC+, Amazon, AppleTV, Fandango at Home, Plex
SCARE LEVEL: High tension, few gore moments
MANDATORY: Yes, every October.
The scariest thing Michael Myers does in this movie is stand still. He stands behind a hedge. He stands at the end of a street. He stands in a backyard behind sheets on a clothesline. He never runs, but who wants to run?
On Halloween night in 1963, in Haddonfield, Illinois, six-year-old Michael Myers kills his older sister with a kitchen knife. He’s locked away for fifteen years. His psychiatrist, Dr. Loomis, has decided he is pure evil and spends his screen time warning everyone.
Then, on Halloween eve of 1978, Michael escapes and drives home.
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Laurie Strode is a bookish high schooler with a babysitting gig for the night. Her friends Annie and Lynda are more interested in their boyfriends than on babysitting jobs. Michael watches all three of them for hours. As the night goes on, he gets closer to the house across the street where Laurie is babysitting. The kids she’s watching keep telling her the boogeyman is outside. They’re right.
MY HUMBLE OPINION
John Carpenter made this movie for about $300,000, and every shortcut became a signature. The mask is a cheap Captain Kirk mask that was painted white, and somehow, the blank expression is worse than any monster makeup. Carpenter composed the theme himself in an odd signature. Just hearing the first few notes makes my shoulders go up, but I love it.
It’s slow in the best way. Most of the movie is watching Michael watch people. When things finally kick off in the last half hour, you’re so wound up that every closet door is a threat.
Jamie Lee Curtis, in her first film role, is a little awkward and fully believable as a nerdy teenager, which is the point. Laurie isn’t the final girl because she’s tough. She’s the final girl because she pays attention. She’s the only one who notices the man by the hedge.
Wardrobe-wise, the budget was so tiny that Curtis’ clothes were reportedly bought at JCPenney. Her soft button-down and sensible skirt are the most fall-appropriate outfit in horror.
Also, it’s supposed to be Illinois in October, but it was shot in Southern California in the Spring. Once you notice the palm trees in the background, you’ll never unsee them.
FUN FACT FOR YOUR NEXT DINNER PARTY
The story is based on an experience John Carpenter had in college, touring a psychiatric hospital where he met a child who stared at him “with a look of evil” that terrified him. His intent with the character of Michael Myers was that the audience should never be able to relate to him.