SYNOPSIS:
The first flick in the trilogy from director John Carpenter, Halloween almost single-handedly invented the 1980s slasher genre. Escaped lunatic Michael Myers (no, not the Austin Powers actor) goes on a murderous baby-sitter-slaying rampage on Halloween. Only baby sitter Jamie Lee Curtis (the quintessential scream queen) and psychiatrist Donald Pleasence can stop him.
REVIEW:
“But you can’t kill the boogie man!”
~Tommy Doyle.
First of all you have good acting and everyone in this movie can act, even if they weren’t well known. All the actors and actresses were well cast and come across as real. One of the differences between “Halloween” and its copies was that you cared about the characters and didn’t look at them as just a body count. Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) was a heroine you could root for and who you wanted to be the “final” girl who grew strength from the horror situation she was in. And how perfect was the casting of Dr. Loomis? Who could have pulled off this part better than Donald Pleasence? His intensity made us believe that Michael Myers was indeed evil himself and that the doctor believed he had no choice but to destroy him. We can believe that Dr. Loomis is a man who is terrified and yet is a man on a mission. A lesser actor would have made the film a comedy and not a classic with the lines he has to deliver believably.
Like true evil there was no reason for Michael Myers to be evil (in the first film) he just was and that made him scarier. When we see his face after Laurie has pulled his mask off, his face is blank; he has no reaction to attacking her, no joy, no sorrow, no nothing. He just stops to put his mask back on and then goes back to attack her. Very chilling even after watching it again and again. And the fact he is unstoppable and keeps coming back for more was done in a way it wasn’t funny or even seem to break the rules of the movie, as Tommy said “you can’t kill the bogeyman”.
First of all what worked for me:
- Good acting and interesting characters.
- The “Shape” appearing behind Laurie from the darkness.
-The music is simple but works so well. Even if you never saw the movie you know the theme.
-The “Shape” having a blank human face under that mask (A William Shatner Mask painted white, how funny is that?).
-The feeling that the “Shape” is watching everything and around every corner.
-The killing of the dog, so simple, you see very little but you know what is happening.
-The fact that you see very little blood but you think you see gallons.
- Jamie Lee Curtis. She was believable and every schoolboy had a crush on her.
What doesn’t work for me:
Nothing, I love this movie.
The little movie that could, and without the Halloween season would be a little less chilling. A scary well-made film that is not dated at all and never should have been remade. So pop some popcorn and snuggle with a good friend and enjoy “Halloween” for the first or twentieth time. I promise you a treat not a trick. I give it 5 stars out of 5. The film is available on Amazon and is available in more than one form.
Halloween (1978)
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