Directed by: John Carpenter
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Nancy Loomis, Charles Cyphers
Halloween was made in 1978 on a low budget, but with an understanding that suspense is what makes horror films work. Later "slasher" films, as the genre came to be known, were more interested in showing the killings in all of their glory. The characters became one-dimensional targets for the killer to annihilate. There was nothing scary about seeing people killed in horrible ways. Even sequels to Halloween became nothing more than gorefests themselves, forgetting why the original worked so well. By the time Halloween 4 or 5 rolled around, the only challenges to the filmmakers were finding more creative ways for the killer to off somebody and how high to roll up the body count.
Halloween is a masterful piece of suspense and terror. It doesn't just show its killer, Michael Myers, hacking people to death and leaving it at that. Director John Carpenter likes to toy with the viewer, using a simple, yet eerie score and the innate fear of being trapped by someone who wants to kill you. Carpenter uses Hitchcock's method of "playing the audience like a piano." He understands that the buildup to the main event can be just as enjoyable as the event itself.
The film opens in a small Illinois town on Halloween night 1963, where a six-year old boy named Michael Myers hacks his sister and her boyfriend to death during foreplay. It is not known why Michael did this, but he is sentenced to an asylum under the care of Dr. Sam Loomis (Pleasence). Pleasance soon comes to realize that Myers is evil and should never be released. "I spent the first 7 or 8 years trying to reach him and I saw his eyes were nothing but black and what resided behind those eyes were pure evil." Fast forward to October 30, 1978, Michael Myers escapes from the asylum via a station wagon and heads to Haddonfield to resume a killing spree. How he is able to drive is speculated at somewhat by Loomis, "He must've had someone on the inside teach him to drive." I can only imagine what Myers would be like as a student, but nonetheless he drives around town wearing a mask that is creepier than any Halloween costume. He does not speak, but breathes heavily and menacingly.
Does Michael have a method to his madness? Is he trying to find someone in particular or will anyone be a suitable victim for his insane rage? He focuses his efforts on local high school student Laurie (Curtis), who doesn't have a date Halloween night and babysits her neighbors' kids. Laurie is obviously unaware of the terror that awaits her, but she does notice that someone may be observing her from her backyard. When night falls, Myers strikes at his victims ruthlessly while Loomis and the local police are on his trail trying in vain to predict his next move.
As Myers stalks his victims, Halloween takes full advantage of darkened, spacious houses. He could be anywhere at any time, sometimes even defying the laws of physics to do so. Myers isn't meant to represent a real person limited by gravity, medicine, and physics. He is evil incarnate in a hulking body who doesn't run after his targets, but walks at a steady pace fully aware that his intended targets can not escape his grasp. One of the more terrifying scenes is Laurie escaping from her friend's house; screaming and banging on doors in vain for help. She stays ahead of Myers, but not too far ahead. Even as she seemingly flees to safety, she knows there may not be any true escape.
Not from a man who is stabbed, shot 6 times, and even gets an eye poked out.
Halloween begat a series of pale imitators, like the Friday the 13th series. Despite its low budget, Halloween is professional, stylish filmmaking. Other directors attempted to capture this on low budgets, but they were not able to duplicate it. They knew the words, but not the music. Halloween was made by a director who used Hitchcock as his inspiration, but then made a film that stands alone as a horror classic.
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