Halloween 1978 Review
John Carpenter's Halloween is a masterpiece that inspired many other horror movies and slashers. To this day, many fans of the genre consider John Carpenter's Halloween one of the best slasher movies ever. It follows the story of the 6-year-old Michael Myers, who murders his sister on Halloween night. 15 years later, Michael escapes from a psychiatric clinic the evening before Halloween and returns to his hometown Haddonfield, where on Halloween night, he strikes again. The story follows high school student Laurie Strode who falls victim to Michael Myers's stalking and Dr. Samuel J. Loomis who was the psychiatrist of Michael and now tries to stop him.
Laurie Strode ( played by Jamie Lee Curtis ) is the main victim in this movie. During the 91 minutes, Laurie has multiple different encounters where Michael is seemingly stalking her. This builds a very unique and thrilling atmosphere, rarely seen in movies at that time. At the movie's end, Laurie even has a long stretching fight against Michael where she and Loomis try to defeat him. Speaking of Loomis, ( played by Donald Pleasence ) he is somewhat of an antagonist and plays the 3rd main role. Dr. Samuel J. Loomis is portrayed as a foresighted psychiatrist who knew from the beginning that something was off with Michael ( '' ...The blackest eyes, the Devil's eyes '' ). Both of these actors played their roles almost to perfection and certainly contributed to the success of the movie.
John Carpenter - who saw some smaller success with movies like ''Assault on Precinct 13'' ( an action thriller about a gang holding a police station under siege ) - had a reputation for making successful movies on a low budget. Under the first name ''The Babysitter Murders'' John Carpenter and his then-girlfriend Debra Hill wrote the script in only 10 days. To stretch the low budget as far as possible he mostly hired a cast of unknowns and used spray paint and scissors to transform a cheap mask into one horror's most iconic characters. This movie established Carpenter as one of Hollywood's most dependable and profitable directors. Carpenter then proceeded to later on release other great horror movies like ''The Thing'' or ''The Fog''.
One of the reasons, why this movie is regarded as highly as it is, is because of the cinematography. Although the movie only had a production capital of 325.000 USD, it proved to have amazing camera work and sound usage. The Crew used various dynamic camera angles, making very dense and atmospheric shots that make you feel like you're in the movie yourself. Most notable is the usage of POV shots. The camera is often set in a way to make believe the audience was apart of the scene. A huge part of creating tense and thrilling shots is the very specific usage of sound in Halloween. The whole movie is driven by a very distinct song - which was written by Carpenter himself - that matches the eariness of Michael perfectly. But also other sounds like close-ups of Michael breathing, enhance the terrifying scenes.
The plot, the iconic characters, and the cinematography..., all lead up to the fact that John Carpenter's Halloween is one of the most popular and best-regarded movies in the genre. Halloween not only pleased the public but also paved the way for other slashers and horror movies. The financial success ( 47 Million USD ) of this movie also resulted in a multitude of sequels. Michael Myers is now known as one of the most iconic figures in horror and almost everyone knows who he is, fan or not.
